José Luis Sánchez and Luis Cubillo: Between the Romanesque and the Avant-Garde

Abstract

This communication comes from an interview done on December 22, 2011 to the sculptor José Luis Sánchez, to know his contribution to the religious architecture of Luis Cubillo de Arteaga. The artist, who worked with over a hundred architects, became one of the leaders of the new religious art, with Pablo Serrano, Jose Luis Alonso Coomonte or Venancio Blanco. Usual collaborator of José Luis Fernández del Amo, both them shared an inclusive vision of the arts, in opposition to the primacy given by Miguel Fisac to architecture. The three times he collaborated with Cubillo, all in churches in Madrid, allow several considerations about his work, from said dialogue with the architecture, to the sources of inspiration for his sculptures. Their first collaboration was in the church of Canillas (1962). The sculpture of the Crucified who chairs the temple refers to Romanesque art and its essentialization of the form. It is also noted that the radical industrial aesthetic of Cubillo's building needed something different to the dominant imagery of Olot. The works in the parishes of San Fernando (1973) and Jesus of Nazareth (1974), are respectfull with the indications of Vatican II about the number of images in the temple, and the hierarchy that should be established between them. Especially remarkable is the work done in the first one. In it, in addition to the images, Jose Luis Sanchez designed the entire liturgical furniture, from the altar to the chandeliers. Full integration with the architecture and the successful handling of materials and textures became his work in a good exponent of sociali-sing art that the artist pursued throughout his work.