Jose Vives-Atsara abstract collection catalog

Jose Vives-Atsara The Abstract Collection

All text by Gabriel Diego Delgado, unless otherwise noted.

All photography courtesy of J.R. Mooney Galleries of Fine Art Š 2014 JR Mooney Galleries

Cover Image: “Abstract Village”, 30” x 24”, Oil, $15,000.00

Jose Vives-Atsara was born in Vilafranca del Panades in the Catalonian region of Spain on April 30, 1919. As a small boy he loved to sketch with pencil and paper. He began painting at the age of eleven. His first one man show came at the age of fourteen. From that time on, painting has been his love and his way of life...

Jose studied art at Saint Raymond College and the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona. He claimed that his most inspirational teacher was nature itself.

Mr. Vives-Atsara came to San Antonio in 1956. Within twenty years, he became one of Texas\' most distinguished artists. His use of a palette knife in painting allowed him to blend rich pure pigments into a powerful statement of color directly on the canvas. This style produced works that are distinctively Vives-Atsara.

Jose is represented in such collections as the Museum of Modern Art, Spain; Fort Worth Art Museum, Texas; His Royal Highness Juan Carlos, King of Spain; the Vatican; the State Capitals of many southern states of the United States. His work is also in many private collections in the United States, Spain, Mexico and Venezuela.

For many years Jose was in great demand as a lecturer and teacher. He was the Artist-In-Resident at Incarnate Word College, San Antonio, Texas. Although Mr. Vives-Atsara studied with many well-known European teachers, he insisted that he was continually learning about painting, and throughout his life his range of subjects continued to grow.

The great intensity and character he captured from the people of Mexico, the depth and strength of the colors in his floral, and his breathtaking Texas landscapes manifested an interest and acuteness of mood too infrequently found in artists.

-excerpt from www.jrmooneygalleries.com

Landscapes have captured the attention of artists around the world for epochs. From the infamous Monet lily ponds to the Japanese mountain tapestries, our world has been the surrounding force for a driven passion in fine art. Although landscape painting is centuries old, painters have been a constant in the field and capturing the moment. Abstract landscapes combine the artistic expressions of the artist with the solid grounding of an intuitive understanding and cognitive recognition of place, geography, horizon, sea, land and air.

-Gabriel Diego Delgado

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Yes, impressionistic landscape painting of the 1800s and early 1900s introduced modernist tendencies including fauvism and aspects of cubism. However, with the standard horizon-line foreground, middle and background composition being the mainstay of this particular aesthetic, there was always an unspoken integrity passed through the generations.

With abstract landscapes, we understand the poignant properties of the terrain mixed with factual element.

Texas landscape is no different; it’s a scenic sensibility that continues to inspire. Historic pictorial contributions to the Lone Star State can be traced back to the late 1880s with the Onderdonk family and the portrayal of the bluebonnet Texas hillsides. Salinas, Wood, Arpe and the Harrisons all played an important role in Texas-inspired landscape painting.

But one thing they did not conquer was the construct of abstract reference.

In the 1960s, San Antonio painter Jose Vives-Atsara (1919 – 2004), an internationally recognized painter, dove into landscape abstraction during a time when abstract expressionism was in its infancy. Highlights of his decades-long artistic career include a city of San Antonio-initiated gift to Pope John Paul II for the Vatican presented by Archbishop Patrick Flores in 1987 to painted contributions within the art collection of Juan Carlos, king of Spain.

His mastered palette knife technique lent itself to bold color gestures, intuitive mark making and swatches of bright and colorful hues bringing the Texas, Mexican and Spanish landscapes to life.

“Known for his florals, landscapes and renditions of Texas scenes, Vives-Atsara made a name during a time when artistic liberties and abstract sensibilities were a far reach in the genre of traditional landscape painting.”

-G. Delgado

Image: “Wildflowers, 10” x 8”, Oil, $4,250.00

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For Vives-Atsara, one can only explore

personal aspects of his life to begin to understand a leap into a fray of abstraction.

To see inside the artist’s mind, you see a world turned upside-down: international relocation, a new job and a new house.

