Antonio Manuel Campoy

Antonio Manuel Campoy was born on November 16, 1924 in Cuevas del Almanzora. With a degree in Philosophy and Letters and a Broadcasting Technician, he closely followed contemporary art movements, becoming an eminent art critic and a great collector of artistic works, including paintings and sculptures.

Author of innumerable publications of Art, Catalogs and articles, he regularly published his criticisms in the newspaper ABC. Among his works include the Prado Museum, Critical Dictionary of Spanish Art and One Hundred Masters of Contemporary Spanish Art, as well as others such as Andalusian painting of the 19th and 20th centuries, Spanish painters, From Solana to Picasso and critical biographies on the most prestigious artists of the world. contemporary national panorama. He also wrote on very diverse subjects, unrelated to painting.

His works, which surpassed fifty, together with his artistic critiques, made him worthy of various awards and prizes, among them: “International Award for the Waves” (1958), “National Radio and Television Award” (1963), “Lázaro Galdiano Prize” (1970), “Literature Prize of the national competitions of Fine Arts” (1971), “Prize of the General Directorate of Fine Arts” (1973), “National Prize of Art Criticism”, “Medal for Merit in Fine Arts ”,“ Medaglia Culturale d’Argento Italiano ”or the“ Order of Alfonso X the Wise ”.

Likewise, his meritorious life and work made him a member of the Academies of Fine Arts, such as San Luis de Zaragoza, San Telmo de Málaga or Santa Isabel de Hungary de Sevilla, and members of prominent Associations.

On January 10, 1993, at the age of 68, he died in Madrid. His wife, Rosa María Sáez Prol, executor of her husband’s will, donated all the museum collections to the Cuevas del Almanzora City Council to constitute the present ANTONIO MANUEL CAMPOY MUSEUM. Likewise, Antonio Manuel’s brother, Anastasio Campoy Alías, has dedicated his life, since the museum was founded, to the preservation of such a rich cultural heritage.