Miguel Orozco
Born in Madrid, Spain, in 1953, Orozco studied at Ramiro de Maeztu college and then at the Faculty of Political Science of Complutense University in Madrid (Masters in International Studies and in Latin American Studies). He briefly taught at his alma mater and completed his PhD courses in 1983. Having left the university to pursue a career in journalism, he did not complete his doctoral thesis, although he obtained other postgraduate diplomas in international studies.
As a journalist in the 1970's and early 1980's, he was Africa correspondent for the Madrid-based "Actualidad Política Extranjera"; special correspondent for London-based "New African", analyst for the daily "El País" and a regular contributor for "Triunfo", "La Calle", "Historia 16", etc.
In 1986 he joined an international organisation, where he worked in communication jobs until his retirement in 2012.
A collector of art since the 1980's (mainly "livres d'artiste" and original graphic work of the great masters of the twentieth century), since retirement he started compilating in books what he had learnt in decades of contacts and often friendship with the main merchants in the trade (e.g. Arik Verezhensky of Gemini books in Chicago and Lucien Desalmand of Arenthon in Paris) and with people who had collaborated with Picasso, Miró, Braque, etc in the print works of Fernand Mourlot.
The first result of this work was his book "Picasso Litógrafo y Militante" (WorldCat No. 952991448), the first commented catalogue raisonné of Picasso litographs, published by the Picasso Foundation in 2016. The book reveals for the first time the reasons and circumstances of Picasso’s lithographic career, overcoming the painter’s attempts to hide the facts, and particularly Georges Braque’s role in the introduction. It also uncovers a formerly unknown new aesthetics developed by Picasso for years, and his motivations to do it: to mock the Communist Party and its pressure on the painter to adopt socialist realism. The aesthetic starts with the catalog of arbitrary signs contained in the 125 lithographs of the book Le Chant des Morts, and its best known oil painting examples are the two versions of La Cuisine.
His second book, about Joan Miró, “La Odisea de Miró y sus Constelaciones” (WorldCat No. 967285228, ISBN: 9788498956757) was published in November 2016 and provides new and surprising evidence on how the official painter's biography has very little to do with real historical facts, as it has hidden key events in Miró’s life, like his fleeing Republican Catalonia in 1936 after the revolutionary militias murdered his brother in law and threatened to kill him too. The famous works Aidez l’Espagne and The Reaper were actually the price he paid to the republican authorities for his freedom and that of his wife and daughter. As soon as General Franco won the war, Miró returned to Spain, where he lived quietly, helped young artists and cooperated with the dictatorship’s museologist establishment (as well as with MoMA and the U.S. authorities) in promoting them.
In view of the historical facts, the book calls for a re-assessment of, i.a., the peintures sauvages of 1934-1940. It provides also, for the first time a detailed description of how the Constellations series got into the U.S.; how it was underestimated by his art dealer Pierre Matisse, by the MoMA and main collectors; and reveals the true names and stories of the great American women that patronized the series and made them one of the most famous works of art of the XXth century.
He has continued to write catalogues raisonnées of the graphic works of his favourite painters, uncovering hundreds of hitherto unknown prints and states of painters like Picasso, Braque, Bacon, Villon, etc.
As a journalist in the 1970's and early 1980's, he was Africa correspondent for the Madrid-based "Actualidad Política Extranjera"; special correspondent for London-based "New African", analyst for the daily "El País" and a regular contributor for "Triunfo", "La Calle", "Historia 16", etc.
In 1986 he joined an international organisation, where he worked in communication jobs until his retirement in 2012.
A collector of art since the 1980's (mainly "livres d'artiste" and original graphic work of the great masters of the twentieth century), since retirement he started compilating in books what he had learnt in decades of contacts and often friendship with the main merchants in the trade (e.g. Arik Verezhensky of Gemini books in Chicago and Lucien Desalmand of Arenthon in Paris) and with people who had collaborated with Picasso, Miró, Braque, etc in the print works of Fernand Mourlot.
