Agustín Segura (1900-1988) - Portrait Of Luis Gil Fillol, Art Critic

Oil on canvas. Original canvas. Dedicated "To Gil Fillol" lower left. Hand-signed. An old photograph of the portrait, from the collection of the AEPE (Spanish Association of Painters and Sculptors), is included. Facing Agustín Segura's easel, the likeness of Luis Gil Fillol (1886-1972) embodies the presence of a man who, for more than half a century, was the guardian of an incorruptible aesthetic orthodoxy and the architect of the dignity of commercial art in self-sufficient Spain. A journalist by training and seasoned editor-in-chief of the newspapers El Debate and El Imparcial, this Valencian, who lived on Santa Clara Street, spearheaded a "cold and inflexible, yet serene" critique, capable of virulently denouncing the internationalism of the avant-garde—which he considered corrupting—while simultaneously elevating posters, shop windows, and advertising to the same spiritual level as symphonies or marble sculptures. An influential member of the Press Association and vice-president of the board of directors of the National Museum of Modern Art, Gil Fillol used the pages of the magazine Arte Comercial and his position as director of the Sala Dardo gallery to lead by example, demanding a professionalization of design that rejected photography in favor of the precision of traditional drawing. His portrait is that of a humanist with revolutionary, but not modern, ideas, a man of great technical mastery who, despite controversial decisions as a juror and visionary successes as a gallery owner, was determined to demonstrate that there are no inferior arts, only mediocre perspectives, leaving behind a legacy where artistic talent always prevailed over industrial technique. - Image dimensions without frame: 60 x 83 cm / 74 x 96.5 cm with exclusive custom frame.