Valdés, Manolo

Born on March 8.

Begins studies in fine arts at the Escuela de San Carlos in Valencia, Spain, but will leave the school after two years to begin his professional career.

Participates in the traveling exhibition España libre in Italy. Founds, with Joan-Antoni Toledo and Rafael Solbes, the collaborative group Equipo Crónica. Toledo leaves the group soon after, but Solbes and Valdés continue to collaborate as Equipo Crónica until the former’s death in 1981.

Equipo Crónica has its first exhibition, at Galleria II Centro in Turin. Receives the Lissone Prize in Milan.

Equipo Crónica’s first exhibition in Valencia takes place at Galería Val i 30. Work by Equipo Crónica is included in Le monde en question at the Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris in Paris.

Galería Grises in Bilbao exhibits the complete Guernica 69 series.

Equipo Crónica participates in the II Biennale de l’Estampe at the Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris in Paris.

Equipo Crónica participates in the Salon de Mai in Paris.

Equipo Crónica participates in the Biennale de Paris.

Exhibitions of work by Equipo Crónica are presented at various venues in France, including the Musée d’Art Moderne in Pau; the Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris in Paris; the Maison de la Culture in Saint- Étienne; and the Maison de la Culture in Rheims.

Equipo Crónica participates in the XXXVII Biennale di Venezia.

Exhibitions of work by Equipo Crónica are presented at several venues in Germany, including the Frankfurter Kunstverein in Frankfurt; the Badischer Kunstverein in Karlsruhe; and the Kunstverein Hannover. Equipo Crónica’s work is included in Mythologies quotidiennes II at the Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris in Paris.

Receives the silver medal for printmaking at the Eleventh Printmaking Biennale in Tokyo.

Work by Equipo Crónica is included in Vanguardia española del siglo XX at the Museo de Bellas Artes in Monterrey, Mexico.

After Solbes’s death, Valdés leaves Equipo Crónica’s work unfinished and starts to formulate his own images.

Has solo exhibitions in Valencia and Barcelona.

Participates in the exhibition Art against Apartheid , which travels through France, Spain, Italy, the United States, Germany, Norway, and Sweden.

Receives the Premio Alfons Roig from the government of Valencia.

Awarded the Medalla de Oro al Mérito en las Bellas Artes by the Spanish Ministry of Culture.

Receives a medal of the International Biennale for the Plastic Arts in Baghdad.

The retrospective Equipo Crónica, 1965-1981 is presented at the Institut Valencià d’Art Modern in Valencia, Spain, and later travels to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid and Casa Caritat in Barcelona.

Receives the Condecoración de la Orden de Andrés Bello en la clase de Banda de Honor from the Venezuelan government.

The Institut Valencià d’Art Modern in Valencia holds a retrospective of Valdés’s work.

Awarded the Medalla de Oro al Mérito en las Bellas Artes by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Culture.

Takes part in the group exhibition Spanische Kunst am Ende des Jahrhunderts at the Museum Würth in Künzelsau, Germany. Chosen to represent Spain, along with Esther Ferrer, at the XLVIII Biennale di Venezia.

Valdés’s sculpture Menina is installed on Paseo de la Chopera in Alcobendas, Madrid. Exhibits at the Fundación Bilbao Arte Fundazioa in Bilbao. Receives the Premio de la Asociación de Críticos de Arte para Estampa at ARCO in Madrid.

Participates in the I Bienal de Valencia.

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao presents Manolo Valdés: Painting and Sculpture, a retrospective featuring seventy pieces from the previous twenty years. The first exhibition of Valdés’s drawings is organized by the Fundación Bilbao Bizkaia Kutxa in Bilbao. An exhibition of Valdés’s graphic work travels to venues in Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, and Morocco.

Receives the Premio Valencianos del Siglo XXI in Valencia.

Exhibits at the Museum Beelden aan Zee in the Hague. The exhibition Meninas opens at the Jardins du Palais Royal in Paris and later travels to Zurich and Oviedo, Spain.

The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid holds a retrospective of Valdés’s work since 1981. Participates in Homage to Chillida at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.

Named Officier de l’Ordre National du Mérite by the French government. Presents an installation of monumental bronze sculptures at Bryant Park in New York. Exhibits at Galerie Maeght in Paris.

The artist’s sculptures are installed in the streets of Bilbao and other cities in Spain as part of the traveling exhibition Manolo Valdés: Escultura monumental, organized by Obra Social Fundació “la Caixa.” The Sala Pelaires in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, presents Manolo Valdés: Don Juan (obra gráfica).

Exhibits at Galería Marlborough in Madrid.

Awarded Medalla Internacional de las Artes de la Comunidad de Madrid. His work is presented at the Marlborough Gallery, New York. His sculptures are on display in the streets of New York City in the exhibition Manolo Valdés: Monumental Sculpture on Broadway organized by the Marlborough Gallery in collaboration with The New York City Department of Parks & Recreations. The exhibition Manolo Valdés. Obra Gráfica opens at Museo de Arte Español Enrique Larreta, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Presents portrait of King Juan Carlos, which will be hung in the Madrid City Hall. The exhibition Picasso por Manolo Valdés opens as part of the XXIV Octubre Picassiano, at Fundación Picasso, Málaga. Javier Molins documentary entitled Valdés como pretexto screened at Marché International du Film (MIF) 2011, organized by the Cannes Film Festival, France.