223 - JOSE MARIA DE LABRA SUAZO (A Coruña, 1925 - Palma de Mallorca, 1994).

JOSE MARIA DE LABRA SUAZO (A Coruña, 1925 - Palma de Mallorca, 1994). "Dancers". Bas-relief in wood. Signed in the lower corner. Measurements: 32 x 44 x 4 cm; 53 x 65 cm (frame). Painter and sculptor, José María de Labra abandons his studies of Architecture and Commerce to dedicate himself to painting, soon reaching abstraction through the investigation of space and movement and the use of different materials. After receiving his first recognition in 1942, the First Prize at the SEU Art Exhibition, in 1947 he enters the School of Fine Arts in Madrid. In 1953 he began his exhibition career in A Coruña, and two years later he presented his work in Madrid, at the Ateneo. In 1956 he was awarded the Francesco Perotti prize at the Venice Biennale, thus confirming a successful international career that would lead him to show his work both in Spain and abroad. In fact, in the following years he will be awarded at the III Bienal Hispanoamericana and at the International Festival of Cagnes-sur-Mer. He is currently represented in the Caixanova collection and the Oteiza Museum, among other public and private collections.