AURELIO TENO TENO (Mina del Soldado, 1927 - Córdoba, 2013). Animals (x4). Seashells, hard stones, quartz and silver metal mounts. They have faults. They have onyx base. With labels on the base. Measurements: 21 x 19 x 5 cm (larger); 12 x 6 x 9 x 9 cm (smaller). Aurelio Teno Teno was a Spanish sculptor and painter noted for his interpretations of Don Quixote, represented as the first cosmonaut in history. Between 1936 and 1943 he lived in Cordoba where he received his artistic training. First as an apprentice in the workshop of sculptor Amadeo Ruiz Olmos, then in a silversmith's workshop, and from 1939 at the School of Arts and Crafts in Cordoba, where he studied painting and drawing. In 1950 he moved to Madrid to work as a goldsmith, and later to Paris where he lived for ten years. There he furthered his studies in fine arts, receiving influences from Giacometti and expressionism. He held several painting exhibitions in the galleries Salón del Art Libre, Palais des Beaux Arts and others. At the same time, he dedicated himself to the creation of jewelry-sculptures. In 1965 he returned to Madrid, although he set up his studio in the Molino del Cubo (Ávila) where he investigated new plastic procedures. During this period he exhibited at the Ateneo de Madrid. From that year on, he began a series of international exhibitions in Copenhagen, Paris, New York, Rabat and St. Louis (Missouri), obtaining great artistic recognition and consolidating his international prestige as a monumental sculptor by winning the competition to create the sculpture of Don Quixote, which would be erected in front of the Kennedy Center in Washington, in competition with Salvador Dalí and José de Creeft. He finally set up his workshop, and a museum dedicated to his work, in the old monastery of Pedrique (near Villaharta), in the municipality of Pozoblanco.