Felipe Criado

Category: Painter
Birth Date: In 1928 ( † 22nd November 2013)
Birth Place: Gijón (Asturias)

   Cultura
 Curriculum

Although he was not born in Galicia, he can be considered as a Galician artist because he developed all his creative activity in Galicia. He arrived in Galicia when he was eight and lived with his parents in Ourense, Santiago and A Coruña. During the Civil War he witnessed a bomb falling over Santander, which was a traumatic experience for him. In 1949, he stopped his artistic activity because of tuberculosis. He met and made friends with Asorey, which was a decisive circumstance for his dedication to Plastic and his studies on Artistic Anatomy. In 1954, he entered 'San Fernando' School of Fine Arts (Madrid), where he attended classes with eminent Professors such as Joaquín Valverde, Lafuente Ferrari, Francisco Soria and Ramón Stolz and met other important painters such as Lucio Muñoz, Amalia Avia, Antonio López, María Moreno, Zarco, Alcorlo and Isabel Quintana. Two years later, he took part in his first competition-exhibition that took place in 'Sésamo' (Madrid). He finished his studies of Fine Arts in 1959. Then, he travelled around Spain and Europe visiting the most important museums and collaborating as art critic in the newspaper La Noche (Santiago).

 Work & Activities

He has carried out more than a hundred works and painted murals and designed potteries in collaboration with 'O Castro'. His works can be found in the most important Spanish museums and collections (Santiago University, 'Museo do Pobo Galego', Academy of Fine Arts, 'Salomón by Company' (London), Galician Centre of Contemporary Art, Provincial Museum of Lugo and Galician Parliament).

 Other Interesting Aspects

He was a member of the Galician Academy of Fine Arts and was awarded several distinctions such as the silver medal of the Triennial Painting, Sculpture and Engraving Exhibition of Santiago. He stopped painting landscapes to focus on the human figure, perhaps for his influence as a Professor of Artistic Anatomy. He said 'That's why I have worked hard on the figure, but also landscape with figure and mainly feminine figure. I have painted in the nude, but I am more worried about the feminine world than about beauty itself. I had already painted in the nude when in Spain it was considered almost a sin. Nowadays, nobody is scandalized at anything and lives an intense and healthy erotism'. Ochre was the most abundant colour in his work since he saw the picture La sagrada familia for the first time at 'Museo del Prado'. He was astonished by the golden-ochre colour of St Joseph's robe. He loved paintings by El Greco, Zuloaga and Benjamin Palencia; all these painters had an extraordinary influence in his work. He defined his own style as a 'product of the personal emotion' and thought that 'painting and poetry are intimately bound. The ideal painting critic is the poet, who does not have technical knowledge but many critics do not either'.