Equipo Crónica

(Valencia, 1964 – 1981)

Cayetana

1975-1976

polychrome polyurethane acrylic

103 x 35.5 x 31 cm

Inv. no. 2704

BBVA Collection Spain



This group, consisting of Manuel Valdés and Rafael Solbes, remained active until the latter’s death. It arose in opposition to the poetics of Informalismo and
, introducing a figurative style with echoes of
, through which it critically analysed Spanish social and political reality and art history.

As usual with their sculptures, Cayetana is a single work which is part of a series of twenty-five identical pieces produced from a mould in a craft workshop in Valencia and later painted by Equipo Crónica in their studio; each is done differently, combining painterly motifs from pictures by artists such as Juan Gris (1887-1927), Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Joan Miró (1893-1983), Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997), etc.

Their sculpture series were conceived as a complement to the painting series and they were exhibited together. Cayetana complements Ver y hacer pintura (Seeing and Doing Painting), and both were shown, with the series El paredón (The Wall), in May 1986 at the Juana Mordó Gallery.

The basic figure pays homage to a portrait by Goya, The Duchess of Alba in White (1795), which they have simplified to the point of turning the image into an icon reminiscent of a Punic votive statue. In this example the face, the luxuriant black hair and the large flower come from the Goya portrait, whereas the dress contains motifs taken from The Builders (1950) by Fernand Léger (1881-1955).

Although this work is dated 1975 in the catalogue raisonné of Equipo Crónica, Tomás Llorens points out that some copies contain the brick wall motif from the series El paredón, of 1976, and he therefore considers it more correct to extend the date of production of the work.