Eugenio Granell
As a surrealist artist, Eugenio's work is principally characterised by its bright and vivid colours that explore nature and the indigenous symbolism of the Americas.
Some of his most prominent works include "El hombre verde" (The Green Man) and "Lo que sucedió" (What Occurred), a book he illustrated and designed himself which won Mexico's Don Quijote novel prize in 1969.
The Eugenio Granell Foundation was inaugurated in 1995 to conserve the life and work of the artist with an expansive collection of his oils, drawings, constructions, collages and archives.
The museum also dedicates itself to the preservation of other surrealists such as Joan Miró, Wifredo Lam, José Caballero, William Copley, Esteban Francés, Marcel Duchamp and Pablo Picasso.
In the Dominican Republic, he was in the company of other Spanish exiles, including artists José Vela Zanetti and Josep Gausachs and writers like Vlady Serge, Segundo Serrano Poncela, and Vicente Llorens.
Breton also admired the magazine which Granell, Alberto Baeza Flores (a politician from Chile) and several Dominican writers had created: "La Poesía Sorprendida".
Initially he worked as a violinist with the National Symphony Orchestra, which he helped organize with the musician Casal Chapí and as a journalist for the newspaper La Nación.
Granell, along with Dominican poets and Chilean diplomat Alberto Baeza Flores, formed an avant-garde magazine and literary movement, La Poesía Sorpendida.
Granell's endeavors in Guatemala were soon interrupted as tensions during the Guatemalan Revolution escalated after the 1948 parliamentary election, leading to an attempted military coup in 1949.
[4] He ignited interest in contemporary art in his students, many of whom would continue to paint and gather to form an artistic group that they referred to as "El Mirador Azul."
As he did in the Dominican Republic, Granell's endeavors at the University of Puerto Rico established a strong school of art on the island that would continue to thrive after his departure.
He also provided a new introduction to the 1979 reissue of the 1937 book Red Spanish Notebook: the first six months of revolution and the civil war, written by Juan Ramón Breá and Mary Stanley Low.
The only museum in the world entirely devoted to surrealism which holds some 600 of his paintings along with works by Picabia, Duchamp, Man Ray, Joan Miró, Esteban Francés, and Philip West among many others.
Granell also published new editions of several books in Spain, including "La novela del Indio Tupinamba", a surrealist, personal and unique vision of the Spanish Civil War.
An important part of his personal archive is located in the Pavelló de la República CRAI Library - University of Barcelona and consists of press clippings about Spanish Civil War, Exile, Francoism, POUM, and cultural activities.
Although springing from the depths of his subconscious like that of all the surrealists, Granell's work is influenced by the places where he lived, particularly the exuberance of the Caribbean and the blend of Spanish and native cultures.
[8] Surrealism recognises no social function of art other than that of liberating the individual and society from the repression of reason, allowing the creator to express his instincts and dreams.
[9] The major books on Granell and his work, such as monographs and catalogues, are mostly in Spanish or Galician, but they are widely available in libraries throughout the world, including the United States.
La novela del Indio Tupinamba (1959) is a "political satire" and allegory of the Spanish Civil War; El clavo (1967) is a "dystopia" and Lo que succedió... (1968), winner of the 1967 Don Quixote prize, is a "social chronicle".
