Miguel vivancos biography

Miguel García Vivancos (Mazarrón, April 19, 1895 - Córdoba, January 23, 1972) was a Spanish anarchist and painter. Member of the National Confederation of Labor (CNT), during the Civil War he commanded various military units. With the defeat of the Republic he went into exile, where he developed a prosperous career as a painter.He was artistically known by his second surname.

Biography

He was born in Mazarrón on April 19, 1895. An apprentice in the Cartagena arsenal, he went with his widowed mother and brothers to Barcelona. At an early age he joined the anarchist Confederation of National Labor (CNT); To actively fight against the gunmen hired by the employers to repress workers' demands, he formed the group Los Solidarios together with Buenaventura Durruti, Francisco Ascaso, Juan García Oliver, Gregorio Jover, Ramona Berri and Aurelio Fernández.

During the civil war, he commanded the Aguiluchos column that left Barcelona to fight at the Huesca front. Unlike other anarchists, García Vivancos saw the need for militarization and tried to cooperate with the communists. Later he came to command the 125th Mixed Brigade and the 25th Division, intervening in the battles of Belchite and Teruel. In May 1938 he would be promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel, for war merits. During the rest of the war, he also commanded the 29th divisions —former POUM militia— and the 24th divisions —the latter, replacing the fled Antonio Ortiz Ramírez—.

Fled to France at the end of the civil war, he was confined in 1940 in the Vernet d'Ariège internment camp. He remained there at the beginning of the Nazi occupation, being released by the resistance, joining it.After the war he worked in many different trades. One day he began to paint scenes and landscapes of Paris on handkerchiefs to sell to American soldiers. This is how he discovered his talent for painting, beginning to capture his works in oil on canvas.

In 1947 he met Picasso who warmly welcomed him as he had heard of his actions during the civil war. Picasso was interested in his painting and sought out the dealer María Cuttoli to take care of making him known. In 1948 he held his first exhibition in Paris at the Mirador gallery. He gradually made a name for himself and in one of his exhibitions André Breton dedicated a few lines to him, saying: The duende that Vivancos manifests in his painting is the gift of those who are pleased to discover art for themselves; it is the virginal consecration of life, perhaps defeated beforehand, but together with the possibility of starting it over each time.

Seriously ill, he returned to Spain. He died in Córdoba on January 23, 1972.

Museums

• Museum of Modern Art in Paris
• New York Museum of Modern Art
• Museo de Arte Moderno de Rio de Janeiro
• Skopie Museum of Modern Art
• Laval Museum. Mayenne (France)
• Museum of Modern Art of Stockholm
• Museum of Contemporary Art in Madrid
• Naïf International Art Museum "Manuel Moral". Jaén.

Collections

His works were acquired by famous people such as François Mitterrand, David de Rothschild, Helena Rubinstein, Greta Garbo, among others.

Exhibitions

• Mirador Gallery. Paris, 1948.
• Mirador Gallery. Paris, 1956.
• Weil Gallery. Paris, 1957.
• Norval Gallery. Paris, 1958.
• Charpentier Gallery. Paris, 1964.
• Ramon Durán Gallery. Madrid, 1971, passing but his unnoticed exhibition both by criticism and by collectors.
• Arteta Gallery. Bilbao, 1972, with great success. Even Madrid collectors of naif painting and who had not heard of the exhibition he had made in this city a year before, moved to Bilbao to acquire his work.
• Arteta Gallery. Bilbao, 1974.

Group exhibitions

• "Les Peintres Naives." Paris, 1960.
• "Laienmaler." Basel, 1961.
• "Pittori Naifs." Rome, 1964.
• "Die Lusthof der Naieven." Rotterdam-Paris, 1964.
• "Le Panorama Internationale de la Peinture Naive". Rabat, 1964.
• "Von Rousseau bis heute." Zagreb-Belgrad-Rijeka-Ljuhijana", 1970.