The first result of this work was his book "Picasso Litógrafo y Militante" (WorldCat No. 952991448), the first commented catalogue raisonné of Picasso litographs, published by the Picasso Foundation in 2016. The book reveals for the first time the reasons and circumstances of Picasso’s lithographic career, overcoming the painter’s attempts to hide the facts, and particularly Georges Braque’s role in the introduction. It also uncovers a formerly unknown new aesthetics developed by Picasso for years, and his motivations to do it: to mock the Communist Party and its pressure on the painter to adopt socialist realism. The aesthetic starts with the catalog of arbitrary signs contained in the 125 lithographs of the book Le Chant des Morts, and its best known oil painting examples are the two versions of La Cuisine.
His second book, about Joan Miró, “La Odisea de Miró y sus Constelaciones” (WorldCat No. 967285228, ISBN: 9788498956757) was published in November 2016 and provides new and surprising evidence on how the official painter's biography has very little to do with real historical facts, as it has hidden key events in Miró’s life, like his fleeing Republican Catalonia in 1936 after the revolutionary militias murdered his brother in law and threatened to kill him too. The famous works Aidez l’Espagne and The Reaper were actually the price he paid to the republican authorities for his freedom and that of his wife and daughter. As soon as General Franco won the war, Miró returned to Spain, where he lived quietly, helped young artists and cooperated with the dictatorship’s museologist establishment (as well as with MoMA and the U.S. authorities) in promoting them.
In view of the historical facts, the book calls for a re-assessment of, i.a., the peintures sauvages of 1934-1940. It provides also, for the first time a detailed description of how the Constellations series got into the U.S.; how it was underestimated by his art dealer Pierre Matisse, by the MoMA and main collectors; and reveals the true names and stories of the great American women that patronized the series and made them one of the most famous works of art of the XXth century.
He has continued to write catalogues raisonnées of the graphic works of his favourite painters, uncovering hundreds of hitherto unknown prints and states of painters like Picasso, Braque, Bacon, Villon, etc.
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We have in the present work incorporated all the previously Bloch catalogued works, but we have also attempted to complete this task incorporating two additional categories. On one hand, we have included, in just the first volume (1899-1935) over three hundred uncatalogued state proofs, because the previous catalogs include in practically all cases only the final state that was commercialized. The second category includes the etchings not included by Bloch, and where possible, we include state proofs of those. Yet another category, of an equivalent level of interest, is that of the prints pulled by Picasso himself, both on his own or in the company of other printers. And last, but not least, we have also included many a number of proofs before steel facing of the plates, shown in parallel with the proofs after steel facing. In total, the three volumes include over 3,000 original Picasso etching prints.
We apologize nevertheless for the errors these book may (and surely will) contain. In our last updating of the first two volumes, completed in June 2024, we added hundreds of prints and tried to limit the number of errors.
We have in the present work incorporated all the previously Bloch catalogued works, but we have also attempted to complete this task incorporating two additional categories. On one hand, we have included, in just the first volume (1899-1935) over three hundred uncatalogued state proofs, because the previous catalogs include in practically all cases only the final state that was commercialized. The second category includes the etchings not included by Bloch, and where possible, we include state proofs of those. Yet another category, of an equivalent level of interest, is that of the prints pulled by Picasso himself, both on his own or in the company of other printers.
We apologize nevertheless for the errors this book may (and surely will) contain. In our last updating, completed in June 2024, we have added over seventy prints and tried to limit the number of errors.
The second and more down to earth reason to compile this collection is to provide readers with an overcall view of the extensive œuvre that he was able to produce in the just 17 years he spent painting. We do not aim to be comprehensive, and those who seek a full and complete view of all Juan Gris catalogued paintings whould address themselves to the Douglas Cooper catalogue raisonné, which in the 1977 edition contains 621 paintings, rising to 622 in the 2014 edition. Our two volumes are not limited to paintings, and in total contains 777 entries, including many drawings, lithographs, etc.
The first volume will be concentrated on still lifes, the genre in which Gris excelled above all, but will include also landscapes and other subjects without human figures –except for essential paintings that do include portraits but are linked to other paintings. The second volume will cover Portraits, Pierrots & Harlequins, Drawings, Designs for the theatre, Books, Lithographs, Pochoirs and Press illustrations.
