Rueda, Gerardo

BIOGRAPHY OF GERARDO RUEDA:
Madrid, 1926 - Madrid, 1996

Gerardo Rueda began his studies in classical painting and held his first exhibition in Madrid in 1949. In the early 1950s he presented his first collages and abstract drawings.

His first individual exhibitions took place in 1958 in Barcelona, in the Jardí Galleries and the Verda Gallery of Àngel Marsé. From then on, he participated in more than 200 group exhibitions, with the "Muestra de Arte Nuevo-MAN 64" at the X Salón de Mayo in Barcelona, where he was awarded the Serra Brothers Prize in 1966. He also participated in more than 60 solo exhibitions in some of the most prestigious galleries in the world. In 1960, he represented Spain at the Venice Biennale.

In 1995 he was appointed member of the Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. In 1996 he held an outstanding exhibition at the IVAM in Valencia, which toured museums in America and ended at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS).

Rueda made important sculptural works and monumental commissions, such as:

The mural relief for the Museo de Escultura al Aire Libre de la Castellana (Madrid).
The stained glass windows of the Cathedral of Cuenca (1989-1992).
The access doors to the Spanish Pavilion at the Universal Exposition in Seville (1992).
In his artistic career, Rueda started from cubist concepts and evolved towards constructivist abstraction, characterized by order and balance. He was one of the first to introduce informalism in Spain and, together with Fernando Zóbel, founded the Museum of Abstract Art in Cuenca.

Rueda belonged to the "generation of silence", along with artists such as Torner, Zóbel and Mompó. His early works were dominated by harmonic compositions and light colors; later, he went on to explore chromatic depths and created outstanding pieces in white and gray tones.

Since the 1970s he incorporated materials such as wood, paper and metal. Later, influenced by pop art, he introduced in his works everyday objects (ready-made), such as washboards or door handles.

Museums and collections with works by Gerardo Rueda:

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS), Madrid.
The British Museum, London.
Contemporary Art Collection, Madrid.
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, USA.
Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA.
Juan March Foundation, Madrid.
Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris.
International Museum of Contemporary Art Rufino Tamayo, Mexico.
Museum of Contemporary Art, Caracas, Venezuela.
Museum of Modern Art, Barcelona.
Municipal Museum of Madrid.
National Museum of Fine Arts, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
National Museum of Fine Arts, Chile.
National Museum of Fine Arts, Rio de Janeiro.
UNESCO, Paris.