Manuel García-Montalván

Place: Seville

Born: 1876

Death: 1943

Biography:

Spanish ceramist and businessman who owned the Nuestra Señora de la O artistic ceramics factory. He studied art at the Provincial School of Arts and Artistic Trades in his hometown where he had Virgilio Mattoni and José Jiménez Aranda as teachers. He took over the family business after the death of his father in 1901, expanding the facilities and introducing new features both in the technical and artistic aspects. He made contact with the architect Aníbal González and contributed with his ceramic production to the decoration of various buildings that were built for the Ibero-American Exposition in Seville (1929). Some of his best-known works are the Fuente de las Ranas located in the Parque de María Luisa in Seville, and of which he made copies located one in the Plaza de 25 de Julio in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and another in the forest of Chapultepec, in Mexico City, as well as several benches for the Plaza de España in said city. He exported ceramic pieces to different countries, some of them are in Buenos Aires, Chicago, Los Angeles and Cairo.