José Manuel Broto Biography

Zaragoza, 1949

Established Spanish painter Jose Manuel Broto is renowned for his association with the neoabstraction movement of the 1970s.

Broto studied at the School of Arts in his native city, Zaragoza. In 1972 he settled in Barcelona. In 1976, as a member of the group Trama, created by Javier Rubio, Xavier Grau and Gonzalo Tena, and supported by Antoni Tapies, he participated in the group's first exhibition at the Barcelonese gallery Maeght. This group also created an homonym magazine of which only the first two issues were ever printed.

Broto's neoabstract style is influenced by the aesthetic principles of the French group Support(s)-Surface(s). His Before 1970 he produced informalist works with minimal reminiscences, based on elemental geometric structures with flat fields of monochromatic colour. It is during the 1970's when his work evolves to a gestural or lyrical abstraction that combines abstract forms with formal references to geometric objects, or signs taken from other symbolic languages, like mathematics, music or writing, especially from 1985. His informalism is connected to the revaluation of colour when used to reach expressive and emotive results, and the redefinition gesture, the fruit of poetic and metaphysical reflection. Contrasts and tensions between different chromatic fields and forms are frequent in his work. He is influenced by abstract expressionism, by Cezanne and also by cubism. From a technical point of view, it can be highlighted the use of acrylic paint and tar in his last artworks, the creation of glaze superimposing thin layers of liquid paint, and the occasional use of dripping technique which are very prevalent in his last artwork.

His most notable pieces of artwork are his series, such us Los Prodigios (1989), Vestigia Vitae (1990), Triptico Mozart (1993) and Las Islas (60 paintings, 1994)

Selected Individual Exhibitions

  • 1969 Galeria Galdeano, Zaragoza
  • 1976 Galeria Buades, Madrid
  • 1980 Galeria Central, Madrid
  • 1981 Galeria Maeght, Barcelona
  • 1984 Galerie Adrien Maeght, Paris
  • 1985 ARCO 85, Galeria Miguel Marcos, Madrid
  • 1986 Laurens A. Daane Gallery, Amsterdam

Germans Van Eck Gallery, New York - 1987 Galerie Moderne, Silkeborg

Museo Español de Arte Contemporaneo, Madrid

FIAC 87, Galerie Maeght, Paris

Germans Van Eck Gallery, New York - 1988 Galeria Soledad Lorenzo, Madrid

Galerie Aeblegaarden, Holt - 1989 Bruno Fachetti Gallery, New York

Galeria Juana de Aizpuru, Sevilla, Spain - 1991 Galeria Carles Tache, Barcelona - 1992 Galeria Claudia Gian Ferrari, Milan

Museo de Artes Visuales Alejandro Otero, Caracas, Venezuela - 1993 Barbara Farber Gallery, Amsterdam

Galeria Ruth Benzacar, Buenos Aires - 1996 Palacio de Velazquez, MNCARS, Madrid

Galerie Renos Xippas, Paris - 1997 Adriana Schmidt Gallery, Cologne, Germany - 1999 Galeria Altxerri, San Sebastian, Spain - 2000 Palais des Congres, Paris - 2001 Broto en Silos, Abadia de Santo Domingo de Silos - 2002 Galerie Xippas, Paris - 2003 Broto. Obras 1997-2002, Casa del Cordon. Caja de Burgos, Spain

Broto, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de Santiago de Chile - 2004 Broto. Museo Jose Luis Cuevas, Mexico D. F.

Broto Rever. Centro Municipal de Exposiciones, Montevideo, Uruguay - 2005 Principio. Galeria Soledad Lorenzo, Madrid

Selected Group Exhibitions

  • 1975 XXVI Salon de la Jeune Peinture. Musee d'Art Moderne, Paris
  • 1976 España: Vanguardia artistica y realidad social.

