José Bardasano

Madrid, 1910 - 1979

His special talent for drawing led him to become a disciple of Marceliano Santamaría at the tender age of just eleven, and to receive the latter’s support throughout his academic training, from 1922 to 1925, at Madrid’s Art and Crafts School. Once he had completed his studies, making a clean sweep of all the extraordinary academic awards, in 1928 he began to contribute as an illustrator to a number of newspapers and magazines about Madrid.

He travelled extensively in Andalusia thanks to the travel purse given at the National Fine Arts Exhibition in 1930. In the 1934 edition he won second prize for a portrait of his wife Juana Francisco Rubio, also an illustrator. In the same year he held his first individual exhibition at Los Amigos del Arte, in Madrid. A year later he received the “Conde de Cartagena“ grant from the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts, which enabled him to visit various European countries and to exhibit in Paris, London, Brussels and the Hague.

During the civil war he helped the Republicans by directing a group of artistic creators (painters, sculptors and engravers) who worked at his studio, “La Gallofa“. He produced many propaganda posters himself.

He was exiled to Mexico following the conflict, and did not return to Madrid until 1960. Back in Spain, he won first prize at the Salón de Otoño in 1961 and received commissions such as advertising posters for the Spanish national railway - Renfe (which earned him an international tourism industry award of merit in Germany), and the decoration of passenger vessels for Compañía Trasatlántica Española.

His work as a poster artist was always exceptional, which is why he was chosen to create the image for the UEE calendar in 1965. “En la taberna“ (In the Tavern) is a scene which captures the essence of his entire oeuvre, “costumbrista“ and traditional. The elaborate and naturalistic study of the rays of sunshine are reminiscent of the seventeenth century, while his approach to interiors links him to the Flemish masters. The result is an exaltation of corporeal qualities while at the same time not neglecting detail and the quality of the whole, in which with great originality he expresses his huge creative personality.

In his final years his held exhibitions throughout Spain and received major distinctions such as the Order of Merit in France.

1965 José Bardasano In the Tavern Oil on canvas 97 x 70,50 cm.