JOSÉ MANUEL CAPULETTI LILLO DEL POZO (Valladolid,... Lot 34

JOSÉ MANUEL CAPULETTI LILLO DEL POZO (Valladolid, 1925 - Eltville am Rhein, Germany, 1978). Untitled. Oil on canvas. Signed in the lower right corner. Size: 70 x 60 cm. Manuel Capuletti was a self-taught artist. He began to enter the world of art in 1951, when he decided to move to Paris, where in 1952, thanks to his art dealer André Weil, he had his first individual exhibition in his gallery. Despite this, it was not until years later that he managed to overcome a precarious situation and establish his artistic career. By 1954, he was already a member of the cultural elite of the French capital, participating in numerous exhibitions where he acquired great recognition from the public and critics. It was also in 1954 that he began to broaden his artistic horizons, participating in various theatrical projects, such as Arte Flamenco Puro, which premiered at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, and for which Capuletti designed the costumes. From 1958 onwards, his painting made the leap to the United States, exhibiting his work in numerous galleries in the country, such as Hammer Galleries, in New York, and exploiting his facet as a costume designer, even collaborating with the Harkness Ballet company in New York, for whom he also made several sets. In 1967 he returned to Spain, and two years later he held an important exhibition of portraits of flamenco singers and dancers at the Ateneo de Sevilla. However, in 1976 he died unexpectedly during a trip to Germany, and was buried in the Walluf cemetery. A large part of his legacy remained in the Mairena and Alcalá collections. Capuletti's work, with a clear surrealist aesthetic of metaphysical heritage, was manifested through numerous media; drawings, illustrations, engravings, paintings and posters were common in his production, with his artistic work in the theatre being especially noteworthy, where his stage designs and costumes for flamenco shows and ballets of famous flamenco dancers, such as Vicente Escudero, Antonio and Pilar López, stood out.