Monroy I

February 2019

In this new family of paintings I have tried, on the one hand, to put an end to the dichotomy between form and background, and on the other to do away with closed forms adjacent to other closed forms. The lines that delineate these forms shall in turn be forms, since they widen at a certain point like a river widens to form a lake, though they flow uninterruptedly throughout the composition to disappear into the central section, from which they then re-emerge.
FÉLIX GUISASOLA, “La geometría de Pablo Palazuelo: emoción pulcra”, Arquitectos, Consejo Superior de los Colegios de Arquitectos de España, No. 44, Madrid, IV/1981, quoted p. 78 (on the “Monroy” series)
The series of paintings titled “Monroy”, started in 1974, offers a solution to the problem of the form-background and form-line dichotomies, and reflects, in each case, a process of transformation from its origin to its cyclical end.
FRANCISCO CALVO SERRALLER, “Cuando trabajo, me parece que estoy escuchando…”, El País, Artes, año
IV, No. 121, Madrid, 6/III/1982 (on the “Monroy” series)
If you have reached the throne, multiply your faith. Immutable, betray the lesson of wax.
Here, in the haughty world of offerings, Palazuelo denudes and recognises the burning stars that blossom when all writing dies out. Such is my song: absence.
JOSÉ MIGUEL ULLÁN, “Palazuelo/Intramuros”, Guadalimar, Dossier Guadalimar No. 18, Año III, No. 24, Madrid, VI/1977, p. 29

Exhibitions

• Galería Maeght, Exposición inaugural, Barcelona, November-December 1974, cat. No. 44, col. ill. unpaged, p. 41, cat. unpaged, p. 56 (dimensions: 200 x 200 cm)
• The New York Cultural Center, “Contemporary Spanish Painters. Miró and after-A selection”, New York, 18 May-30 June 1975. The exhibition travelled to: The North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, 15 July-30 August 1975; Meadows Museum and Sculpture Court, Dallas, 15 September-30 October 1975 and Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita, 15 January-29 February 1976, cat. No. 34, b/w ill. p. 33, quoted cat. p. 32 (dimensions: 200 x 200 cm)
• BANCO DE GRANADA 1978, cat. No. 3, n/r, cat. unpaged, p. 55 (dimensions: 200 x 200 cm)
• MNCARS-CAAC-IVAM 1995-1996, cat. No. 39, col. ill. p. 127, cat. p. 237 (dimensions: 200 x 200 cm)
• ARCO 1996, 20 Años de Coleccionismo Público (1975-1995). Museo de Bellas Artes de Álava, Madrid, 7-13 February 1996. Travelled to: Sala Amarica, Vitoria-Gasteiz, 22 February-14 April 1996, col. ill. pgs 98-99
• Museo ARTIUM de Álava, La Colección = Bilduma, Vitoria-Gasteiz, 26 April-27 October 2002
• Museo ARTIUM de Álava, La Colección II. Arte en España desde 1960 hasta la actualidad = II Bilduma. Artean Espainian 1960tik gaur arte, Vitoria-Gasteiz, 12 November 2002-28 February 2004
• Museo ARTIUM de Álava, Rumbos. La Colección III = Norabideak. Bilduma III, Vitoria Gasteiz, 18 March 2004-13 February 2005
• MACBA 2006-GUGGENHEIM BILBAO 2007, n/c, col. ill. p. 170, cat. p. 325, quoted p. 311 (on the “Monroy” series)
• Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno, India Moderna, Valencia, 11 December 2008-15 February 2009, col. ill. p. 193
• CEART-MACA 2013, n/c, col. ill. p. 123 (exhibited only at CEART)

Literature

• JULIÁN GÁLLEGO, “Los nombres de Palazuelo”, Cuaderno Palazuelo, Revista de Occidente, Tercera época, No. 7, Madrid, V/1976, col. ill. p. 57 (reproduced reversed and titled “Orto V”), quoted p. 58. Reproduced in BANCO DE GRANADA 1978, quoted unpaged
• JOSÉ MIGUEL ULLÁN, “Palazuelo/Intramuros”, Guadalimar, Dossier Guadalimar No. 18, Año III, No. 24, Madrid, VI/1977, b/w ill. p. 29
• CLAUDE ESTEBAN 1980, cat. No. 116, col. ill. p. 131
• CUADERNOS GUADALIMAR 1980, col. ill. unpaged, p. 50
• FÉLIX GUISASOLA, “La geometría de Pablo Palazuelo: emoción pulcra”, Arquitectos, Consejo Superior de los Colegios de Arquitectos de España, No. 44, Madrid, IV/1981, quoted p. 78 (on the “Monroy” series)
• Multiple Authors, “Museo de Bellas Artes de Álava. Vitoria-Gasteiz”, Diputación Foral de Álava, 1982, b/w ill. p. 150
• FRANCISCO CALVO SERRALLER, “Cuando trabajo, me parece que estoy escuchando…”, El País, Artes, año IV, No. 121, Madrid, 6/III/1982, quoted p. 2 (on the “Monroy” series)
• JESÚS BAÑO COLLAZOS, “Pablo Palazuelo trabaja en Monroy”, Diario Extremadura, Cáceres, 12/V/1982, quoted unpaged (on the “Monroy” series)
• Multiple Authors, “Vitoria-Gasteiz”, Ayuntamiento de Vitoria-Gasteiz, 1989, quoted p. 110
• CARLOS PÉREZ REYES, “La pintura española del siglo XX”, Historia Visual del Arte 16-Vicens Vives, Barcelona, 1990, col. ill. p. 162
• ANTONIO GARCÍA BERRIO, “Las quimeras alquímicas”, Diario 16, Suplemento Culturas, Madrid, 22/VI/1996, quoted p. 7
• SOLEDAD ALAMEDA, “Pablo Palazuelo. Tejedor del Cosmos”, El País, El País Semanal, No. 1116, Madrid, 15/II/1998, col. ill. p. 57
• Multiple Authors, “ARTIUM: Bilduma. Katalogoa, Arabako Foru Aldundia = ARTIUM: La colección. Catálogo, Diputación Foral de Álava”, Museo ARTIUM, Vitoria-Gasteiz, 2004, col. ill. p. 374. CD-ROM, col. ill. pgs 541-542
• CARMEN BONELL 2006, quoted pgs 121-122 and 129
• ALFONSO DE LA TORRE, “Pablo Palazuelo: sueño, y exilio, de la línea” in GALERÍA FERNÁNDEZ-BRASO 2011, quoted p. 36 (a poem by José Miguel Ullán)