Alberto, 1895-1962

Alberto Sánchez Pérez (8 April 1895, Toledo, Spain – 12 October 1962, Moscow) was a Spanish painter and sculptor. His early work was influenced by Cubism. In 1927, together with Benjamín Palencia, he founded the artistic group Escuela de Vallecas. He made stage sets for Lorca's La Barraca Theatre. He exhibited with Picasso in the pavilion of the Spanish Republic at the International Exhibition in Paris (1937), which took place at the height of the Spanish Civil War. At the entrance to the Spanish pavilion, visitors were greeted by his sculpture The Path of the Spanish People Leading to the Star. He fought with the Republican Fifth Regiment in the Spanish Civil War. His painting, Toros ibéricos is in the Museo Arte Público de Madrid. From September 1938 he lived in the Soviet Union. He designed the play Devil's Bridge by Alexei Tolstoy, directed by Alexander Tairov im 1939. In the Second World War he was evacuated with his family to Bashkiria. Later he worked on the scenery for Grigory Kozintsev's film Don Quixote. He designed productions of the Romen Theater in Moscow (The Wonderful Shoemaker and Lorca's Bloody Wedding), collaborated with the Stanislavsky Theater, the Mayakovsky Theater, etc. In 1959, an exhibition of his scenographic works was held. He was buried at the Vvedenskoye Cemetery in Moscow.