1939-1976. Venice Biennale - 1978 Impact III. Musee d'Art et d'Industrie, St. Etienne, France - 1979 Europa 79. Kunsthalle, Stuttgart, Germany - 1981 Forma y color. Galeria Theo, Madrid - 1982 Mostra d' Art 82. Exposition Itinerante, Cataluña, Spain - 1984 Spansk Egen-Art. Exposicion itinerante, Estocolmo, Oslo, Norway

Art Espagnol Actuel. Exposicion Itinerante, Strassburg, Toulouse, Niza, Lausana, Bruselas

Pintura contemporanea española. Exposicion Itinerante, Athens, Sarajevo, Warsaw, Prague

Spaanse Kunst 84. Galerie Nouvelles Images, La Haya - 1985 FRAC Adquisitions 1983-1985. Centre d'Art Contemporain, Toulouse

Arte español contemporaneo. Fundacion Juan March, Madrid - 1986 Arte Contemporaneo Español. Fundaçao Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon

Collective. Germans Van Eck Gallery, New York

Feria de Basilea. Galeria Maeght, Basil - 1987 Spanish Identities. Bruno Fachetti Gallery, New York - 1988 Ã?poca Nueva. Painting and Sculpture from Spain. Office of Fine Arts, Chicago. Traveling Exhibition in U.S.

Antipodas. Spanish Current Art. World Expo 88, Brisbane, Australia - 1989 Zeitgenossische Spanische Malerei. Friedrich-Ebert Fundation, Bonn. Maeght 15 Anys. Galeria Maeght, Barcelona - 1990 Fond National d'Art Contemporain. Adquisitions 1989. Fondation des Arts Plastiques, Paris

Barcelona Creacio. Museum of Art, Yokohama - 1991 Abstract Painters. L.A. Louver Gallery, Los Angeles.

Spanishche Kunst. Aktualitat und tradition. Staatlichen Kunsthalle, Berlin - 1992 Pasajes. Actualidad del arte español. Pabellon de España. Exposicion Universal, Sevilla, Spain - 1993 Arte contemporaneo español. Marugame Hirai Museum, Marugame. Japan - 1995 Obra grafica contemporanea, Años 90. Instituto Cervantes, UK, Ireland, Morocco, Tunisia - 1996 Nuevas abstracciones. Palacio de Velazquez, Madrid. /MACBA, Barcelona

Autour de Cercle et Carre.Maison des Arts Georges Pompidou, Cajarc - 1997 Kunst aus Spanien. Konrad Adenahuer Stiftung, Bonn, Germany

Arte contemporaneo español. Col. MNCARS. Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico D.F - 1999 Kunst-Stuck. Kunstverein, Heidelberg, Stuttgart, Karlsruhe - 2000 Encuentro de arte español en Mexico. Museo Jose Luis Cuevas, Mexico D.F. - 2001 Feria de Basilea M. Woolworth Editions, Basil, Switzerland

De Picasso a Barcelo. Un siglo de arte español. Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires - 2002 Suite Europa 2002. Le Socle de la Grande Arche, Paris-La Defense. France

Arte en España 1977-2002. Sala de Exposiciones Manege, Moscu. Russia

El siglo de Picasso. National Gallery, Athens - 2003 Colâ?¢leccio d'Art Contemporani de la Fundacio "la Caixa", Caixa Forum, Barcelona - 2005 La seduccion de Paris: artistas aragoneses del siglo XX. Museo Ramon Aznar, Zaragoza, Spain

Selected Museums and Collections

  • Museo de Arte Abstracto Español, Cuenca, Spain
  • FRAC (Fond Regionaux D'Art Contemporain), Midi-Pyrenees. France
  • The Chase Manhattan Bank, New York
  • Fundacion Juan March, Madrid
  • Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid
  • The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
  • FNAC (Fond National d'Art Contemporain), Paris, France
  • The Kampo Collection, Tokyo, Japan
  • Fundacion A. Tapies, Barcelona
  • The DOVE Collection, Zurich, Switzerland
  • Ateneum Museum, Helsinki, Finland
  • Fundacion Peter Stuyvesant, Amsterdam, Holland
  • Fundacion Maeght, France
  • Coleccion Arte Contemporaneo, Fundacion "la Caixa", Barcelona
  • Coleccion Preussag, Hanover, Germany
  • IVAM, Valencia

Awards

Premio Nacional de Artes Plasticas, 1995

Premio ARCO de la Asociacion de Criticos, Madrid, 1997

Premio Goya de Grabado, 2003