Saülo Mercader

Saülo Mercader
Born1944 (age 81–82)
San Vicente del Raspeig, Spain
OccupationsSculptor, painter

Saülo Mercader is a Spanish painter, sculptor and essayist. He was born on September 13, 1944, in San Vicente del Raspeig (Alicante, Spain). He has lived in Paris since 1975.

He has created art in a variety of different mediums, such as ceramics, high-warp tapestries, engravings, drawings, terracotta and lithographies.

A mother holding her baby, from Saülo Mercader's Maternités painting series.

His works are not linked with current trends in visual arts, but are inspired by the events that take place in society and in his life.

Biography

Saülo Mercader started modelling and drawing when he was six years old. He learnt the different techniques of modelling in the « Fallas » workshops in Alicante. He was an apprentice in the sculptor Serrano's workshops, which allowed him to learn the different steps in the making of bronze sculptures, from moulding to different processes of casting.

In 1964 he arrived in Bilbao (the Basque country where his professional career started. He made himself known through a series of collective and individual exhibitions. As a disciple of the sculptor Lucarini,[1] he carved stone and worked on bronze, completing a series of remarkable busts[2] as well as painted portraits, such as that of the Marquis de Lozoya in Segovia.[3] One of his paintings : Peras en Primavera was acquired by the Fine Arts Museum in Madrid.[4] Mercader received the Spanish Vocation Fund Prize 1972.[5][6] He went to Rome through a scholarship given by the Castellblanch Catalan company.[7][8] In Italy, he studied great masters, mainly Raphaël and Leonardo da Vinci, for whom he described feeling a connection.

Because of deadly floods in Bilbao that destroyed his studio, he lost a large part of his works, as well as personal effects like books, letters, and photos.[9][10]

In 1974, he received a grant from the French government, which allowed him to stay in Paris and develop his art.[11] He lived at the Cité internationale des arts for five years and met artists from around the world, like: painters, sculptors, comedians, musicians, ballet-dancers, writers. These encounters enlarged his vision of art. He participated in elite art shows in the capital : Salon de Mai, Salon d’Automne, Grands et Jeunes d’Aujourd’hui, Jeune Sculpture, Salon des Artistes Français, Contradiction, and Outre-Couleur. In the Cité Internationale des Arts’ workshops, he started weaving high-warp tapestries, guided by Jagoda Buic and Nora Music, and met weaver Marin Varbanov. Mercader followed S. W Hayter's courses in carving, as well as Matthey's courses in painting at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

Through his 1978 exhibition at the International Contemporary Art Fair (FIAC) in Paris, Mercader gained more recognition.

In 1981, he received an American Fulbright grant and went to New York City, where he worked for a couple of years. He lived on the Columbia University campus, and followed Professors Mahoney's and Maxwell's courses on lithography and Professor Schorr's courses on painting at Teachers' College, where he realized a series of ceramics with Panay Reyes. He isolated himself for a while to paint a few large paintings on the theme of American football whose exhibitions called the attention of some New York media.[12][13][14][15][16][17] At the same time, he painted five extra-large paintings on the theme of "the tree," later exhibited at the Biennial of Alexandria.

He received a Master of Arts and Education degree at Teachers' College, Columbia University.[18] Later, he met Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Niki de Saint Phalle, which Saülo Mercader described in numerous illustrated notebooks and graphic works. By 1986 he had returned to Paris to earn a doctoral degree in visual arts Cum laude at Paris VIII University in 1986. He meets Tapies, Semprun and Camilo José Cela. He exhibited regularly in the capital and travelled mainly to Spain, where he became acquainted with Irish figurative painter Francis Bacon in Madrid.

Greece, particularly the mythology of Crete, inspired a large fresco (720 × 420 cm) entitled L’Attente du Minotaure, which belongs to the Tzovaridis's art collection in Athens.[19] During trips to the Naxos island in the Cyclads, he drew a series of works inspired by the Cycladic art. In Turkey and Cyprus, Saülo Mercader interacted with Eastern cultures, architecture, and art. He exhibits a few paintings in the Istanbul Biennial; then in Bodrum, in Nicosia where the encounters with Turkish and Cypriot artists such as Aylin Örek, Habib Gerez, Feti Arda nourish and inspire his creations.[20][21][22] In Germany, his palette of colours get brighter and his subjects get more daring; he manages to secure exhibits in Düsseldorf and Köln. In Brussels and Ostende, he paints misty landscapes. He also exhibits in Utrecht, and was inspired by its romantic canals.

