Matías Alonso Andrés (1935-2020) - Costa Rias Bajas II. A Coruña

Watercolor on paper measuring 26 x 52 cm, signed at the bottom right. The frame is not included in the sale but is sent as a gift.

Matías Alonso Andrés was born on February 24, 1935, in Valle de Trapaga (Vizcaya). From a very young age, his talents for drawing and painting stood out, a passion that encouraged him to pursue additional studies at the School of Arts and Crafts, where he earned an honor diploma.

He rejected his industrial engineering studies, funded by AHV (Altos Hornos de Vizcaya), to fully dedicate himself to his great passion: drawing and painting.

A passionate reader, he devoured every book on art within his reach, and this, combined with his constant practice of plein air painting, provided him with enough wisdom to achieve a second national prize in painting at the early age of sixteen. This award motivated him to embark on a long career in the art of painting and illustration, positioning himself among the most sought-after artists in Europe, especially in the United Kingdom, where he resided for several years. He also achieved great success in the United States and Japan.

His beginnings in the world of comics were, like those of most artists, driven by his passion for the comics of the time and his love for drawing. At seventeen, inspired by this vocation, he sent samples of his art to the Grafidea publishing house in Barcelona, which immediately hired him.

In this editorial, he created the series: EL CHARRO TEMERARIO (1955), LA CAPITANA (1955), and EL AMULETO VERDE (1956)—which form a trilogy—and LUIS VALIENTE (1957). His series LA CAPITANA was awarded the Information and Tourism Prize for the high quality of his illustrations.

In 1959, Matías, who feels more confident in his craft, contacted Editorial Valenciana and sent samples of his work with Grafidea, offering the editorial the production of the series HAZAÑAS DE LA JUVENTUD AUDAZ 'La Saga de los Aznar' (1959), a series for which he received the European Science Fiction Convention Award in Brussels in 1978, as the best published science fiction graphic work in Europe.

In that same year, and following the success of the Aznar series, he moved to live in Valencia, connecting with the group of local authors (Luis Bermejo, the Quesada brothers, Frejo, González Alacreu, and other authors of the so-called Valencian school). Already in Valencia (1961), the Valencian publishing house offered him the responsibility for EL GUERRERO DEL ANTIFAZ, a collection for which he produced issues 421 to 502, giving the series a dynamism and exoticism not seen before.

Fully integrated into Valencia, he befriends Luis Bermejo (the author with whom he had the greatest affinity), to the point that when Bermejo moves to live in Mallorca, Matías accompanies him. From Mallorca, he produces twelve issues of the series ESPÍRITU DEL OESTE (1963) for the Maga publishing house and 'La isla del tesoro' for the Revista FLECHA ROJA (1964). In collaboration with Luis Bermejo, he creates 'Las aventuras de Marco Polo' for the Revista PANTERA NEGRA (1965), and for the same publisher, they produce the sticker albums VIDA Y COSTUMBRES DE LOS VIKINGOS (1965) and ÁFRICA Y SUS HABITANTES (1965).

Over these years, he published comic strips in various notebooks and magazines, such as the 1954 and 1955 CHISPITA almanacs, the 1960 APACHE almanac, the 1960 BENGALA almanac, the 1961 EL CAPITÁN LÁTIGO almanac, issues 14 and 35 of JAIMITO, various illustrations for the literary contest of the magazine FLECHA ROJA, HEROIC MEN, and covers for the magazine AUDACIA.

In the following years, he began a collaboration with various British publishers, a partnership that lasted for thirty-five uninterrupted years. He moved with his family to Great Britain, working on a wide variety of themes (war, children's stories, Christmas postcards, westerns, the Middle Ages, pirates, science fiction, etc.). His works have been published in the following publications: AIR ACE, BATTLE ACTION, COMMANDO, EAGLE, THE VICTOR, JUDY, MANDY, TWINKLE, TEENAGE MUTANT TURTLES ADVENTURES, and others.

At the end of the last century, he returned to Spain and settled in Zeanuri (Vizcaya), dedicating himself fully to painting, in which he is successful.

Matías Alonso's work has been spread worldwide through the agency for artists Bardon Press Features, Ltd., and by the multinational companies Fleetway and D. C. Thomson, of London. The results can be found in newspaper archives, museums, and important national and foreign collections: England, Scotland, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Australia, Japan, Tasmania, the United States...

Out of her entire body of work for abroad, only six comic strips have been published in Spain in the magazine for young girls JANA (Sarpe 1983).

Among the numerous magazines and illustrated books by him, a notable book existing in the White House Library (Washington) stands out.

A multifaceted artist of international prestige, awarded numerous prizes throughout his extensive professional career, feels a special fondness for the one received in his homeland, the Arriaga Prize for the Arts, awarded by the Honorable Bilbao City Council.

Matías Alonso Andrés has been invited by Batik International Inc. as a result of a rigorous selection among contemporary artists to exhibit his work at the Frankfurt International Art Pavilion and later in Miami and New York.

Selected and invited by Béziers (France) to exhibit his work at the Doulun Museum of Modern Art in Shanghai (China).