Segrelles: Valencian Art, London News

In January 2023, the exhibition José Segrelles in “The Illustrated London News” was inaugurated at the Casino de Agricultura in Valencia, bringing together valuable works by the Valencian artist in his recognised facet as an illustrator. The exhibition, organised by Fundación El Secreto de la Filantropía, has counted with the collaboration of the Casa Museo José Segrelles in Albaida. Víctor Segrelles has been in charge of the coordination of the project.

See our article on the Segrelles Museum: http://valencia-international.com/segrelles-albaida-moon/

José Segrelles (Albaida, Valencia. 1885-1969) is one of the leading figures of the first golden age of book illustration in our country, as well as one of the most outstanding painters of his generation. A prolific author, he produced numerous works for books, magazines, newspapers, posters and advertisements that were published in Spain, Europe and America, dealing with a wide variety of subjects: literary, musical, historical, oriental, Valencian… In the first decades of the 20th century, from the time he established his residence in Barcelona until his return to Albaida, after his stay in New York, more than fifty books with his works were published.

The exhibition José Segrelles in “The Illustrated London News” brings together some of the works he produced, at the beginning of his international career, for this English publication in its “Christmas Number”, between 1927 and 1935, and highlights his most fruitful facet, that of illustrator and storyteller. The 1927 special is devoted to Beethoven; the 1928 special to Dante’s Divine Comedy; the 1929 special to the “visions” of Don Quixote; the 1930 special to The Thousand and One Nights; Famous Dreams in 1932; Wagner’s Tetralogy in 1933; Perrault’s fairy tales in 1934; and the last issue to which he contributed, published in 1935, is devoted to the works of Edgar Allan Poe.

The exhibition offers a selection of almost thirty watercolours – and preparatory drawings – that appear in each of the issues of the magazine in which Segrelles took part, some of them presented for the first time in an exhibition, and which allow us to understand the transcendence of a work that continues to be admired. Even today, his work as an illustrator has achieved international visibility, the relevance and influence of his work continues to surprise important illustrators, and the admiration of film directors and filmmakers for his work is outstanding.

This project is presented by the Fundación El Secreto de la Filantropía for its exhibition open to the public in the exhibition hall of the Casino de Agricultura de Valencia, reaffirming the commitment of this foundation to bring an artistic programme of great quality and interest to the renovated and centrally located exhibition space in Comedias Street. The organisers of José Segrelles in “The Illustrated London News” also fulfil the objective of vindicating one of our best illustrators, on the occasion of the commemoration of almost one hundred years since his first collaboration with The Illustrated London News.

• Timetable: Tuesday to Saturday: 10,30 -14,00 and 17,30 -21.00
• Sundays 10,30 -14.00. Exhibition ends in April 2023.