Luis Feito

Luis Feito began his formal training at the Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (now Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando), Madrid, in 1950. He worked briefly in a figurative style before he discovered Cubism, but in 1954 the Galería Buchholz, Madrid, presented his first solo show of nonfigurative works. Thereafter, Feito remained committed to painting in an abstract mode.

In 1953 Feito traveled to Paris on a grant from the

Feito nonetheless maintained close contact with the Spanish avant-garde and was a founding member of the Madrid-based group El Paso (1957–60), which emphasized an antiacademic, morally and socially responsible, innovative art for Spain. Other founding members included Manolo Millares, Manuel Rivera, and Antonio Saura. El Paso's manifesto articulated the group's aim to create a new spiritual state in Spanish art, recognizing the necessity to take action in the wake of the civil war. In 1981 he moved to Montreal and then to New York City in 1983, where he continued to live and work until the early 1990s.

During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Feito's work can be characterized by a subdued, colorless palette, contrasting blacks, grays, whites, and ochers. He later introduced red into his compositions as a counterpoint, and then as the primary color in many compositions. His work from this period also exhibits his interest in materiality through his overlapping of smooth and encrusted surfaces, which he accomplished by using sand and heavy impasto. In 1963 his work tended toward an increased formal and material simplicity in which circular forms predominated, reflecting his interest in Japanese art. Throughout his career Feito continually explored relationships among surface textures, light, color, and form. Because of his preoccupation with light, many critics have ascribed an element of mysticism to his work.

Exhibitions and awards

Feito's early notable international group exhibitions include the Venice Biennale (1956, 1958, 1960, 1968); São Paulo Biennial (1957, 1963); Documenta, Kassel, West Germany (1959); Paris Biennial (1959); Guggenheim Museum (1960); Tate Gallery, London (1962); and Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh (1962).

Retrospectives of his work include those at the Galerie Arnaud, Paris (1961);

He was named Officer (1985) and Commander (1993) of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He received the international grand prize from the Asociación Espaola de Críticos de Arte (AECA) at the art fair Arco, Madrid (2002).

References