The city of Figeac (in the Lot region, South of France) welcomes two exhibitions in 1995 and 2000 on the Minotaur theme : Les Hurlements du Taureau. In 2000, he paints one of his major works : la Bachannale des Minotaures.[23][24] This very large painting is shown along with a series of minotaurs at the Palacio del Infantado in Guadalajara[25] and in Alicante (Spain).

Saülo Mercader has always been interested in transmitting his knowledge. He was often invited to animate classes among young pupils. He participates in a program : L’Art à l’Ecole with exhibitions and conferences sponsored by The Ministry of Youth and Sports.[26] Saülo Mercader often travels to his native country. His exhibition : El Euro y Los Minotauros (2002–2003) at the Lonja del Pescado in Alicante is sponsored by Alicante Townhall, the consortium of museums and the Generalitat of Valencia.[27][28][29] He regularly exhibits in the French provinces. His exhibition : Les hologénies de l’Etron at the Cervantes Cultural Institute in Toulouse (South of France) surprises by the originality of its theme.[30][31]

A few years later, he has the honour to represent the Spanish artists living in Paris during a reception given at the Spanish Embassy where he met former King of Spain Juan Carlos I.[32]

In 2012, he was officially invited by the French Embassy in Astana (Kazakhstan) where he exhibited his paintings on the occasion of the French National Feast (July 14).[33][34][35][36]

During his stay in Kazakhstan and Ouzbekistan, he visited places such as the Tangaly Petroglyphs, ancient monuments on the Silk Road, Mongol and Asian architecture, Edouard Kazarian's workshop in Almaty, and historic museums.

He often goes to Spain to do public works, stone or bronze busts, painted portraits and to exhibit. He participated at the Fallas in Alicante in 2007 by making a bull with diverse materials in the pure tradition of the Ninots.[37]

Distinctions

Saülo Mercader received the Prize of the Vocation Fund (Barcelone – Spain), and received a grant from the French government. In 1981, he was awarded the Fulbright Grant.

He is Commander in the Order of the Arts and Letters (French Ministry of Culture[38]). He was awarded the Vermeil Medal of the City of Paris.

Works

Paintings

There are different periods in his creations according to the places he has lived. The Catalan period inspired him tormented landscapes and subjects with symbolic elements : keys, candlesticks, twilights, the moon, portraits and self-portraits. In Paris he paints what he calls « the Green series » featuring unique characters and urban landscapes. Later on, the tauromachia scenes and a series of minotaurs include themes that denounce censure, injustices, solitude, wars. He painted a very large painting entitled : La Bacchanale des Minotaures, exhibited in Figeac, an exhibition sponsored by the Direction Régionale d’Art Contemporain (DRAC), by the Conseil Régional du Lot, and by the Spanish Embassy.[39][40]

In New York, he is influenced by the American football, the American way of life, Native Americans and urban landscapes : towers, skyscrapers. The themes of the couple and mothers with child are recurrent.

He painted around 70 canvasses inspired by the Australian Aborigenes’ culture and traditions.

Sculptures

In 2007, he created a monument for the City of San Vicente del Raspeig (Alicante, Spain) titled Dona Lluna. The bronze sculpture is five-and-a-half metres high and stands in the middle of a rotunda. It is surrounded with 12 painted pieces of raw marble that represent a lunar calendar. It represents a heathen temple dedicated to "Womankind unique in Europe."[41][42]

Tapestries

In the late 70s, Saülo Mercader weaves some high-warp tapestries called « sacred ». Among them, let us note : Anamnèse, la Fatijah and Rotor III, a large three-dimensional tapestry inspired by the volumes in sculpture and by Sheila Hicks’s textile creations. He mixes up diverse fabrics such as plastic tubes, corks, cloth that are woven and inserted into the cotton and woollen threads.

Main exhibitions and collections

Saülo Mercader's works were exhibited at the FIAC (International Contemporary Art Fair in Paris – 1978 as well as in all the main French Salons in the capital : Salon d’Automne / Salon de Mai / Salon de la Jeune Sculpture / Salon des Artistes Français / Figuration Critique/ Comparaisons/ Outre-Couleur/ École Française/ Festival d’Art Sacré de Tournus/ Bordeaux, Mérignac/ Clermond-Ferrand), Versailles.

His works are regularly exhibited in Spain (including the two remarkable ones in Guadalajara and Alicante (50)(51), in France; they represent France and Spain at international Biennials : Genève, Alexandria, Valparaiso, Istanbul Festival, in Kazakhstan and in more than a hundred one-man shows round the world.

