Mariano Andreu was born on November 7th, 1888 in Mataró (Barcelona) and died on March 27th, 1976 in Biarritz (Basque-French country). A multifaceted artist, he developed and achieved success in all the artistic facets he undertook such as enamel, drawing, engraving, painting, fashion, decoration, book illustration and designs for figurines and stage sets for ballet, theatre and cinema.

His artistic career first developed in Barcelona and, from 1920, in Paris, with long periods in other countries. In his work an aesthetic evolution is detectable that stylistically approaches an Anglophile modernism, then later a ‘noucentisme’ in contact with the earth and
finally a stylized classicism, in which he incorporated cubist elements and the imaginary world of surrealism. In addition, the influence of the palette of the great masters of the Renaissance and the Baroque period is evident in his paintings, but always with an elegant and refined touch that distinguishes and characterizes them.

The artworks of Mariano Andreu were exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago (Illinois-USA), Australia, Barcelona, Bayonne, Brussels, the American Gallery and County Museum of Los Angeles (California-USA), Dublin, London, Madrid, New York (various galleries such as the Valentine Gallery and MOMA), Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania-USA), Paris, Prague, Munich, the San Francisco Museum (California-USA), Saint Louis City Art
(Missouri-USA), Stratford upon Avon (England) and the Claridge Gallery of London, Toledo Museum (Ohio-USA), Tokyo-Osaka and especially in the Salon d’Automne and in numerous Parisian Galleries and others in French and Spanish territories.

He was twice awarded the Carnegie Institute of Pittsburgh Prize, in 1933 with ‘Harlequin’ and in 1939 with ‘The Duel with One’s self’. In 1953 he received the Prix de l’Île de France for ‘Le Potager de Corot’ (1926). He was Member of the Académie de Beaux Arts in France (1958) and was appointed Chevalier de l’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur (1931) and Officer of the Légion d’Honneur in France (1966). He received the Gold Medal of the Arts Escèniques awarded by the Theatre Institute in Barcelona (1963), among other honours.

Courtesy of Esther Garcia-Portugués