Manolo Valdes

Marlborough Gallery, Inc., New York
Private Collection, Spain
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner  

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the pink tends more towards fuchsia in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition.
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Throught the years Manolo Valdes's remarkable ability to transform and reinterpret classical models and recognised images from art history, in addition to his continuous fascination of taking things "out of their original context", has made him one of the most influential and best known figures of Spanish Contemporary art. Commenting on Valdes' technique, Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez, Honorary Director of the El Prado Museum and Academy of History states, "He has achieved a very personal "manner" of challenging his interpretations of what meets his voraciously sensitive eyes, proving that the distortion of the medium does not damage the sensation of the whole, but rather sharpens it." (Exhibition Catalogue, Madrid, Museo Nacional de Arte Reina Sofia, Manolo Valdes 1981-2006, p. 41)

Executed in 2003, at the peak of Valdes' artistic maturity, Lillie IV is an outstanding example of the artist's technical command and creative development. Through the application of a wide range of carefully selected materials onto this large scale canvas and a combination of vibrant colours that he vigorously applies to the picture's surface, Valdes achieves a dense and seductive texture that captures dramatically the viewer's attention as well as the muse's imposing physicality.

The frontal female pose here, so characteristic of the formal tradition of portraiture, is given a new dimension through the use of collage. This three dimensional aspect has characterized Valdes art throughout his career as a painter and as a sculptor. And despite the formal lack of physical detail, Lillie IV is a subtle and nuanced portrait, its beauty showing itself in its simplicity and straightforwardness.