The second and more down to earth reason to compile this collection is to provide readers with an overcall view of the extensive œuvre that he was able to produce in the just 17 years he spent painting. We do not aim to be comprehensive, and those who seek a full and complete view of all Juan Gris catalogued paintings whould address themselves to the Douglas Cooper catalogue raisonné, which in the 1977 edition contains 621 paintings, rising to 622 in the 2014 edition. Our two volumes are not limited to paintings, and in total contains 777 entries, including many drawings, lithographs, etc.
The first volume will be concentrated on still lifes, the genre in which Gris excelled above all, but will include also landscapes and other subjects without human figures –except for essential paintings that do include portraits but are linked to other paintings. The second volume will cover Portraits, Pierrots & Harlequins, Drawings, Designs for the theatre, Books, Lithographs, Pochoirs and Press illustrations.
The main objective, the main contribution the Orozco book makes is to put the emphasis on the main, the noble Picasso posters, providing as far as possible a description of Picasso's involvement and telling the story of the work. It also incorporates some 100 additional items, not counted in the total of 947 main entries, which seek to clarify and or support the value of the poster or to explain the origin of the illustration used. It also unveils over one hundred posters not covered by either Czwiklitzer or Rodrigo. It uncovers many Picasso poster projects that had not been tackled by the catalogues raisonnés. They undoubtedly have an interest in the study of Picasso's poster making endeavours. And last but not least, it publicizes tens of Picasso poster projects or realisations that were designed as posters and were displayed as such, but were formally only newspaper covers. They were actually poster-sized and were posted as posters in the press-kiosks in the cities they were published.
Another purpose of the present book is to provide color visual information on how the books look like, including the covers and slip cases and boxes that house them; the page layout; the interaction between text and prints; and of illustrations other than original prints. It should be recalled that the Cramer catalog only includes photos –mostly black & white–of the original graphics the book contains, neglecting the rest.
Another purpose of the present book is to provide color visual information on how the books look like, including the covers and slip cases and boxes that house them; the page layout; the interaction between text and prints; and of illustrations other than original prints. It should be recalled that the Cramer catalog only includes photos –mostly black & white–of the original graphics the book contains, neglecting the rest.
The other side of the project was to do the first commented catalogue raisonné of Picasso litographs. According to many readers, the first purpose of the project was undoubtedly achieved. The second purpose of the book, however, remained unfulfilled, as the catalogue raisonné of Picasso's lithographs was not brought to completion. Although most lithographs were described or mentioned in Picasso Litógrafo y militante, only a small portion of them were illustrated, even in the longer English version Picasso lithographer and Activist. A catalogue raisonné implies individual entries for each lithograph, describing dates, measurements, publisher, printer, paper, print-run etc. And this was missing. This is thus the purpose of the present volume, that will be followed by a catalogue of Picasso's lithographs of interpretation.
What Orozco did with his Picasso Lithographer and Activist was to comment and explain the lithographic work of the Málaga painter, which had been properly catalogued by Bernd Rau in 1988 and Felix Reuße in 2000, improving Fernand Mourlot’s catalog and bringing the number of lithographs and states from 407 to 777 (Rau) and 861 (Reuße). In the case of Braque, however, Orozco is doing what Rau and Reuße did with Picasso, i.e., to build a complete repertory of all Braque prints, including those already known and those he has unearthed in world galleries and auction sales in his 25 years experience as a collector and amateur.
We have paid great attention to the themes of love and death, sexual love, attraction, separation and jealousy, which dominate both separately and interrelated the subjects of Munch's art, as well as on the painter's emotional states of anxiety and melancholy. And undoubtedly Munch's relations with women are at the centre of this thematic organization and of his whole œuvre, which turned around what he called "those dammed affairs with women". While his personal experience and the mood and literature of the time remained seeing women as sources of temptation, danger and sin, the social push for women's emancipation meant for Munch a source of concern, not of satisfaction, a strenghthening of his feeling of fear, which acted as a restraint of his longing for them.