Saülo Mercader's works are present in numerous private and public collections in the world : The Museum of Contemporary Art in Madrid (Peras en Primavera), the French National Library (engravings at Richelieu site « The poet »), Teachers’ College, Columbia University in New-York City (« The Eight Profiles »), a few works at the Bodrum Art and Archeology Museum (Turkey), State Turkish Museum (« Equilibrium of the Mind »), City of Tarragone and City of Guadalajara (Spain), Tzovaridis's collection in Athens (« L’Attente du Minotaure ») and more others.

Publications

Books

  • 1993 : « Art, Matière, Énergie » aux éditions Imago-PUF- France

commentaire biblio|It is a book about the theory of Art and an analytical approach of the different components in the artistic creation.

  • 2000 : Les Chants de l'Ombre aux éditions Imago-PUF-France

China ink drawings by the author and prefaced by Yves Coppens. Mercader comments on his years as a child and young man in Spain under the Francoist regime.

  • 2010 : Extrate-Art, Vision de lo invisible. written in Castillan. He writes his belief in an osmosis between the Universe and Humankind and makes us travel in boundless worlds with invisible frontiers where the artist himself claims to become a shaman. The French version of this book is published later on, prefaced by the historian Bartolomé Bennassar. The book is printed in limited numbers with two different covers illustrated by the author.ISBN 978-84-614-0908-2
  • His testimonies on the Franquist period in Spain have been published in French and Spanish books : » Traumas-ninos de la Guerra y del exilio and « Enfants de la Mémoire » (Edition of the Association Memoria Historica y democratica del Baix Llobregat, Spain).

Bibliographies

Numerous exhibition catalogues and monographies have been printed on Saülo Mercader's works.

  • (Spanish) La Gran Enciclopedia Basca, 1975 (Painting and Sculpture chapters) (Painting and Sculpture chapters)
  • (Spanish) Saülo Mercader, Madrid, Colección Arte Contemporáneo n° 65, Fernando Ponce, 1989
  • (French, English, Spanish) Saülo Mercader, Moi le Roi, Madrid, Fernando Ponce, 1992 (ISBN 8440494491) including 280 colour reproductions
  • (Spanish, Basque language) poems by Marrodan, El Viaje de las Musas, 1993. Boxes limited to 20 specimens with 10 engravings by Saülo Mercader.
  • (French, English, Spanish) text by J. Rivais, Saülo Mercader, Guadalajara Townhall, 1999 (ISBN 8487874258) – 250 colour reproductions (paintings).
  • (French, English, Spanish) El Euro y los Minotauros, Alicante Townhall and the Consortium of Museums – Generalitat Valenciana – Spain, 2002 (ISBN 8448233212). These monographies contain respectively 150 and 75 colour reproductions of his art.
Screenshot of Mercader's official website, displaying his self-chosen categories for his art.

Website

Mercader's official website can be found at https://www.saulomercader.org/?lang=fr

