Lucio Muñoz trained to be a painter at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid (1949-1954) under the tutelage of Eduardo Chicharro, the founder and a leading theorist of Postism (a marginal avant-garde movement that emerged in Spain in 1945, which sought to synthesise all preceding literary avant-gardes in pursuit of the supremacy of the imagination, the use of sensory materials, the destruction of prejudice, etc.) In 1956, Muñoz received a grant from the French Government to travel to Paris, where he encountered art autre and the work of artists such as Jean Dubuffet, Antoni Tàpies and Jean Fautrier.
Initially, he made collages on paper, but around 1957 he switched to wood. Later, he returned to paper, making different tests with increasingly organic sketches and studies. In 1984, he launched on a third stage, experimenting with wet paper and papermaking and establishing a dialogue between them and wood or plastic. In this new phase, light was to play a fundamentally important part.
Muñoz's first solo exhibition was at the Galería Dintel (Santander, 1955). His work was subsequently displayed in galleries and institutions in cities around the world, including El Ateneo (Madrid, 1958); the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam, 1959); the Venice Biennale (1960 and 1976); the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum (1965); Galerie Buchholz (Munich, 1967); Casa de las Américas (Havana, 1967); Documenta 5 (Kassel, Germany, 1972); the Extremadura Museum of Contemporary Art (Cáceres, 1981); the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (Paris, 1987); the Museo Reina Sofía (Madrid, 1988) the Virreina Palace (Barcelona, 1989); the Fundação Serralves (Porto, Portugal, 1991); the Tate Gallery Liverpool (United Kingdom, 1992); and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (Bilbao, 1998). In 1999, the exhibition 'Lucio Muñoz, 1950- 1998' toured the FOCUS Foundation (Seville), the Santander Central Hispano Foundation (Madrid) and the San Telmo Museum (Donostia/San Sebastián); In 2011 the Museo Reina Sofía staged an exhibition of Muñoz's work entitled 'Obra sobre papel' ['Work on Paper']. Muñoz made two murals for the EU building in Brussels (1995) and the chamber of the Madrid Assembly in Vallecas (1997- 1998), the latter of which he completed shortly before his death. He received the National Award for Plastic Arts in 1983 and the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts in 1993.
Lucio Muñoz trained to be a painter at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid (1949-1954) under the tutelage of Eduardo Chicharro, the founder and a leading theorist of Postism (a marginal avant-garde movement that emerged in Spain in 1945, which sought to synthesise all preceding literary avant-gardes in pursuit of the supremacy of the imagination, the use of sensory materials, the destruction of prejudice, etc.) In 1956, Muñoz received a grant from the French Government to travel to Paris, where he encountered art autre and the work of artists such as Jean Dubuffet, Antoni Tàpies and Jean Fautrier.
Initially, he made collages on paper, but around 1957 he switched to wood. Later, he returned to paper, making different tests with increasingly organic sketches and studies. In 1984, he launched on a third stage, experimenting with wet paper and papermaking and establishing a dialogue between them and wood or plastic. In this new phase, light was to play a fundamentally important part.
Muñoz's first solo exhibition was at the Galería Dintel (Santander, 1955). His work was subsequently displayed in galleries and institutions in cities around the world, including El Ateneo (Madrid, 1958); the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam, 1959); the Venice Biennale (1960 and 1976); the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum (1965); Galerie Buchholz (Munich, 1967); Casa de las Américas (Havana, 1967); Documenta 5 (Kassel, Germany, 1972); the Extremadura Museum of Contemporary Art (Cáceres, 1981); the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (Paris, 1987); the Museo Reina Sofía (Madrid, 1988) the Virreina Palace (Barcelona, 1989); the Fundação Serralves (Porto, Portugal, 1991); the Tate Gallery Liverpool (United Kingdom, 1992); and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (Bilbao, 1998). In 1999, the exhibition 'Lucio Muñoz, 1950- 1998' toured the FOCUS Foundation (Seville), the Santander Central Hispano Foundation (Madrid) and the San Telmo Museum (Donostia/San Sebastián); In 2011 the Museo Reina Sofía staged an exhibition of Muñoz's work entitled 'Obra sobre papel' ['Work on Paper']. Muñoz made two murals for the EU building in Brussels (1995) and the chamber of the Madrid Assembly in Vallecas (1997- 1998), the latter of which he completed shortly before his death. He received the National Award for Plastic Arts in 1983 and the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts in 1993.