20th Century Spanish

Carmelo García Barrena was born in Bilbao on 1 July 1926 into a humble family. At the age of ten, with the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, he was evacuated to Antwerp in Belgium where he remained until 1939, and it was in this period that he started to show evidence of his talent in drawing.

In 1946 he enrolled at the Academia de la Asociación Artística Vizcaína, where he trained under Pelayo Olaortua (1910-1983), Matías Álvarez Ajuria (1914-1969) and Antonio Santafé Largacha (1912-1985).

This was followed by a period of intense exhibition activity in the 1950s. In 1952 he returned to Antwerp, where he spent three years and furthered his education at the city’s Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten, a sojourn which proved instrumental in shaping García Barrena’s style, heavily influenced by the honesty and quality of Flemish painting.

In the 1960s he took part in several exhibitions held in Spain, including the Exposition of Basque Artists organised in 1964 at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Bilbao. García Barrena obtained many distinctions both in Spain and abroad, and in 1966 he joined the , one of the most important artists’ collectives that emerged in the orbit of the Basque School.

The 1970s was one of the most important decades in his career. In 1970 the artist travelled to Paris to attend and he also visited Belgium and the Netherlands. In 1971 his work was selected by the Department of Fine Arts for inclusion in its touring exhibitions, which enhanced his international profile and earned him considerable prestige.

His work looms large over the Basque art scene of his time. It ought to be ascribed to an apparent modernism, with a style highly influenced by nineteenth-century Parisian painting and the Neocubism of Daniel Vázquez Díaz (1882-1969). As far as subject matters are concerned, he focused on conventional genres, particularly cityscapes and still lifes, with creations predicated on an intimate approach and exceptional technical prowess.

Carmelo García Barrena died in Bilbao on 24 July 2000, at the age of 74.