102 - ENRIQUE SUÁREZ ALBA (Vitoria, 1921–1987).

ENRIQUE SUÁREZ ALBA (Vitoria, 1921–1987). "Landscape." Oil on canvas. Signed on the back. Measurements: 40 x 80 cm; 58 x 98 cm (frame). Enrique Julián Suárez Alba was a Spanish artist, painter, and watercolorist, born on August 9, 1921, in Vitoria (Álava, Basque Country). With some artistic background on his mother’s side of the family, he studied at the Corazonistas School in Vitoria, the School of Arts and Crafts in Pamplona, and the School of Arts and Crafts in Vitoria, where he was taught by the painters Adrián Aldecoa and Mariano Basterra. After the Civil War ended, he went to France to complete his artistic training; there he spent two months in Paris, Bordeaux, and the French Basque Country. In 1942, he held his first exhibition at the Acuario café, located on Dato Street in Vitoria, where he displayed twenty-four watercolors, one of which was reproduced in the magazine *Arte Español*. In July 1947, he held his second exhibition at the Salones de Olaguibel, also in Vitoria. He won numerous awards at exhibitions and participated in a large number of biennials and exhibitions. Notable among these were his contributions to the Hispano-American Biennials in Havana (1953) and Barcelona (1955), and to the National Fine Arts Exhibitions (1954, 1957, 1960, 1962, 1964, 1966, and 1968). He served as artistic advisor to the Vitoria Municipal Savings Bank, president of the Association of Basque Watercolorists, a member of the Aesthetics Commission of the Vitoria City Council, and a delegate to the Culture Council of the Provincial Council of Álava. One of his paintings, commissioned by the Sancho el Sabio Foundation, was used as the design for the postage stamp commemorating the 800th anniversary of the founding of the city of Vitoria in 1981.