Page 31 - Studio International - August 1965

5 Spanish Painters

PHOTO: STUDtO C!...AI RAC

Manolo Momp6 (b. 1927 in Valencia)

H. Momp6, or Manalo Momp6, is one of the surprising
elements in Spanish painting. Or perhaps, considering
that he comes from Valencia, which is more Catalonia
than anything else, it is not so surprising that there
should be no sense of impending tragedy and little of
the biting irony usually found in most contemporary
Spanish painting Momp6's work has the playful and
childish gaiety one also comes across in Mir6.
Momp6 pokes fun, but gently. He laughs with people,
not at them. He is forever astonished and enchanted by
the beauty and the joy of living, and he likes to tell
stories which make people laugh. To tell these stories
he uses colours and textures fairy tales are made of:
opalescent hues of mother of pearl, shapes and signs
that are full of invention and fun. But his apparently
simple canvases are in reality the ultimate in refinement,
a refinement that can only be attained by a spontaneity
that is the result of a masterful technique.
All this he uses for a very simple purpose: he wants to
capture reality, his reality, and he does it by using form
and colour. He seems to scatter his ideograms on the
canvas-men and women, houses and flowers, heads
and feet He brings them together, plays with them,
distributes them over the canvas, with results that
show great wisdom and a great understanding of
human weaknesses, an understanding which is the
prerogative of great poets. And Manalo Momp6 is the
great lyrical painter to appear in this generation.
Manalo Momp6 People in 1he Stree1
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