GERARDO RUEDA
Madrid, (Spain) 1926 – Madrid, (Spain) 1996 
A self-taught artist, he studied law in Madrid and painted his first works, landscapes and later still-lifes and urban views, in Post-Cubist style in about 1942. In 1953 he created abstract compositions and collages and presented his first solo exhibition at the Sala Abril in Madrid, where he frequently exhibited in the fifties (1954, 1956, 1957, 1958). In 1958 there was a major exhibition of his work at the Ateneo in Madrid. In these compositions Rueda reconciled the constructive aspect with his liking for colours, especially whites, ochres, pinks and greys. In 1957 there was a consolidation of the geometric perspective constructions that suggested figures such as houses or landscapes, before a shift to the so-called “grey paintings” in 1959, and, in the early sixties, to “spatialist paintings”, monochrome pictures with brushstrokes applied to produce marks in relief. During this period he also made collages with tissue paper. In 1960 he took part in the Biennale di Venezia, and in 1963 he began to work with Zóbel and Torner on setting up the Museo de Arte Abstracto in Cuenca. In 1965 he showed his work at Juana Mordó, an exhibition setting where he continued to appear until the eighties. That year he produced monochrome pictures on which he placed painting stretchers so that they looked that like windows. These works were followed by the placing of matchboxes as the only structuring elements, a method that he explored throughout the decade. An exhibition at Edurne (Madrid) in 1969 provided a selective review of his career. In the late seventies he introduced new materials in his reliefs, supports of wood and chrome-plated iron, which sometimes ended up as free-standing sculptures. In the eighties and nineties he continued with this line and made reliefs and sculptures of wood that focused on the theme of the still-life. These works were shown at the Galería Estampa (Bodegones, 1986), although his usual exhibition venue was the Galería Theo. He also made collages with paper and envelopes. During these decades various retrospectives were held (in 1989 at the Fundación Caja Madrid, in 1994 at the Museo Rufino Tamayo in Mexico, and in 1996 at the IVAM). He died in 1996 due to a stroke.