SÁNCHEZ COVISA, Fernando

The Spanish painter, engraver, and illustrator Fernando Sánchez Covisa (Madrid, 1896 – 1986) is a prominent figure in press illustration and 20th-century Spanish figurative landscape painting; his artistic training took place at the Special School of Painting, Sculpture, and Engraving at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid, where he acquired a refined technique in academic drawing, printmaking, and life oil painting; throughout his learning stage, he was taught by professors and mentors who were influential masters of the era, such as Cecilio Pla, Julio Romero de Torres, and Antonio Muñoz Degrain, who instilled in him mastery of figurative composition and rigor in the treatment of light; regarding his influences, his graphic and painterly language draws from the great tradition of classical Spanish printmaking, Madrid casticismo, late impressionist movements, and interwar Art Deco illustration styles; concerning his style, he cultivated canvas, etching, and ink on paper with equal fluency, standing out for an elegant, synthetic, and precise line, a remarkable sensitivity for portraiture and Castilian landscapes, and a prolific career as an illustrator for major periodicals of the era such as Blanco y Negro, ABC, and La Esfera; regarding the destination of his work and museum holdings, his creations form part of the collections of the ABC Museum of Drawing and Illustration, the National Library of Spain, the Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art of Madrid, as well as distinguished private and institutional collections dedicated to 20th-century Spanish illustration and figurative art.