Vicente de Espona

Vicente de Espona (March 24, 1918 - October 23, 1995) was a Spanish painter and sculptor. He was born in Valencia but completed the majority of his work in Marbella. Prior to his career as an artist, de Espona worked as a consulting lawyer at the Banco Popular Español in Barcelona. In 1950, he requested a leave of absence from the bank to move to Brazil, where he dedicated his life to artistic pursuits.

Works

De Espona's publicly-displayed work is primarily located in São Paulo, Marbella, and San Pedro de Alcántara.

São Paulo

De Espona lived in São Paulo, Brazil, between 1957 and 1968. His work primarily consisted of paintings, sculptures, and engravings. De Espona conducted two annual art exhibitions in different cities, including Sorocaba, San Jose Dos Campos, Limeira, Araracuara, Riberón Preto, Uberaba, Uberlandia, Goiania, Belo Horizonte, Caldas, Rio de Janeiro, Niteroi, Juiz de Fora, and Porto Alegre. De Espona's art studio in the city was later opened to the public.

During his time in Brazil, de Espona also completed freelance work with international advertising agencies and illustrated books and magazine covers. One of his projects was chosen as part of a building contest at the Igapoo lakeside, a large summer residence which came to be called a "Spiritual Retreat". For this project, he created a large stone mural 125 square meters in size at the entrance of Londrina.

Marbella

Between 1971 and 1995 de Espona worked in Marbella. Many of his works can be seen in the streets and squares of the city. The throne he made to Our Father Jesus entry into Jerusalem, a confraternity in Marbella, was made of wood and bronze. The sculptural mural Marbella sun, which for years was the facade, missing, House of Culture of Marbella. He also created the Andalusia Memorial, whose central obelisk stands 6 feet tall. Other works, although not as monumental as the previous ones, also had their place in the architecture for the municipality of Marbella, and goodbye to a friend, the work that decorated the facade of the Parish of Nueva Andalucía. De Espona also worked on the mural of the eight-meter façade of the Gimnasio Atenas, called Auto Modelación, which is six meters tall.

San Pedro Alcántara (Málaga)

De Espona's sculpture Síntesis (synthesis, in English) measures 12 meters high and is located in San Pedro de Alcántara. Síntesis represents the patron saint San Pedro de Alcántara and was originally located in the plaza of the church. However, this work was transferred in the early 1990s to the edge of the main road, at the junction adjacent to the Mediterranean Avenue. In 2008 it was removed due to the danger it posed to highway workers, and it was moved to a dump where it was left abandoned for two years. However, in 2010 it was restored, repainted, repaired, and placed in the Teodoro García Díez roundabout next to Ronda Road and the industrial area of the city, welcoming visitors who come to San Pedro by the A357 road from Ronda and across northern Spain.

Another de Espona sculpture that stands in this locality is 'Return of the Olivar' which represents a family, with one family member riding on a donkey. It is much smaller than Síntesis and is located in the gardens of the famous palm grove of San Pedro de Alcántara, south of Marqués del Duero. It was also in a state of disrepair for some years, until 2008 when it was finally repaired and restored.