Framed Etching 'Segador Y Burro' by Jose Ortega

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An etching and aquatint by Spanish artist Jose Ortega
'Segador y burro' , 1963.
Jose García Ortega (Spanish,1921-1990).
Aquatint and … Read more An etching and aquatint by Spanish artist Jose Ortega
'Segador y burro' , 1963.
Jose García Ortega (Spanish,1921-1990).
Aquatint and etching on paper.
Signed in lower right recto.
Black metal frame.

Born in Arroba de los Montes, Ciudad Real, Spain, Ortega taught himself how to draw and began his artistic career creating anti-Franco posters during the Spanish Civil War. He officially joined the Spanish Communist Party in 1941, and in 1948, he was imprisoned for his anti-government activities before being released in 1952. Ortega later studied at the National School of Graphic Arts and the Circulo de Bellas Artes in Madrid. In 1953, he earned a scholarship to study at the ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he won a gold medal for graphic art at the Warsaw International Youth Festival. After returning to Spain, Ortega co-founded Grupo Estampa Popular in 1958 and published the Manifesto Against Art, a statement against the state-sanctioned art of the time. In 1960, Ortega was exiled by Francos regime and moved to Paris, where he studied intaglio printmaking under Johnny Friedlaender. His focus on printmaking and his politically charged art won him the gold medal of the International Congress of Art Critics in 1963. Ortega lived in Italy for several years, where he studied intaglio techniques and easel painting. He produced a major series of prints, including Los Segadores and Ortega + Dürer, before returning to Spain after Francos death in 1976. Though he exhibited briefly in Spain, he remained based in Paris for most of his life. See less