In German

1965 – 2015 Galerie Buchholz

HOME

EXHIBITIONS

PUBLICATIONS

THE GALLERY

CONTACT

Raúl Valdivieso studies sculpture at the Escuela de Bellas Artes at the Universidad de Chile from 1952 to 1957. In 1957 he travels to Paris in order to perfect his studies of sculpture at the "Grande Chaumière" and the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-arts. Yet it does not take long before he finds a workshop so as to learn the graphic techniques at the Académie of William Hayter. He works as an assistant of Roberto Matta, the famous Chilean artist, for several years, making sculptures based on Matta’s drawings. In 1961 he decides to move to Madrid in order to work there as a freelance sculptor. In addition to bronze sculptures, he works with wood and shows particular skills working with stone. Well-known galleries of Madrid exhibit his art work. This is also how he meets the internationally renowned painter Claudio Bravo. They become long-term friends who travel together to Morocco, New York and Egypt. Starting in 1971, he lives in great solitude in the harbour of Essaouira in Morocco for three years, trying to connect with the North African culture, which will have an influence on his art. In 1974 Valdivieso returns to his homeland Chile, where he focuses exclusively on stone sculptures from now on. He creates more than twenty stone sculptures made of granite, basalt and marble that are exhibited by the Instituto Cultural de Las Condes in 1976 and are great successes, making him famous. In the same year Galería Iolas Velasco exhibits his new sculptures in Madrid. Seven hundred visitors come to the opening! In the 1980s he lives and works alternately in Chile and in Madrid, where his sculptures are very much in demand by now and are sold for exorbitant amounts. He is only 61 years old when he passes away in Santiago de Chile.

 

 

Exhibitions (selection)

1976 Galería Iolas Velasco, Madrid

1976 Instituto Cultural de Las Condes,

1969 Galerie Buchholz, München

1969 Galería Iolas Velasco, Madrid

1967 Galerie La Balance, Bruxelles

1967 Alwin Gallery, London

1966 Salon de Mai et Salon de la Jeune Sculpture, Paris

1966 New Names in Latin American Art, Smithsonian Institute

1966 Museo de la Universidad de Puerto Rico

1966 Galerie Jacqueline Ranson, Paris

1965 VIII. Bienal de Sao Paulo

1964 Lateinamerikanische Kunstausstellung, Kongreßhalle Berlin

1964 Pan American Union, Washington

1963 Galería Neblí, Madrid