Alberto Corazón

Alberto Corazón Climent (21 January 1942 – 10 February 2021) was a Spanish multidisciplinary artist who combined graphic design, sculpture, painting, and photography into his works. Some of his works are housed at contemporary museums including Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art, Madrid, and Institut Valencià d'Art Modern. He worked as a graphic designer for clients including the organizations National Library of Spain, Autonomous University of Madrid, Anaya, ONCE, Círculo de Bellas Artes, and Renfe Operadora. He was inducted as the member of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in 2006.

Early life Corazón was born on 21 January 1942 in Madrid. He studied at the Complutense University of Madrid graduating in economics and sociology in 1965.

Career

Corazón started his career in 1965, designing posters and publishing. He co-founded the Spanish publishing house, New Science. He went on to pursue industrial design and was a multidisciplinary artist combining sculpting, painting, design and photography to his works.

Some of his work as a graphic designer was for Spanish organizations including Anaya, ONCE, Círculo de Bellas Artes, Mapfre, Renfe Operadora, and Telefónica's Domo telephone. Among the designs that he worked on through his career were those for the National Library of Spain, and the National Theatre Company.

His artistic style was described as Conceptual art, where the concept or theme takes precedence over traditional aesthetic and form.

Referencing his work, the Spanish newspaper El País, called him el diseño de la democracia (the designer of democracy), referring to the role that Corazón played in Spanish design when the country was going through the transition from dictatorship to democracy after the death of Francisco Franco in 1975. He remained active through the 2000s with multiple touring exhibitions within Spain and internationally.

Corazón was a recipient of a gold medal from the American Institute of Graphic Arts, and was noted as the only European designer to have received this honor. Some of his other honors include the Barcelona ADG-FAO Prize, the British Design Award, the Council of Europe Alliance Award, the Design Council International Award, and the New York Arts Director Club Award. aged 79.

Books