Baltasar Lobo is regarded as one of the leading Modernist sculptors of his generation, arriving in Paris in 1939 as a refugee from the Spanish Civil War. Having escaped Franco’s...
Baltasar Lobo is regarded as one of the leading Modernist sculptors of his generation, arriving in Paris in 1939 as a refugee from the Spanish Civil War. Having escaped Franco’s Fascist regime, Lobo quickly became immersed in the vibrant avant-garde community of Montparnasse, where he forged close connections with the School of Paris including Picasso, Lipchitz and Henri Laurens. Lobo created a particularly strong friendship with Laurens for whom he worked as an assistant.
As a remarkable draughtsman, Lobo often turned to the medium of drawing to explore the harmony and balance of the female figure that dominated his sculptural practice. For Lobo, the feminine form offered a means to discover the essential emotional and physical forces of human existence. In this lyrical drawing titled ‘Femme à la fleur’, Lobo pictures a woman clasping a flower in bloom, her eyes wide with youthful serenity and dreamlike poise. With a few strokes of ink, Lobo is able to suggest the evocative beauty of the female profile. It was a subject he returned to repeatedly.
Despite the political turmoil which defined his early career, Lobo’s deeply poetic sculptures earned him international recognition and critical acclaim. During this late period Lobo’s work was finally exhibited in his home town in Zamora before a permanent museum was also established. In 1984 he was awarded the Spanish National Prize for Sculpture. Lobo’s sculptures can be found in major international collections including the Centro d'Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid; Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; Tokyo National Museum; Museum of Modern Art, Luxembourg; National Gallery, Prague; State Gallery, Stuttgart and Fine Arts Museum, Bilbao.