CRONICA TEAM (Valencia, 1964 - 1981)."The Family of Charles IV", 1967-69.Painting on papier-mâché,

CRONICA TEAM (Valencia, 1964 - 1981).
"The Family of Charles IV", 1967-69.
Painting on papier-mâché, copy 19/50.
The 50 versions are unique, as they present small variations in the pictorial application.
Signed and numbered by hand.
Measurements: 54.5 x 74 x 33 cm.
The royal family has been represented by Equipo Crónica based on the painting of the same name by Goya ("The Family of Charles IV", 1800). The arrangement of the characters follows the same order, but the transfer of the painting into sculpture and the caricatural treatment through colour give them a parodic character. In fact, Equipo Crónica was inspired by the Fallas craftsmanship of the "ninot" and its critical connotations to create this piece. Along the same lines as the pictorial project "La recuperación" (1967-69), Solbes and Valdés allude with both series to the Franco regime's use of Golden Age painting and Goyaesque royal portraits. Each of the 50 papier-mâché multiples that make up "The Family of Charles IV" has a distinctive pictorial touch or treatment that makes them unique. They were made in the workshop of Vicente Luna, Valencia. They stand out for the neo-pop expression of the clothes and the surreal touches in the features.
Equipo Crónica (Manolo Valdés and Rafael Solbes) moved away from the prevailing informalism to cultivate figurative painting, closely linked to pop-art. Fed up with introspection, these artists went out into the street and observed the world around them, a society of incipient industrialisation and tourists. Their themes critically analysed the political situation in Spain, as well as the history of art, drawing inspiration from classic works such as Picasso's "Guernica" and Velázquez's "Las Meninas". Their style was a unique blend of realism, criticism, pop, pictorial quotations, anachronisms and bittersweet pastiches. In contrast to the grandiose and picturesque image of Spain that Franco's regime wanted to project abroad, Equipo Crónica focused on another, darker and more sombre image of the country, always resorting to irony. Starting from their own direct style, with clear images that everyone could read, they tried to "chronicle reality", a kind of social realism but using contemporary visual systems. The group produced paintings, sculptures and engravings, and tended to work in series, which made it possible to analyse the same subject with different variations. Equipo Crónica started from a very simple language, with monochrome and repeated images, very close to contemporary media, especially newspaper photographs. From there, after the turning point of "Latin Lover" in 1966, the members of the group gradually enriched their language to put it at the service of political satire. Demystifying and decontextualising the works of classical Spanish masters such as Velázquez, Goya and El Greco, they made their figures (the gentleman with his hand on his chest, the Duchess of Alba, etc.) appear as images in newspapers or advertisements, inaugurating buildings or among washing machines and pressure cookers. There are works by Equipo Crónica in the IVAM in Valencia, the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid, the MACBA in Barcelona, the Fundación Juan March and the Museo Patio Herreriano in Valladolid, among others. In 2007 an exhibition dedicated to Equipo Crónica was organised at the Museo de Arte Abstracto in Cuenca.