Spanish-American (1884-1982)

Picasso meets De Chirico in this rare, masterful painting by the Spanish-American painter and sculptor Jose de Creeft. Note that the figure in the painting has bull-like features, with a horn seeming to come out of his hat, and the mouth, lips and nose are bull-like-as well. The bull would have symbolized de Creeft's Spanish heritage and, perhaps, like Zeus and Taurus, his virility and strength as well. Picasso often painted himself as a bull. De Chirico was known for his dreamlike but empty town squares and his work was highly influential for the surrealist painters.

José Jde Creeft (1884-1982) was a Spanish-born American artist, sculptor, and teacher known for modern sculpture in stone, metal, and wood, particularly figural works of women. His 16 foot bronze Alice In Wonderland climbing sculpture in Central Park is well known to both adults and children in New York City.

His works are in the Whitney Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and many other public and private collections. Work by de Creeft was featured in thirty-seven one-man exhibitions, culminating in 1960 with a retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art that traveled to thirteen additional venues. 

De Creeft interacted with the European and American avant-garde throughout his life.

Born in 1884, de Creeft moved in 1905 to Paris, where he was befriended by fellow Spaniards Juan Gris and Pablo Picasso. He was encouraged by Auguste Rodin to enroll at the Académie Julian, and soon began to exhibit pieces in avant-garde venues.

In the early 30s, he came to America with his American wife. In 1944, de Creeft taught in the notable summer program at Black Mountain College, North Carolina. While at Black Mountain College, de Creeft met the director and artist Joseph Albers, his wife Annie and the architect Walter Gropius (all formerly of the Bauhaus school) as well as the Spanish architect Josep Lluis Sert and the French artists Jean Charlot and Amédée Ozenfant.