Francisco Vazquez Diaz, known as Compostela (1898-1988)
Portrait of a Man, 1949. Carved mahogany, measuring 18.75 inches h, 8.5 inches w, 11 inches d. Signed and dated lower right at base. Some areas of damage to surface. Original patina. No conservation.
Francisco Vázquez Díaz, known as "Compostela", born in Santiago de Compostela on September 7, 1898 and died in San Juan de Puerto Rico on February 21, 1988, he was a Galician sculptor.
Son of a stonemason, a profession he adopted from a young age. He worked in Compostela workshops and in 1920 he went to Madrid to expand your artistic knowledge. Self-taught, his work debuted on New Year's Day 1927 when he placed his animal carvings next to the lions of the Congress of Deputies, as a protest act for not having a suitable place to make an exhibition. He was expelled by the Civil Guard, but the iconoclastic action achieved its objective as the next day the artist was known throughout Spain.
He was in charge of decorating the Galicia pavilion at the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition in Seville. In 1930 the Diputación de la Coruña granted him a scholarship to expand studies abroad and traveled to Paris, where he was for two years. On his return he made a series of exhibitions in Madrid, Santiago de Compostela and La Coruña, who projected him as one of the most outstanding sculptors of the moment.
The uprising of July 18, 1936 surprised him in Paris. He was the official sculptor of the Fifth Regiment during the Civil war and author of busts of Rafael Alberti, José de Diego and Luis Muñoz Rivera. At the beginning of the World War II He was detained in a concentration camp in southern France. From there he was able to emigrate to the Dominican Republic in December 1939. In October 1940 he traveled to Puerto Rico, invited by the rector of the university, Juan B. Soto, to perform demonstrations of direct wood carving and exhibit his sculptures. It was established in San Juan de Puerto Rico and married Professor Margot Arce in 1942. He developed a pedagogical work in the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture as director of sculpture workshops until his retirement in 1968.
His work is, in part, a tribute to his adoptive homeland. He also made some stone monuments intended to honor the memory of distinguished characters: the poet P. H. Hernández, comic actor Diplo and soldier García Ledesma. He achieved fame through animalistic-themed performances (Crocodile, Focus, Camels, Cebu, Monkeys ...) and especially with the series of humanized and satirical penguins (Academic Penguin, Monkey Penguin, Penguin abbot ...), made of wood and with which he made a funny criticism of various characters, including some from Galician society.
Portrait of a Man, 1949. Carved mahogany, measuring 18.75 inches h, 8.5 inches w, 11 inches d. Signed and dated lower right at base. Some areas of damage to surface. Original patina. No conservation.
Francisco Vázquez Díaz, known as "Compostela", born in Santiago de Compostela on September 7, 1898 and died in San Juan de Puerto Rico on February 21, 1988, he was a Galician sculptor.
Son of a stonemason, a profession he adopted from a young age. He worked in Compostela workshops and in 1920 he went to Madrid to expand your artistic knowledge. Self-taught, his work debuted on New Year's Day 1927 when he placed his animal carvings next to the lions of the Congress of Deputies, as a protest act for not having a suitable place to make an exhibition. He was expelled by the Civil Guard, but the iconoclastic action achieved its objective as the next day the artist was known throughout Spain.
He was in charge of decorating the Galicia pavilion at the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition in Seville. In 1930 the Diputación de la Coruña granted him a scholarship to expand studies abroad and traveled to Paris, where he was for two years. On his return he made a series of exhibitions in Madrid, Santiago de Compostela and La Coruña, who projected him as one of the most outstanding sculptors of the moment.
The uprising of July 18, 1936 surprised him in Paris. He was the official sculptor of the Fifth Regiment during the Civil war and author of busts of Rafael Alberti, José de Diego and Luis Muñoz Rivera. At the beginning of the World War II He was detained in a concentration camp in southern France. From there he was able to emigrate to the Dominican Republic in December 1939. In October 1940 he traveled to Puerto Rico, invited by the rector of the university, Juan B. Soto, to perform demonstrations of direct wood carving and exhibit his sculptures. It was established in San Juan de Puerto Rico and married Professor Margot Arce in 1942. He developed a pedagogical work in the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture as director of sculpture workshops until his retirement in 1968.
His work is, in part, a tribute to his adoptive homeland. He also made some stone monuments intended to honor the memory of distinguished characters: the poet P. H. Hernández, comic actor Diplo and soldier García Ledesma. He achieved fame through animalistic-themed performances (Crocodile, Focus, Camels, Cebu, Monkeys ...) and especially with the series of humanized and satirical penguins (Academic Penguin, Monkey Penguin, Penguin abbot ...), made of wood and with which he made a funny criticism of various characters, including some from Galician society.
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