JOAQUÍN PEINADO (Ronda, Malaga, 1898 - Paris, 1975). "Composition with a Pipe", 1943. Oil on canvas. With the label of the Carmen Aranguren Gallery (Seville) on the back. Signed and dated in the upper right corner. Measurements: 22 x 35 cm; 25 x 38 cm (frame). The instability and unrest caused by the Second World War distanced Peinado from easel painting, and he focused on making drawings which he sent to different publishers and which helped him to survive. For this reason this work is of great importance, as it marks the moment when Peinado returned to painting, with a less avant-garde conception, assimilating a "return to order" aesthetic, which was common to many painters due to the political situation of the time. During that period he focused particularly on still lifes, as can be seen in this painting, which has a post-Cubist aesthetic. Joaquín Ruiz-Peinado Vallejo was a Cubist painter, successor of Cézanne and spiritual son of Picasso, and one of the most outstanding representatives of the Spanish School of Paris. He entered the San Fernando School of Fine Arts in Madrid in 1918 and in the following years became a pupil of Cecilio Plá and Julio Romero de Torres, and was awarded a scholarship for three years at the Monastery of Santa María de El Paular, winning the El Paular Painting Prize in 1922. In 1923, once he had finished his studies, he went to Paris, where he settled permanently. There he attended the classes given at the Ranson, Colarossi and La Grande Chaumière academies and at the same time became interested in Cubist painting, an aesthetic he would personalise and maintain in his works. In 1924 he also showed his work at the Salons des Indépendants, Surindépendants and d Automne. Nevertheless, from the city of the Seine he continued to be part of Spanish artistic life, taking part in the mythical First Exhibition of the Society of Iberian Artists in 1925, and illustrating the magazines "Litoral", "Gallo" and "La Gaceta Literaria", as well as "La flor de California" (1928) by José María Hinojosa. In 1926 he also won the Painting Prize of the Diputación de Málaga. Three years later, in 1929, he took part in two important exhibitions of avant-garde art in Spain: the Exhibition of Paintings and Sculptures by Spanish Residents in Paris, at the Botanical Gardens in Madrid, and the Regional Exhibition of Modern Art, at the Casa de los Tiros in Granada. He was also involved in the performing arts, like other artists of the time, participating in the films "Un perro andaluz" (1929) and "La edad de oro" (1930), by his friend Buñuel, and as a set designer and draughtsman for Feyder s "Carmen" (1925). In 1926 he also took part in the performance of Falla s "El retablo de Maese Pedro" in Amsterdam together with Buñuel, Cossío, Viñes and Ángeles Ortiz. In time, his artistic career would lead him to occupy a prominent position within the School of Paris; he would become director of the Painting Section of the Union of Spanish Intellectuals and later vice-president of the same, and UNESCO would appoint him delegate of the Section of Spanish Painters of the School of Paris. In 1946 he was also one of the organisers of the exhibition "Arte de la España Republicana. Spanish Artists of the School of Paris", held in Prague and, due to its enormous success, later also in Brno. From that date onwards his international exhibitions were frequent, both individual and collective, and he was grouped together with the best French art of the time. However, it was not until 1969 that a retrospective of his work was held in Spain; organised by the Dirección General de Bellas Artes and held at the Museo de Arte Español Contemporáneo in Madrid, this exhibition consecrated his figure in our country. In fact, that same year he was made a member of the Royal Academy of San Telmo in Malaga. His work is currently widely represented in the museum that bears his name in Ronda.