Carmen Calvo Sáenz de Tejada (born 1950) is a Spanish conceptual artist, noted for her contribution to the contemporary art of the Valencian Community.

Carmen Calvo
Calvo at the Institut Valencià d'Art Modern in 2019
Born
Carmen Calvo Sáenz de Tejada

1950 (age 73–74)
Valencia, Spain
Alma materSchool of Fine Arts of Valencia
OccupationArtist
Years active1973–present
OrganizationReal Academia de Bellas Artes de San Carlos de Valencia
AwardsNational Award for Plastic Arts (2013)
Websitewww.carmencalvo.es Edit this at Wikidata

Biography

edit

Carmen Calvo was born in Valencia in 1950.[1] In her youth she worked in a ceramic factory, an experience which would later be reflected in her art, which includes fragments of pottery and clay.[2] She studied advertising and entered that city's School of Arts and Crafts from 1965 to 1970. She attended the School of Fine Arts of Valencia from 1969 to 1972.

She held her first individual exhibition in Valencia in 1976, and her second in Madrid in 1977.[2]

From 1983 to 1985 she lived in the Casa de Velázquez in Madrid. In 1985 she received a scholarship from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and moved to Paris,[3] where she remained until 1992. Since then she has lived and worked in Valencia.[1]

Artistic career

edit

An admirer and follower of artists such as Giotto, Piero della Francesca, Filippo De Pisis, Carlo Carrà, Jean Arp, Joan Miró, and Jannis Kounellis,[4] Calvo incorporated terracotta into her plastic compositions very early on so that this element would become an icon of her work. In addition to painting, Calvo is known for carrying out interventions, in some cases on a permanent basis, in public buildings.[5]

In the 1980s she received several scholarships, and won distinctions such as the LaSalle Seiko First Prize for Painting and the Alfons Roig Award from the Provincial Diputation of Valencia [es].[6] In 1980 she was one of nine artists chosen to participate in the exhibition New images from Spain at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.[7] In 1982 she also exhibited at the first edition of ARCO [es], the contemporary art fair of Madrid, with the Fernando Vijande Gallery.

In 1990 the Institut Valencià d'Art Modern presented a retrospective on her work since 1973.[8]

In 1995, Calvo created the Lápida-Mural, the result of a competition organized by the Regional Ministry of Public Works of the Valencian Community, for Alboraya-Palmaret Station [es] on metro Line 3, a project by Carlos Meri and Lourdes García Sogo [es].[5]

In the late 1990s she began to introduce photographic images into her compositions[2] and created scenes based on installations, which synthesized, as Francisco Brines referred to it, her "saved and saving view" on contemporary reality.[9]

She represented Spain with a gallery of mirrors at the Venice Biennale in 1997, together with the Catalan poet Joan Brossa.[10] In 2003 the Museo Reina Sofía dedicated an exhibition about her work. From 2 December 2016 to 29 January 2017, her exhibition Carmen Calvo. Todo procede de la sinrazón (1969–2016) was held at Sala Alcalá 31 in Madrid.[11]

In 2013 she received the National Award for Plastic Arts from Spain's Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sports,[3] and in 2014 she was named an academic of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Carlos de Valencia.[12]

She participated in the Official Section of the 2018 PHotoEspaña Festival with the exhibition Quietud y vertigo.[13]

Feminist themes have been prominent in Calvo's work,[2] and in March 2019, she and fellow artist Carla Fuentes received the Carmen Alborch Award from the Socialist Party of the Valencian Country for their contributions to culture and feminism.[14]

Awards

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ a b "Carmen Calvo" (in Spanish). Museo Patio Herreriano de Arte Contemporáneo Español. Archived from the original on 29 May 2016. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d Bozal, Valeriano (20 July 2015). "4.2.5. Carmen Calvo". Historia de la pintura y la escultura del siglo XX en España. Vol. II: 1940–2010 [History of Painting and Sculpting in 20th-Century Spain. Vol. II: 1940–2010] (in Spanish). Antonio Machado Libros. ISBN 9788491140603. Retrieved 3 July 2019 – via Google Books.
  3. ^ a b "La valenciana Carmen Calvo, Premio Artes Plásticas 2013" [The Valencian Carmen Calvo, 2013 Plastic Arts Award]. Levante-EMV (in Spanish). Madrid. EFE. 8 November 2013. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  4. ^ "El universo objetual de Carmen Calvo llena de poesía el Palacio de Velázquez" [The Objective Universe of Carmen Calvo Fills the Palacio de Velázquez with Poetry]. ABC (in Spanish). Madrid. 24 October 2002. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
  5. ^ a b Taberner Pastor, Francisco (2015). "Discurso de contestación a la Académica Carmen Calvo" (PDF). Memoria Académica (in Spanish). Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Carlos de Valencia: 107. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 August 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  6. ^ "Ronda acoge una exposición que reúne las obras más recientes de la artista Carmen Calvo" [Ronda Hosts an Exhibition that Brings Together the Most Recent Works of the Artist Carmen Calvo]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Ronda. Europa Press. 30 July 2011. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  7. ^ Nadel, Norman (29 June 1980). "Spanish art begins long overdue emergence". Arizona Daily Sun. New York. NEA. p. A7. Retrieved 3 July 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Carmen Calvo: Obras 1973–1990". Institut Valencià d'Art Modern. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  9. ^ La Visión impura: fondos de la colección permanente (in Spanish). Museo Reina Sofía. 2006. p. 42. ISBN 9788480262866. Retrieved 3 July 2019 – via Google Books.
  10. ^ Calvo Serraller, Francisco (14 February 1997). "Joan Brossa y Carmen Calvo expondrán en la Bienal de Venecia" [Joan Brossa and Carmen Calvo to Exhibit at the Venice Biennale]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  11. ^ "Carmen Calvo: Todo procede de la sinrazón (1969–2016)" (in Spanish). Asociación de Mujeres en las Artes Visuales (MAV). Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  12. ^ "Carmen Calvo reivindica en su ingreso en San Carlos la imagen" [Carmen Calvo Reclaims Her Image in Her Entry Into San Carlos]. Levante-EMV (in Spanish). Valencia. 10 December 2014. Archived from the original on 29 April 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  13. ^ "Carmen Calvo participa en PHotoEspaña 2018 con la exposición Quietud y vértigo" (in Spanish). PHotoEspaña. 7 June 2018. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  14. ^ Monrabal, Nacho (10 March 2019). "Las artistas Carmen Calvo y Carla Fuentes, premios Carmen Alborch" (in Spanish). Valencia: Cadena SER. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  15. ^ "Cultura – La Facultad de Bellas Artes entrega mañana sus medallas de San Carlos al MuVIM, Carmen Calvo y Paco Bascuñán" [Culture – The Faculty of Fine Arts Presents its Medals from San Carlos to MuVIM, Carmen Calvo, and Paco Bascuñán Tomorrow] (in Spanish). Valencia. Europa Press. 16 December 2009. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  16. ^ "Premios AECA 2001-2012" (in Spanish). Spanish Association of Art Critics. Archived from the original on 23 May 2015. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  17. ^ "Premis ACCA de la Crítica d'Art – 30ª Convovatòria 2013" (in Catalan). Catalan Association of Art Critics. Archived from the original on 6 May 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
edit