Carmen Laffón facts for kids

María del Carmen Laffón de la Escosura (born October 8, 1934 – died November 7, 2021) was a famous Spanish artist. She was known for her paintings and sculptures that showed real-life things. She was a member of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, a very important art academy, from 1998 until she passed away. Carmen Laffón received many awards for her art, including the Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso X, the Wise in 2017.

Biography

Carmen Laffón was born in Seville, Spain, in 1934. Her family was educated, open-minded, and well-off. Her parents met in Madrid and decided to teach Carmen at home. Different teachers came to their house to give her lessons.

Early Art Training

Carmen started painting when she was 12 years old. Her first teacher was Manuel González Santos, a family friend. He used to teach her father drawing. Manuel suggested that Carmen go to the School of Fine Arts in Seville. She started there at age 15.

After three years in Seville, she moved to Madrid. She finished her art training at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. In 1954, she traveled to Paris, France. She was very impressed by the art of Marc Chagall. The next year, she studied in Rome, Italy, with a special grant. Her trips to Vienna and the Netherlands were also important for her art.

Return to Seville and First Exhibitions

In 1956, Carmen Laffón returned to Seville. She continued to paint at her family's summer house in La Jara. This house was near Doñana National Park. This place became very important for her art.

In the next two years, she had her first two art shows. One was in Madrid and the other in Seville. From 1960 to 1962, she lived in Madrid again. In 1961, she met Juana Mordó, an art dealer. Juana was very interested in Carmen's work and offered her a contract.

Carmen Laffón's painting style was different from what was popular in Spain at that time. Many artists were doing abstract art, which doesn't show real objects. But Carmen focused on real things, like landscapes and everyday objects.

Teaching and Awards

In 1962, Carmen went back to Seville. She still worked with Juana Mordó. In 1967, she helped start an art school called El Taller. This was her first experience with teaching art. Later, in 1975, she joined the School of Fine Arts of Seville as a drawing teacher. She taught there until 1981. In 1982, she won the National Award for Plastic Arts, a big honor for artists in Spain.

In 1998, Carmen Laffón became a member of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid. On January 16, 2000, she gave a speech called Visión de un paisaje (Vision of a Landscape). In her speech, she talked about her connection to Sanlúcar de Barrameda and Doñana National Park.

The Guadalquivir is the river of Seville, my city of birth, that takes me to Sanlúcar de Barrameda, my other city, where I began to paint and to dream.

In 2006, she showed her work La Viña (The Vineyard) at the Abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos. This art was inspired by a vineyard she took care of at her home. The exhibition included a large oil painting, big drawings of the vineyard, and even bronze baskets.

Carmen Laffón passed away on November 7, 2021, at the age of 87.

Works

In 1992, a large exhibition of Carmen Laffón's art was held at the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid. It showed almost all of her work. She mainly used charcoal, pastel, and oil paints. Her art included:

• Portraits: Pictures of people, like King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía of Spain.
• Still lifes: Paintings of objects that don't move, like fruit or flowers.
• Everyday objects: Things you see around the house.
• Landscapes: Pictures of nature, especially the areas around Seville and Doñana National Park.

Since the mid-1990s, Carmen Laffón also created sculptures.

Museums with Works by Carmen Laffón

Many museums have Carmen Laffón's art in their collections. Here are some of them:

• Fundación Mapfre
• Bank of Spain Collection
• Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• Meadows Museum, Dallas
• Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
• Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo, Seville

Exhibitions

Carmen Laffón's art was shown in many exhibitions. Here are some of her important shows:

• Ateneo de Madrid, 1957
• Sala Biosca, Madrid, 1961
• Galería Juana Mordó, Madrid, 1967
• Juana de Aizpuru Gallery, Seville, 1978
• Museo Nacional Reina Sofía, 1992
• 12 Artists in the Museo del Prado, May–June 2007

Awards and Recognitions

Carmen Laffón received many awards for her artistic achievements:

• National Award for Plastic Arts, 1982
• Silver Medal of Andalusia, 1988
• Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts, 1999
• Tomás Francisco Prieto Award, 1999
• Culture Award of the Community of Madrid, 2012
• Favorite Daughter of Andalusia, 2013
• Manuel Clavero Award, 2016
• Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso X, the Wise, 2017

See also

In Spanish: Carmen Laffón para niños