JOSÉ GARCÍA ORTEGA (Arroba de los Montes, Ciudad Real, 1921 - Paris, 1990)"Reapers, crow, tenaja", 1970.Lithograph on paper. P/A.Signed in lower right corner.Measurements: 57 x 63 cm; 70 x 78 cm (frame).Better known as José Ortega, he was a painter and engraver and trained in Madrid, where he obtained a scholarship from the Círculo de Bellas Artes. Later, in 1953, he furthered his studies at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and at the École Estienne in the same city, thanks to a new scholarship, in this case from the French government. He returned to Spain in 1954 and began to exhibit his works. The following year he won the Gold Medal at the International Youth Festival in Warsaw, and then travelled to China, where he presented the series of drawings "A country builds Socialism". He returned to Spain and in 1958 he founded the group Estampa Popular, although he was soon forced to go into exile in Paris because of his political ideas. In 1963 the International Congress of Art Critics awarded him the Gold Medal, and the following year Ortega settled in Rome, from where he moved to Matera, in southern Italy. Since then he has enjoyed successive successes, especially in Paris, and since the 1960s he has exhibited all over Europe and also in the United States and Canada. He also took part in the Arco fair between 1984 and 1987. Today Ortega is mainly represented in the Exhibition Centre of the Provincial Council of Ciudad Real, among other public and private collections in Spain, Italy and other countries.