The purpose of this book is thus simply to bring to the general public, to the academic world and to critics and experts what the author felt was necessary: a new, updated catalogue of Degas monotypes including color photographs. The reason is that even if his monotypes are often considered as one of the most intriguing and important facets of Degas work, nobody had dared to do the major research needed and satisfy this need.
One of the main reasons for embarking in this project was to find, if at all possible, the whereabouts of all Degas Monotypes. In the Janis catalogue, the author declared missing 44 % (141 monotypes) of the total 321 described.
We feel that our efforts have paid: out of the 397 monotypes we have uncovered, only 13 % remain missing (52). But above all, the main achievement is that Orozco has managed to raise the number of catalogued monotypes from the 321 in the Janis to a total of 397. Orozco has located 191 in world museums (116 more than Janis and 48 % of all monotypes in our catalogue); 124 in unidentified private collections (31% of all monotypes in the catalogue); 26 in named private collections and 5 in Art Galleries. The evolution is natural. On one hand, traditional, identified collectors have donated (or sold) many of their Degas monotypes to museums, thus increasing the share of museums from 76 (24 %) in Janis fifty years ago to 191 (48 %) in the present study. This has reduced the share of monotypes in the hands of identified, traditional collectors from 70 (22 %) in 1968 to just 26 (6,5 %). But this does not mean that the overall share of private collectors has fallen: in fact it has risen from the 92 monotypes they held in 1968 (28 % of all Janis entries) to 150 pieces in 2019 (37 % of Orozco entries).
Goya's work has been universally recognized as an artistic bridge between the mentality of the Ancien Régime and the convulsive emergence of Modernity. His production of graphic work, shows his constant evolution and reveals an artistic field where he had more possibilities to experiment his creativity. Goya's graphic work amounts to two hundred and eighty-eight prints: two hundred and forty-four copper engravings divided into five suites, twenty-two copper engravings hors-série and twenty-two lithographs.
In this catalogue, every print is identified by, at least, its Gassier-Wilson and Harris numbers. In many of the prints included are illustrations of preparatory drawings, often with cataloguing data.
In the absence of photography, the Florida frescoes were publicised in the nineteenth century by means of engravings, and this book is also centered on the most beautiful rendering into etchings that the frescoes have ever inspired. Painter and engraver José María Galván (1837-1899) was one of the leaders of the renovation of the engraving art in the nineteenth century in Spain, particularly through the publications El Arte en España (1862-1869) and El grabador al aguafuerte (1874-1876), and which occurred at the same time as similar groupings were formed in France (Sociéte des Aquafortistes de Cadart, Société des aquafortistes français).
Galván worked on the frescoes on two occasions. The first etchings were realized in 1874 and were published in the portfolios of El grabador al aguafuerte between 1874 and 1876. Galván chose to make in 1878 an oil copy of the frescoes as a preliminary study to proceed to etch and re-engrave Goya's paintings, this time in their definitive form of sixteen plates with a total of twenty seven engravings. That version earned him a second-class medal at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in 1878 and ten years later he published the collection in a book.
We have in the present work incorporated all the previously Bloch catalogued works, but we have also attempted to complete this task incorporating two additional categories. On one hand, we have included, in just the first volume (1899-1935) over three hundred uncatalogued state proofs, because the previous catalogs include in practically all cases only the final state that was commercialized. The second category includes the etchings not included by Bloch, and where possible, we include state proofs of those. Yet another category, of an equivalent level of interest, is that of the prints pulled by Picasso himself, both on his own or in the company of other printers. And last, but not least, we have also included many a number of proofs before steel facing of the plates, shown in parallel with the proofs after steel facing. In total, the three volumes include over 3,000 original Picasso etching prints.
We apologize nevertheless for the errors these book may (and surely will) contain. In our last updating of the first two volumes, completed in June 2024, we added hundreds of prints and tried to limit the number of errors.
We have in the present work incorporated all the previously Bloch catalogued works, but we have also attempted to complete this task incorporating two additional categories. On one hand, we have included, in just the first volume (1899-1935) over three hundred uncatalogued state proofs, because the previous catalogs include in practically all cases only the final state that was commercialized. The second category includes the etchings not included by Bloch, and where possible, we include state proofs of those. Yet another category, of an equivalent level of interest, is that of the prints pulled by Picasso himself, both on his own or in the company of other printers.
