José Balmes Parramón (20 January 1927 – 28 August 2016) was a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

-born painter based in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. He received Chile's National Prize for Plastic Arts in 1999.

Biography

José Balmes was born in 1927 in the town of

Montesquiu Montesquiu () is a municipality in the ''comarca'' (county) of Osona in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated on the banks of the Ter river in the north of the ''comarca''. It is on the main communication route between Barcelona and Puigcerdà, serve ...

in Catalonia, where he spent his childhood until the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...

broke out in 1936. Three years later, after the

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

victory, Balmes with his family was forced to leave Spain due to the militancy of his father, Damià Balmes, who was mayor of the town for the

Republican Left of Catalonia The Republican Left of Catalonia ( ca, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, ERC; ; generically branded as ) is a pro-Catalan independence, social-democratic political party in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia, with a presence also i ...

. He traveled to Chile on the SS ''Winnipeg'', after the aid of that country's government to the

Spanish Republicans Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

. In what would become his new homeland, Balmes completed secondary education at the , and in 1943 he entered the School of Fine Arts of the

University of Chile The University of Chile ( es, Universidad de Chile) is a public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

. There he had

Pablo Burchard Pablo Burchard (November 4, 1875 – July 13, 1964) was a Chilean painter. His father was German architect Teodoro Burchard Haeberle, who arrived in Chile around 1855, and introduced the Gothic style, and his mother was María (Sofía) Luisa Egg ...

and Camilo Mori as teachers. In 1947 he obtained Chilean nationality. At the university, he interacted with other artists, including future National Arts Prize winner

Gracia Barrios Gracia Barrios Rivadeneira (27 June 1927 – 28 May 2020) was a Chilean painter and the winner of the 2011 National Prize for Plastic Arts. Biography The daughter of writer Eduardo Barrios (winner of the 1946 National Prize for Literature) an ...

, whom he would marry in 1952. The couple had a daughter, Concepción Balmes, who is also a painter. Balmes would continue to be linked to the University of Chile as an academic (1950–1973) and dean of the Faculty of Arts (1972–1973). Among his disciples is , who was his student of painting, as well as Francisco Brugnoli, , , and Eugenio Téllez. Along with Gracia Barrios and other artists, he would form the informalist Grupo Signo, with whom he would present works in Barcelona, Madrid, and Paris. Of known communist militancy, and having been for several periods a member of the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

's Central Committee, a large part of Balmes' career was linked to political life, actively supporting the Popular Unity government led by

Salvador Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (, , ; 26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean physician and socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 3 November 1970 until his death on 11 September 1973. He was the fir ...

, and having to leave for exile in France after the 1973 coup d'état. There he continued developing his artistic career as a professor at Pantheon-Sorbonne University. In 1986, Balmes returned to Chile, after which he received multiple awards, such as the 1999 National Prize for Plastic Arts and the 2002 Altazor. In 2012 the Chilean filmmaker Pablo Trujillo Novoa shot a documentary about the life of the artist entitled ''Balmes: El doble exilio de la pintura'' (''Balmes: Painting's Double Exile''). José Balmes died on 28 August 2016 at the , where he had been hospitalized for

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

since the beginning of that month.

Awards

* Prize of Honor at the Salon of Alumni of the School of Fine Arts (1946) * Second Honorific Prize for foreigners of the Official Salon of Santiago (1948) * First Prize of the Official Salon, National Museum of Fine Arts, Santiago (1951) * Prize of Honor of the Official Salon of Santiago (1958) * Award of the 2nd Biennale of Mexico (1960) * Honorable Mention at the 2nd

Paris Biennale The ''Biennale de Paris'' (English: Paris Biennale) is a noted French art festival. History The 'Biennale de Paris' was launched by Raymond Cogniat in 1959 and set up by André Malraux as he was Minister of Culture to present an overview of young ...

dedicated to young artists (1961) * First Prize, Mention in Painting, CRAV contest of Valparaíso (1963) * Special Award, Esso contest (1964) * First Prize, Mention in Drawing, American Art Biennale of Cali, Colombia (1971) * First Prize for Engraving, International Intergrafik Exposition of Berlín, Germany (1977) * Critical Award, Santiago (1984) * First Prize of the Ibero-American Biennale for art on paper in Buenos Aires, Argentina (1986) * Named Professor Emeritus of the Faculty of Architecture and Fine Arts of the

Catholic University of Chile The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

(1993) * Professor Emeritus of the University of Chile (1996) * Gabriela Mistral Order of Teaching and Merit granted by the government of Chile (1997) * Michoacán Award, Mention in Painting, granted by the National Culture Commission of the

Communist Party of Chile The Communist Party of Chile ( es, Partido Comunista de Chile, ) is a communist party in Chile. It was founded in 1912 as the Socialist Workers' Party () and adopted its current name in 1922. The party established a youth wing, the Communist Youth ...

(1997) * National Prize for Plastic Arts, Santiago, Chile (1999) *

Altazor Award The Altazor Award of the National Arts or simply Altazor, is a Chilean award which is awarded annually. The winners are chosen by the own creators and performers of the arts. They were established in 1958, but were not awarded until 1999. The a ...

, Santiago, Chile (2002)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balmes, Jose 1927 births 2016 deaths 20th-century Chilean painters 20th-century Chilean male artists Art Informel and Tachisme painters Chilean communists Deaths from pneumonia in Chile Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in Chile Naturalized citizens of Chile University of Chile alumni University of Chile faculty Chilean male painters