The Minister of Culture and Sports, Patricia del Pozo, accompanied by the Mayor of Huelva, Pilar Miranda, has formalized in Madrid with the Caballero-Thomas de Carranza Foundation the arrival of the legacy of the Huelva painter José Caballero (1913-1991) to Andalusia, a reference in the artistic avant-garde of the 20th century and a member of the Generation of ’27. The collection, composed of nearly 150 paintings and around 2,500 drawings, sculptures, costumes and sets, library and archive, photographic and personal archive, furniture and applied arts, will be exhibited in the museum located in the former building of the Bank of Spain.
«Thanks to the agreement between the Ministry of Culture and Sports and the Caballero-Thomas de Carranza Foundation, in collaboration with those who have taken care of José Caballero’s legacy and that of María Fernanda Thomas de Carranza, the artist returns to Huelva, to his home, for better protection, conservation, public exhibition, and access to researchers,» stated Patricia del Pozo, who thanked the foundation’s patrons for their extraordinary generosity and Mayor Pilar Miranda for her commitment and support to a project fundamental for the culture of Huelva and Andalusia.
Minister Del Pozo recalled that «both Pepe Caballero and his wife María Fernanda clearly expressed their wish for all their legacy to remain in Huelva, to return to the painter’s hometown. We are talking about a very important legacy that goes beyond the figure of the artist himself, thanks to the presence, among its holdings, of other important authors such as Pablo Picasso, Federico García Lorca, Rafael Alberti, Daniel Vázquez Díaz, Joan Miró, and Alberto Sánchez.» «The arrival of this very important collection is the best starting point for the commemoration in Andalusia of the centenary of the Generation of ’27,» added the Minister of Culture.
On her part, the Mayor of Huelva, Pilar Miranda, highlighted «the value of a unique collection in the world, which brings together the entire artistic career of one of the great painters of the 20th century in Spain and an essential figure of our country’s culture.» The agreement will, in the opinion of the mayor, «fulfill the last wish of our brilliant artist while fulfilling a desire of the people of Huelva, which is to have in the city one of the largest collections of contemporary art in Spain. José Caballero returns to his home.»
The mayor thanked «the Caballero-Thomas de Carranza Foundation and the Ministry of Culture and Sports led by Patricia del Pozo for their sensitivity, generosity, and resolute commitment to Huelva and for understanding that there is no better space for the collection than the future Museum of Fine Arts in the Bank of Spain, an emblematic building that we will soon recover for the enjoyment of the people of Huelva and visitors.» Therefore, «today is a historic day for Huelva,» emphasized Miranda.
«A dreamed project»
The Caballero-Thomas de Carranza Foundation maintains that «it is an honor and a privilege to entrust its assets to the Museum of Huelva, through the efforts made by both the Junta de Andalucía and the City Council of Huelva. Our responsibility as an institution is to preserve, make known, and make accessible the work of José Caballero. The agreement with the Junta de Andalucía allows us to start a dreamed project, we will be able to offer the city of Huelva an exhibition narrative of our collection, as well as take advantage of all the knowledge and management of the Museum to preserve our artistic and documentary fund, and make it accessible to the many researchers interested in the transversal richness of our collection.»
«We also want to remember some words of José Caballero: «All my work is a contribution to Andalusian art. I am constantly participating in the culture of my people, helping to build it or continue it. Every time I stand before a canvas or a wall, I am taking part in our culture. Thank you very much, Andalusia, for welcoming and protecting what belongs to you.»
In the opinion of Del Pozo, «the arrival of José Caballero’s legacy to Huelva will mean a reunion, a return home, one more reason for pride for its citizens, as well as a great artistic and cultural boost for the city. It will also mark a turning point for the museum offer in Huelva, with the historical building of Alameda Sundheim, which will house the archaeological collection, and with the former Bank of Spain building, where the fine arts funds will be located, specifically, the collection of the Huelva painter that we are now incorporating.»
«The Bank of Spain building will be marked by José Caballero. Thanks to the diversity of the collection, the great richness and variety of his work, these funds will not only be part of the permanent exhibition, but will expand, permeate all corners of the building and its services, such as the library, the archive, the audiovisual spaces, and the rest areas through its furniture,» explained Del Pozo, who was accompanied by the Director General of Museums and Cultural Sites, Aurora Villalobos, and the Territorial Delegate of Huelva, Teresa Herrera.
Imminently, the Ministry of Culture and Sports will address the review and enrichment of the Museological Plan to make the most of all opportunities presented with the inclusion of the Caballero Collection, as, in the words of Patricia del Pozo, «the new funds not only enrich the fine arts collection that will be located in the Bank of Spain, but also enhance the institution’s own concept, mission, and objectives, benefiting its services, its research work, its public exhibition and activity focus, study, and consultation.»
José Caballero, an essential figure of Spanish culture in the 20th century
José Caballero (Huelva, 1913- Madrid, 1991) is one of the references of the artistic avant-garde of the 20th century, linked to the great creators of his time and participant in almost all artistic movements. He was born into a well-off family in Huelva. In Madrid, he studied at the School of Fine Arts of San Fernando and frequented the Residencia de Estudiantes.
His friendship with Federico García Lorca and other members of the Generation of ’27 led him to lean towards surrealism. He designed sets for the university theater La Barraca. In his compositions of figurative base and meticulous drawing, he mixed, in a collage-like manner, themes, figures, and forms of dreamlike resonances that refer to Salvador Dalí and his paranoiac-critical method.
After the Civil War, he temporarily abandoned painting, earning a living by creating sets and costumes for both theater and cinema. In the fifties, his painting evolved from surrealistic realism to a search for the compositional essence of painting, based on the vertical and horizontal. He participated, during these years, with great success in the VII Salón de los Once and in the XXV Venice Biennale. From the sixties onwards, he focused on material painting around the world of bullfighting and the white walls of Andalusia, a legacy of the poetry of Federico García Lorca.
From 1968 to 1977, his painting was applied to geometric forms, with the circle as the protagonist. «The simplest linear form, the circle, which for me signifies the world. Not a static world, but a world in constant turmoil, its vitalization allowed it to be repeated time and time again,» explained Caballero himself. From the eighties until his death, his painting abandoned any geometric characteristic to delve into pure informalism, with the peculiar feature of the obsessive presence of written signs.