Baltasar Lobo

Baltasar Lobo was a highly celebrated Spanish avant-garde sculptor.

Biography of Baltasar Lobo

Baltasar Lobo was born on February 22, 1910, in the small village of Cerecinos de Campos, in Zamora, Spain. He began his artistic journey as an apprentice in Ramón Núñez's Art Workshop and, starting in 1923, attended sculpture modeling courses at the Museum of Fine Arts in Valladolid.

At 17, driven by his passion for art and supported by a grant from the Provincial Council, Baltasar Lobo moved to Madrid to attend the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts. The artist soon left the Academy, feeling disillusioned, and instead immersed himself in the Spanish capital's vibrant and modernizing cultural atmosphere. He continued to take night drawing classes at the School of Arts and Crafts. During this time, he supported himself by sculpting gravestones.

Despite the limited opportunities for a young artist with a precarious livelihood, Lobo managed to explore the artistic scene of the time. During this period he discovered the work of Picasso and the international avant-garde. He visited exhibitions, developed an interest in Soviet cinema, and traveled across Spain.

During the Spanish Civil War, a bombing killed his father and destroyed the artist's studio. He joined the Republican side and in 1939 fled to France with his partner, Mercedes Guillen. They settled in Montparnasse, where Lobo befriended Picasso and Henri Laurens, who welcomed him into his workshop. Lobo’s work began to gain recognition when he participated in a collective exhibition at the Vendôme Gallery in Paris, showcasing his art alongside that of Matisse, Picasso, and Léger, attracting the attention of both the public and critics.

In 1951, the artist held his first solo exhibition at Stockholm's Blanche Gallery. This marked the beginning of a lifelong connection with Venezuela, initiated by a commission for the sculpture "Matemite" at the Central University of Venezuela in Caracas. 

From the 1950s onward, Baltasar Lobo became a prominent figure in the Parisian art scene, frequently exhibiting his work. His presence was strongly associated with the Villand & Galanis galleries at first, and later with Daniel Malingue. He also collaborated with the dealer Nathan from Zurich, who, in 1984, oversaw the publication of a catalog of Lobo's work. The artist lived in Paris until his death in 1993.

The Art of Baltasar Lobo

During his time in Montparnasse, working with Henri Laurens in his studio, Baltasar Lobo's work focuses on his signature theme: the formal exploration of the female body. Reflecting on his art, Lobo once said, "My current work is, as always, figurative, which is to say that it is abstract. It necessarily begins with figuration. Simplified and synthesized, it becomes an abstraction. By simplifying this reality, I distill its emotion, allowing me to feel and communicate it more directly."

Between 1956 and 1966, Baltasar Lobo's work took a new, more radical direction, characterized by a refined and abstract approach. He sought to represent elemental and embryonic life through solid, serious volumes, simple geometries, and impeccably smooth surfaces. Works such as "Cabeza de gitana", "El despertar", and "Pájaro herido" exemplify this period, where the influence of leading European sculptors of the time, from Barbara Hepworth to Jean Arp — who, like Lobo, was inspired by the Brancusian ideal of pure form — can be felt.

In the later decades of his career, the artist's work increasingly reflected a thematic dichotomy that had been present from the start: the concepts of flight and sleep. This duality became more pronounced in his new series. On one hand, he explored themes of elevation and upward movement, as seen in the "Cara al Viento" cycle, which began in 1977. On the other hand, he delved into the stillness and introspection of the static world of sleepers, exemplified by the bathers in "En la Arena", a theme he explored in the final years of his life.

Exhibitions and Recognitions of Baltasar Lobo

Some of the prominent galleries showcasing Baltasar Lobo work include Villand Galanis in Paris, Nathan in Zürich, Nichido in Tokyo, Freites in Caracas, and Daniel Malingue in Paris. In 1984, his art was finally displayed in his hometown of Zamora, leading to the establishment of the Baltasar Lobo de Zamora Museum, which houses a significant collection of works donated by Lobo and his successors. In 1992, a traveling exhibition of his sculptures and drawings reached Austria, Germany, and Japan.

Throughout his career, the artist received numerous prestigious awards, including the André Susse Sculpting Award (1958), the Jacques Lenchener Award (1974), the Official Arts and Letters Award (France, 1981), the National Award for Plastic Arts (Spain, 1984), the Gold Medal Award of Castilla y León (1986), the Andrés Bello Award from the Venezuelan government (1989), and the Gold Medal Susse Frères Fondeur (1990).

Lobo's work is featured in public collections across the globe, including the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Tokyo National Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg, and the National Gallery in Prague.