We apologize nevertheless for the errors this book may (and surely will) contain. In our last updating, completed in June 2024, we have added over seventy prints and tried to limit the number of errors.
The second and more down to earth reason to compile this collection is to provide readers with an overcall view of the extensive œuvre that he was able to produce in the just 17 years he spent painting. We do not aim to be comprehensive, and those who seek a full and complete view of all Juan Gris catalogued paintings whould address themselves to the Douglas Cooper catalogue raisonné, which in the 1977 edition contains 621 paintings, rising to 622 in the 2014 edition. Our two volumes are not limited to paintings, and in total contains 777 entries, including many drawings, lithographs, etc.
The first volume will be concentrated on still lifes, the genre in which Gris excelled above all, but will include also landscapes and other subjects without human figures –except for essential paintings that do include portraits but are linked to other paintings. The second volume will cover Portraits, Pierrots & Harlequins, Drawings, Designs for the theatre, Books, Lithographs, Pochoirs and Press illustrations.
The second and more down to earth reason to compile this collection is to provide readers with an overcall view of the extensive œuvre that he was able to produce in the just 17 years he spent painting. We do not aim to be comprehensive, and those who seek a full and complete view of all Juan Gris catalogued paintings whould address themselves to the Douglas Cooper catalogue raisonné, which in the 1977 edition contains 621 paintings, rising to 622 in the 2014 edition. Our two volumes are not limited to paintings, and in total contains 777 entries, including many drawings, lithographs, etc.
The first volume will be concentrated on still lifes, the genre in which Gris excelled above all, but will include also landscapes and other subjects without human figures –except for essential paintings that do include portraits but are linked to other paintings. The second volume will cover Portraits, Pierrots & Harlequins, Drawings, Designs for the theatre, Books, Lithographs, Pochoirs and Press illustrations.
The main objective, the main contribution the Orozco book makes is to put the emphasis on the main, the noble Picasso posters, providing as far as possible a description of Picasso's involvement and telling the story of the work. It also incorporates some 100 additional items, not counted in the total of 947 main entries, which seek to clarify and or support the value of the poster or to explain the origin of the illustration used. It also unveils over one hundred posters not covered by either Czwiklitzer or Rodrigo. It uncovers many Picasso poster projects that had not been tackled by the catalogues raisonnés. They undoubtedly have an interest in the study of Picasso's poster making endeavours. And last but not least, it publicizes tens of Picasso poster projects or realisations that were designed as posters and were displayed as such, but were formally only newspaper covers. They were actually poster-sized and were posted as posters in the press-kiosks in the cities they were published.
Another purpose of the present book is to provide color visual information on how the books look like, including the covers and slip cases and boxes that house them; the page layout; the interaction between text and prints; and of illustrations other than original prints. It should be recalled that the Cramer catalog only includes photos –mostly black & white–of the original graphics the book contains, neglecting the rest.
Another purpose of the present book is to provide color visual information on how the books look like, including the covers and slip cases and boxes that house them; the page layout; the interaction between text and prints; and of illustrations other than original prints. It should be recalled that the Cramer catalog only includes photos –mostly black & white–of the original graphics the book contains, neglecting the rest.
The other side of the project was to do the first commented catalogue raisonné of Picasso litographs. According to many readers, the first purpose of the project was undoubtedly achieved. The second purpose of the book, however, remained unfulfilled, as the catalogue raisonné of Picasso's lithographs was not brought to completion. Although most lithographs were described or mentioned in Picasso Litógrafo y militante, only a small portion of them were illustrated, even in the longer English version Picasso lithographer and Activist. A catalogue raisonné implies individual entries for each lithograph, describing dates, measurements, publisher, printer, paper, print-run etc. And this was missing. This is thus the purpose of the present volume, that will be followed by a catalogue of Picasso's lithographs of interpretation.
