Pablo Palazuelo 1916 - 2007
Pablo Palazuelo was a significant Spanish artist whose career spanned much of the 20th Century. Born in 1916, when the artist was just 10 years old Palazuelo was greatly inspired by a painter who created a pastel depicting him with his sister. This early experience made a huge impression on Palazuelo and resulted in a strong interest in drawing and painting. He began to study architecture in Madrid in 1932 before travelling to England to study at the School of Arts and Crafts in Oxford. There, he became familiar with the works of British artists such as Jacob Epstein and Duncan Grant. Just after Palazuelo had taken his exams for the Royal institute of British Architects, he was called to serve as a pilot in the Spanish civil war in 1936.
After his time on the Spanish frontline, Palazuelo decided not to return to England. He wanted to devote his time wholly to painting and made great progress. He exhibited at the Galleria Bucholz in Madrid, in 1945, alongside members of the Madrid School. By 1947, the artist became fascinated by Paul Klee’s work, inspired by his use of geometric shapes and abstract forms in nature. Juan Gris, Pablo Picasso and Daniel Vázquez Díaz were also heavily influential on Palazuelo’s early works, mostly abstract still lifes.
After a year of learning and developing his own style, Palazuelo decided to abandon figuration and pursued purely abstract forms instead. He continued to exhibit his work and moved to Paris. Here he began to collaborate with Gallerie Maeght along with many other important artists of the era. The gallery showed his first solo exhibition in 1955 and continued to support and show his work up until the 1980s. His art from this period is characterised by a deep exploration of the abstract form with a subtle influence of new interests of his; Arabic and eastern thought, Islamic art and the “active imagination”.
During the late 1950s and 60s he began to experiment with sculpture, using materials such as bronze. And by the 70s he was creating works with open and closed polygonal shapes. In 1969 he had returned to Spain and settled in his family home. Here he developed the fundamental themes of inner conscience and imagination in his continuing work. He received awards for his work such as the Kandinsky and Carnegie prizes. His art was popular and was exhibited globally right up until his final years. The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona co-organised his retrospective that was shown in 2005-2006. A year later, in 2007 Palazuelo died in Madrid at the age of 90.
Slade House collects and owns original lithographs, giclees and limited edition prints by all of the artists represented here - only some of which are for sale online. Please get in touch if you would like to see our wider collection.
Abstract, original lithograph, 1966, available from the Slade House online shop.