References

  1. ↑ Alberto Lopez Etchevarrieta : " Discipulo de Lucarini, Saulo un pintor independiente " – Diario Pueblo – 22 Novembre de 1970
  2. ↑ " El marques de Lozoya ha posado para el pintor Saulo " – El Adelantado de Segovia – 14 Agosto de 1973
  3. ↑ Alberto Lopez Echevarrieta : " Me compra un cuadro el Museo de Bellas-Artes de Madrid para una exposicion nacional itinerante " – Pueblo, 26 Junio de 1972
  4. ↑ " Fueron entregados 20 premios meritos a la vocacion " – Diario femenino – 4 Abril de 1973, p.15
  5. ↑ " Saulo, premio de la Fundacion espanola de la Vocacion " – Hierro, 24 Abril 1973
  6. ↑ " Entrega de los premios Mérito a La Vocacion 1972 " – La Vanguardia espanola – 3 Abril de 1973
  7. ↑ " Esperanza artistica para Bilbao " – La Hoja del Lunes – 5 Abril de 1971
  8. ↑ Alberto Lopez Echevarrieta : " pensionado por el Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores-Saülo, a los paises bajos " – Pueblo, 4 Septembre 1974
  9. ↑ " 150 cuadros de Saulo afectados por la inundacion " – El Correo Espanol n°23.027, 26 Julio de 1983, page 1
  10. ↑ Alberto Lopez Etchevarrieta : " Saülo Mercader, becado por el Gobierno Frances " – Pueblo, 1974
  11. ↑ " Una insolita muestra del pintor bilbaino Saülo Mercader en Nueva-York " – La Hoja del Lunes, 20 Septiembre de 1982– n°2699
  12. ↑ " Saülo Mercader at Intar gallery in New-York " – The Village Voice-the weekly Newspaper n° 39 – 28 Septembre 1982
  13. ↑ Miguel Perez and Carlos Velez : " Qué pasa ? " The Daily News, New-York- 9 Octobre 1982
  14. ↑ Expositions- France-Amérique – Le Courrier des Etats-Unis n°503 – 14–20 Janvier 1982
  15. ↑ Marjorie Harris Beshers : " Saülo Mercader at Macy gallery in New-York " – T.C Advocate – Art Review n°4- Février 1982
  16. ↑ Gentes " Saülo Mercader en Noticias del Mundo " – Noticias del Mundo-New-York n° 578- 6 y 7 Febrero de 1982
  17. ↑ Marjorie Harris Beshers : " Saülo Mercader an internationally-known artist paints at Teachers’College, an artist hailed by the European press and critics " Annual Magazine 1982 – page 14, February 1982
  18. ↑ " Saülo Mercader, Master of Art por la universidad norteamericana de Columbia, New-York " El Correo Espanol-El Pueblo Vasco n° 23.012 – 10 Julio de 1983
  19. ↑ Article de la rédaction : " Saülo Mercader acaba la restauracion de su mural La espera del Minotauro en Atenas " – Informacion-Alicante, 20 Septiembre 2007
  20. ↑ Mehmet Zaimoviç : " Saülo Mercader in Resim leri " – Milliyet-Sanat Sergisi, Juillet 1984
  21. ↑ J.Habib Gerez : " saülo Mercader ", Eflâtun-Sanat, Kültür-Juillet/août 1984
  22. ↑ Cevdet Cagdas : " Atatürk Kültür Merkezinde, Saülo Mercader sergisi " – Bozkurt, 9 Août 1984
  23. ↑ Alain le Blanc : "Saülo Mercader au Rire Bleu, les Hurlements du Taureau" – La Dépêche du Lot, July 17, 1995, page 8
  24. ↑ Denis Delestrac : " Exposition Saülo Mercader à Figeac -Rébellion picturale " – La Dépêche, August 19, 1995
  25. ↑ Lydia Martinez : " Saülo Mercader con sus minotauros elige Guadalajara para volver a Espana " – la Tribuna, Jan 26, 2000
  26. ↑ " El arte en la escuela " – El Punto-Internacional – Madrid, Jan 25–31, 1991, p 17
  27. ↑ J.A.Gimenez : " Saülo Mercader vuelve a exponer en Alicante despues de trece anos " -Informacion, 17 de Agosto de 2002, page 46
  28. ↑ Carlos Javier Vega : " El pintor alicantino Saülo Mercader expone por primera vez en su ciudad " – El Periodico, October 20, 2002, p36
  29. ↑ Angeles Caceres : " Minotauros en la orilla " – Informacion, 14 de December 2002, p66
  30. ↑ " Saülo Mercader à l’Institut Cervantes " – La Dépêche du Midi, November 21, 2002, p21
  31. ↑ " Les hologénies de Saülo Mercader " – La Gazette de Toulouse, December 6–12, 2002
  32. ↑ " El alicantino Saülo Mercader representa a los artistas espanoles ante el Rey en Paris " – Informacion, March 28, 2006
  33. ↑ From the russian traduction : " The most beautiful colours in the heart of the steppe " – Astana evening newspaper – " Opening show ", July 26, 2012, page 12, n°88
  34. ↑ Lev Lushin : " Steppe themes in Saulo's works " – Kazakhstanskaya Pravda( The Pravda in Kazakhstan), July 14, 2012, n°225–226
  35. ↑ Originally in Russian : Tokjan Gani  : " Saulo-Abaï 's brother " – Vremya (The Time newspaper – Astana), July 14, 2012, page 12
  36. ↑ The French Embassy in Kazakhstan-magazine of the Kazakhstan Press : " Exhibition of the painter and sculptor Saülo Mercader in Astana " – Kazakhstanskaya Pravda, Vremya, July 16, 2012
  37. ↑ " Saülo Mercader colabora con la hoguera Explanada " – Informacion, May 19, 2007
  38. ↑ Redaccion : " Saülo Mercader recibe el titulo de Comendador de las Artes de Francia " – Informacion, July 2012
  39. ↑ "Les Hurlements du taureau". Webography of Saülo's work.
  40. ↑ "Rebel of the Art". Saülo's webography.
  41. ↑ Sol Gimenez : " tributo a la mujer " – Informacion(Alicante), 12 Mars 2007
  42. ↑ " La escultura de Mercader Dona Lluna ya luce en la entrada del parque Lo Torrent con todo su esplendor " – Noticias Semanal San Vicente del Raspeig, 15–21 Mars 2007 n°132
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