Today brought exciting news for Gustavo Torner (Cuenca, 1925): he was named the first recipient of a biennial prize that honors the careers of content creators. The award carries a prize of 10,000 euros and seeks to recognize enduring contributions to the arts.
At 97, the artist reflects on the honor with mixed emotions. He notes that receiving an award in his name is deeply gratifying, yet a touch bittersweet because colleagues and friends are no longer here to share the moment. He adds that prizes can inspire and affirm, yet he compares them to giving candy to a well-behaved child—pleasant but not a substitute for sustained work.
Torner helped usher modern art into Spain in the 1960s, alongside Gerardo Rueda and Fernando Zóbel, an effort that culminated in the creation of the Cuenca Spanish Museum of Abstract Art. He belonged to a circle that included Sempere, Antonio Lorenzo, Manuel Millares, Canogar, Luis Feito, Chirino and Segundo Gámez, among others, and played a pivotal role in shaping the era’s artistic conversations.
“Sempere kept art modest, not theatrical—something that isn’t always fashionable”
The artist fondly recalls Eusebio Sempere, praising him as a very kind person with a generous body of work. He warns against judging moments in isolation, emphasizing that a life in art is built from a broad tapestry of experiences. While Sempere’s art was never aimed at spectacle, Torner notes that public tastes shift, and many stories and opinions accompany such shifts.
Gustavo Torner gained prominence after receiving the National Graphic Arts Award in 1961. His black-and-white studies and graphic pieces, part of the Siglo XX collection donated by Sempere to the city, remain touchstones in Spanish art history.
“The white-black study is a small but telling piece from Torner’s 1961 MACA collection.”
The artist is set to collect his prize during an event in Alicante in January. He created his first abstract works in 1956 and soon moved into informal expression, with sculpture in Madrid—reflections that led to Cubes Square, a project that occupied a central place in his practice from 1971 to 1977.
His collaborations extended to the design of spaces in institutions such as the Prado Museum, the Cuenca Cathedral, and the Cuenca Museum of Abstract Art. A retrospective at the Reina Sofía Museum in 1991 highlighted his career, and in 2004 he donated nearly 600 works. His honors include the Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso X El Sabio and the Gold Medal of Merit in Fine Arts, among others.
Jury and evaluation
The jury featured distinguished figures including Cultural Council Member Antonio Manres, MACA curator Rosa Castells, and professionals Jordi Teixidor de Otto, Yolanda Romero Gómez, Isabel Tejeda Martín, and Daniel García Andújar. The panel reached a unanimous decision to honor Torner, praising his long-standing leadership in renewing Spain’s mid-20th-century artistic languages and his experiments in photography, informal painting, neo-dada echoes, geometric abstraction, and sculpture through the 1970s.
“Reflections” is a sculpture by Gustavo Torner placed in Madrid’s Plaza de los Cubos, a piece that remains a visible marker of his sculptural work.
Cuenca and Alicante stand as early examples of artist-led museum initiatives during the Franco era, signifying a shift toward generosity and ethical engagement with contemporary languages and a new generation of Spaniards. Torner and Sempere share a sense of sociocultural responsibility that extends beyond the studio, shaping institutions and contributing hundreds of works to the public realm.