What Orozco did with his Picasso Lithographer and Activist was to comment and explain the lithographic work of the Málaga painter, which had been properly catalogued by Bernd Rau in 1988 and Felix Reuße in 2000, improving Fernand Mourlot’s catalog and bringing the number of lithographs and states from 407 to 777 (Rau) and 861 (Reuße). In the case of Braque, however, Orozco is doing what Rau and Reuße did with Picasso, i.e., to build a complete repertory of all Braque prints, including those already known and those he has unearthed in world galleries and auction sales in his 25 years experience as a collector and amateur.
We have paid great attention to the themes of love and death, sexual love, attraction, separation and jealousy, which dominate both separately and interrelated the subjects of Munch's art, as well as on the painter's emotional states of anxiety and melancholy. And undoubtedly Munch's relations with women are at the centre of this thematic organization and of his whole œuvre, which turned around what he called "those dammed affairs with women". While his personal experience and the mood and literature of the time remained seeing women as sources of temptation, danger and sin, the social push for women's emancipation meant for Munch a source of concern, not of satisfaction, a strenghthening of his feeling of fear, which acted as a restraint of his longing for them.
The purpose of this book is thus simply to bring to the general public, to the academic world and to critics and experts what the author felt was necessary: a new, updated catalogue of Degas monotypes including color photographs. The reason is that even if his monotypes are often considered as one of the most intriguing and important facets of Degas work, nobody had dared to do the major research needed and satisfy this need.
One of the main reasons for embarking in this project was to find, if at all possible, the whereabouts of all Degas Monotypes. In the Janis catalogue, the author declared missing 44 % (141 monotypes) of the total 321 described.
We feel that our efforts have paid: out of the 397 monotypes we have uncovered, only 13 % remain missing (52). But above all, the main achievement is that Orozco has managed to raise the number of catalogued monotypes from the 321 in the Janis to a total of 397. Orozco has located 191 in world museums (116 more than Janis and 48 % of all monotypes in our catalogue); 124 in unidentified private collections (31% of all monotypes in the catalogue); 26 in named private collections and 5 in Art Galleries. The evolution is natural. On one hand, traditional, identified collectors have donated (or sold) many of their Degas monotypes to museums, thus increasing the share of museums from 76 (24 %) in Janis fifty years ago to 191 (48 %) in the present study. This has reduced the share of monotypes in the hands of identified, traditional collectors from 70 (22 %) in 1968 to just 26 (6,5 %). But this does not mean that the overall share of private collectors has fallen: in fact it has risen from the 92 monotypes they held in 1968 (28 % of all Janis entries) to 150 pieces in 2019 (37 % of Orozco entries).
Goya's work has been universally recognized as an artistic bridge between the mentality of the Ancien Régime and the convulsive emergence of Modernity. His production of graphic work, shows his constant evolution and reveals an artistic field where he had more possibilities to experiment his creativity. Goya's graphic work amounts to two hundred and eighty-eight prints: two hundred and forty-four copper engravings divided into five suites, twenty-two copper engravings hors-série and twenty-two lithographs.
In this catalogue, every print is identified by, at least, its Gassier-Wilson and Harris numbers. In many of the prints included are illustrations of preparatory drawings, often with cataloguing data.
In the absence of photography, the Florida frescoes were publicised in the nineteenth century by means of engravings, and this book is also centered on the most beautiful rendering into etchings that the frescoes have ever inspired. Painter and engraver José María Galván (1837-1899) was one of the leaders of the renovation of the engraving art in the nineteenth century in Spain, particularly through the publications El Arte en España (1862-1869) and El grabador al aguafuerte (1874-1876), and which occurred at the same time as similar groupings were formed in France (Sociéte des Aquafortistes de Cadart, Société des aquafortistes français).
Galván worked on the frescoes on two occasions. The first etchings were realized in 1874 and were published in the portfolios of El grabador al aguafuerte between 1874 and 1876. Galván chose to make in 1878 an oil copy of the frescoes as a preliminary study to proceed to etch and re-engrave Goya's paintings, this time in their definitive form of sixteen plates with a total of twenty seven engravings. That version earned him a second-class medal at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in 1878 and ten years later he published the collection in a book.