(Santander 1912 - London, 1984)
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Quiros
studied under the academicist painter Camollano. His contacts with
literary circles, especially with Gerardo Diego and Lorca, identify
him with the artistic avant-garde. Quiros was painter Maria Blanchard's
nephew, and his aunt had an evident influence on his work in the thirties.
Cubist roots can be noted in the decomposition of the figure into
different geometric planes. He attended the Julien and Grande Chaumiere Academies around1945, where he picked up an interest in volume while in search of a mechanist style. During the Second Republic Quiros displayed a surrealist style reminiscent of Miro and Juan Ismael. Upon his return to Madrid in 1955, his painting moved away from surrealism, focusing instead on symbolic figuration. The artist often used the image of a kind of doll with an unkempt appearance, parading through an unknown world. These beings have stiff, inactive arms and legs, with an almost stone-like appearance heightened by the use of a cold and tense chromatic range. The works remind us of the artist's experiences in concentration camps during the Second World War (Quiros participated in the French Resistance in Paris). These puppet characters also show a strong influence from Egyptian art, especially in the artist's treatment of profiles. The dramatic effects that Quiros seeks to evoke in these oneiric scenes are only offset by his enthusiastic commitment to luminosity and incessant technical experimentation. |
