Page 88 - International Iconic July 2024

B ALTAS AR
LOBO

revered Spanish avant-garde sculptor, Baltasar Lobo London and Caracas. His first solo exhibition took place in 1960,
was born in Cerecinos de Campos in Zamora, Spain, in which received critical acclaim for its blend of French and Spanish
A 1910. His first tryst with art was at the Cervantes School, sensibilities, and a rustic subtlety of form.
Benavente, after which, at the young age of 12, he became an Lobo is best known for his sculptures which, similar to his
apprentice to sculptor Ramon Nuñez. Here, he would cultivate his peers Jean Arp, Constantin Brancusi and Miró, depict the female
creativity, winning a scholarship to study at School of Fine Art in nude in an abstract form. These expressive works take inspiration
Madrid at 17. This was a short-lived stint, as three months later he from his home, his adopted home France, the artists he met during
had abandoned his studies and instead attended night drawing his lifetime and Iberian art he witnessed as a young artist. These
classes at the School of Arts and Crafts. He also frequented the sculptures often reference the female forms depicted in archaic art
Archaeological Museum in Madrid and spent considerable time and express the sensuality of the body. Amongst his many themes,
exploring Iberian art. He was also introduced to the works of motherhood was a favourite, seen in the series Maternidad and
Joan Miró, Salvador Dalí and Pablo Picasso at the museum, which Mère et enfant.
indelibly impacted his own artistic style. Lobo received several awards during his lifetime, including

“My work is, as always, figurative; which is to say that

it is abstract. It necessarily begins with figuration.

Simplified and synthesised, it becomes abstraction.”

In 1936, Spain was catapulted into a Civil War in which the André Susse Sculpting Award in 1958, the Jacques Lenchener
Lobo actively participated from the Republican side, drawing Award in 1974, the French Official Arts and Letters Award in 1981,
for anarchist magazines. He lost his father to a bomb during this the National Award for Plastic Arts in 1984, the Gold Medal Award
time, which also destroyed his artist workshop. With the rise of the Castilla y Leon in 1986, the Andres Bello Award by the government
Franco dictatorship in 1939, he fled to Paris to live with his wife in of Venezuela in 1989, and the Gold Medal Susse Fréres Fondeul
Montparnasse. Here, he began participating in artistic movements in 1990. He has created several public installations, including at
enthusiastically, eventually meeting and becoming friends with the University of Venezuela. Lobo’s works are part of several public
Jacques Lipschitz, Pablo Picasso and Henri Laurens, whom he also collections around the globe, and there is a museum dedicated to
assisted for a while. His meeting with these artists allowed him to the artist, Museo Baltasar Lobo, in Zamora, Spain.
further evolve his style. The artist passed away in 1993, leaving behind an enduring
Lobo exhibited at the Galerie Vendôme in 1945, after which legacy of emotion-evoking, poignant abstract sculptures that
his works were part of travelling exhibitions in Oslo, Tokyo, Prague, transcended boundaries.