As a thriving art career began to unfold, Vives-Atsara, who was already known for his still lives, portraits, landscapes and wildflowers, began to paint a series of abstract landscapes with his signature 11 -color palette – a choice one might think was reflective of the chaos of such pesonal upheavals and distresses.

Image: “Abstract”, 30” x 24”, Oil, $15,000.00

Image: “Abstract Landscape, 26” x 20”, Oil, $13,500.00

Image: “Abstract Landscape”, 24” x 30”, Oil, $15,000.00

“Abstract Landscape,” by Vives-Atsara, illustrates this new exploration of intellectual abstraction. Closing in on the rocky pathway like some overgrown Tim Burton landscape, the trees line the gauntlet, creating a foreboding effect on top of artistic mystification. Adding to the mystery is the fact we do not know if Vives-Atsara is painting the Guadalupe River, the Texas Hill Country, the Spanish countryside or the various seascapes that captured his attention.

“My using a palette knife – a spatula – happened accidently,” Vives-Atsara said. “The professors that taught me always used brushes. I experimented with the spatula, and I like the result; it added improved texture and spontaneity to my paintings. An artist must be educated in the standard techniques of painting, but there is no substitute for his personal daily experience and his mistakes.”

In Vives-Atsara’s work, we see the movement in which the work was created – the potent and deliberate manipulation of color mixed with purposeful marks, gestures and highlights. With quick whips with the palette knife, Vives-Atsara cuts into the paint, creating cactus with needle-like textural accents in select areas. Red, orange, blue and yellow swatches of color dance across the composition. We begin to see the piecemeal landscape scene as our eyes digest the familiar outlines of trees, rocks and path.

Right Image: “Abstract Village”, 24” x 30”, Oil, $15,000.00 Above Image: “Fall Landscape”, 20” x 26”, Oil, $13,500.00

Image: “Abstract Village”, 30” x 24”, Oil, $15,000.00

Image: “Cuevas del Drach”, 40” x 30”, Oil, $22,000.00

A Delightful Duo of Unique Cavernous Compositions of Cave Drach (Circa. 1962-1964) Cuevas del Drach and Cave Mallorca, two large semi-abstract paintings by San Antonio painter, Jose VivesAtsara bring a unique underworld and cavernous depiction of hidden beauty; undoubtedly an uncharacteristic subject matter in his internationally acclaimed body of work that spans 60 plus years.

Measuring an impressive 30 x 40”, the stalagmites and stalactites, or fringes of Manton, capture the seductive secrets of this major international tourist attraction. Painted as a commission to one of his collectors spotlighting the Caves of Balearic Islands, on the east coast of Mallorca, Spain, these unique treasures blend VivesAtasara’s signature color palette with his sweeping but refined palette knife technique.

Cave Drach is an exquisite and exotic experience in its own right, host to one of the largest underground lakes in the world complete with 10 minute orchestra concerts. However, coupled with the artistic prowess of Vives-Atsara – the ethereal atmospheres draw us in, entering into a dark and sonorous milieu.

In these two paintings, the only pair ever done of this location by the artist, Vives-Atasa treats the subject in relation to the background very different with alternating dark and light backgrounds. With a gloomy, shadowy and cryptic dullness in one, we are confronted by our own insecure-ness on continuing our journey further into this superb subterranean while juxtaposing a purposefully lighted sensibility in the other, he guides us with artistic generosity; illuminating and uncovering an unimaginable underworld.

Cuevas del Drach and Cave Mallorca are priced at $22,000 framed. These unusual and matchless paintings by Jose Vives-Atsara are estimated to be painted sometime around 1962-1964. This timeframe would be reflective of his accession to celebrated lecture and instructor at Incarnate Word College, San Antonio Art League and the Witte Memorial Museum; a major formative and important few years of an internationally celebrated career.

Only a few years later in 1968, his work was presented as gifts to Arnulfo Arias Madrid the President of Panama and Luis Pietri, the President of Venezuela. Š Gabriel Diego Delgado Gallery Director J.R. Mooney Galleries, Boerne

Image: “”Cave Mollorca”, 40” x 30”, Oil, $22,000.00