Luis Antonio Sanguino de Pascual (; 13 August 1934 – 12 July 2026) was a Spanish sculptor who is known for many monumental works, mostly in bronze, both in Spain and in the Americas. After living abroad more than once, including sojourns in other European countries as a child, arising from the Spanish Civil War's upheavals, and periods during his adult life in the United States and Mexico, he later lived near Segovia in the land of his birth.
Early life Sanguino's parents, the lawyer Aquilino Sanguino and Rosa de Pascual, were a noble family of Barcelona, while their son was the seventh of eight siblings. When the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, they fled Barcelona, leaving behind all their belongings in their rush to take flight.
Their journey both outside and inside the country led to them living in Marseille, Monaco and San Sebastián, but in the end they settled in the Andalusian province of Córdoba, where Sanguino would live his childhood on a farm called La Raña, and he would study at the Salesian college of Pozoblanco.
From earliest childhood, Sanguino showed signs of great artistic gifts. During the Civil War, when his once comfortable family had to use many candles for lack of any better lighting, he took advantage of the melted wax from them to make little sculptures. His skills improved, and he accomplished at the age of only eight a work in terracotta, known as "Las Ruinas", dated between 1942 and 1943. It was made up of a bas-relief in baked clay (terracotta) that depicts a bucolic or pastoral countryside scene in which one sees a shepherd with his flock in the middle of nature, and before the ruins of what must once have been a monastery. In executing this work, Sanguino was inspired by an engraving from an old book that his mother had.
Sanguino's family moved house in 1944, relocating this time to Spain's capital, Madrid, where they would only live for a short time before moving once again, this time to Cádiz. It was during his short time in Madrid, however, that Sanguino's acquaintances put him in touch with the sculptor Mariano Benlliure, who despite considering Sanguino's aptitude in sculpture to be quite great, would not become his teacher owing to his already advanced age (Benlliure was 82 by this time), and instead recommended that fellow sculptor Federico Coullaut-Valera Mendigutia take on the task. Coullaut-Valera's father had also been a sculptor, Lorenzo Coullaut Valera (1876–1932), who had created, among other works, the sculpture "El Quijote", a work representing Don Quijote and Sancho Panza from the well known Spanish epic novel astride their mounts. It stands at the Plaza de España in Madrid as part of the Monument to Miguel de Cervantes.
Artistic career Sanguino presented himself at his first plasterers' contest, which was being held in Cádiz, becoming a finalist (the work that he displayed was entitled "La perezosa", or "The Lazy Woman", made of plaster and one metre in height, and depicted a female figure), subsequently taking part in a further contest in Seville. There his work consisted of an execution of a decorative moulding one metre in height with flower and tear motifs, among other decorative elements. Even given the work's quality, however, he did not win a prize, although he did get chosen to participate in yet another contest, this one to be held in Madrid. This time, he won first prize at the residential college ("Colegio Mayor") "La Paloma", which could be considered the working-class university at that time. It was decided that Sanguino should move to Madrid, where he had already held exhibitions in December 1947 at the "Kebos" art salons, so that he could undertake his studies at Federico Coullaut-Valera Mendigutia's side.
His beginnings as a sculptor were not easy and he gave himself over to making little works to sell so that he could earn a living and at the same time continue his studies. He thus realized in polychrome plaster "Portales de Belén" ("Gates of Bethlehem") which he sold at the Plaza Mayor in Madrid, coming to establish a small industry in which his siblings collaborated. To earn money, he also made small sculptures from baked clay, but instead of selling them, he would himself go to pawnshops and pawn them there. Nevertheless, he rented a small studio on the Calle de la Luna (a narrow lane off the Calle de San Bernardo), a street where other already established artists lived, like the painter Enrique Navarro, Miguel Herrero, José Luis Mazuelos and Demetrio Salgado.
Besides helping his teacher Coullaut-Valera, Sanguino worked for an antiquarian, Arturo Linares, a member of the Cortes Españolas (Francoist Spain's legislature), making statues of saints for him. The antiquarian would size old timbers, while Sanguino would carve and polychrome them, and then put them in the kiln. The resulting works looked thoroughly authentic. He made roughly 17 of these sculptures, whose heights were each between 50 and 60 centimetres, which were meant to simulate works by the great masters of the Spanish Golden Age: Alonso Cano, Gregorio Fernández and other great realist visual artists in Spanish Baroque sculpture.
Motivated by his teacher, Coullaut-Valera, Sanguino presented himself as a sculptor at the contest for the "Valley of the Fallen", submitting a number of draft works on the armed forces of the land, sea and air, and militias; at this time, he was 18 years old. Sanguino's drafts consisted of the following: three in plaster one metre tall, a sculpture measuring 1.75 m, a hand worked in stone (for he wished to show his ability at carving stone), and several drawings. He was chosen to execute the work, although at the time, he found himself having to do the then obligatory military service.
The works for the construction of the "Valley of the Fallen" Basilica (San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Community of Madrid) were begun in 1942, with Director General of Architecture Pedro Muguruza being put in charge of the project. He, however, gave it up in 1949 owing to advanced degenerative paralysis. The project's direction then shifted to Diego Méndez González, who at once set about simplifying parts of the work (for example, Coullaut-Valera's project for a Way of the Cross vanished from the plans). The sculptures that alluded to the armed forces were Sanguino's.
The Armed Forces monument is made up of eight sculptures, each three metres tall, carved in granite with angular, big, flat and stark shapes (which contrast with the polished look seen in the faces and arms), which fit perfectly into the whole complex, which itself is distinguished in its architectural character. It is found on the upper parts of both the walls of the Basilica's nave, which is structurally a crypt (it is underground), symbolizing at once the watch and the grief (representing the theme of a man being half monk and half soldier, and at the same time referring and paying homage to the armed forces: army, navy, air force and militias), before the remains of those who lie within. It took three years to make these sculptures., and Sanguino himself said that he was paid well for his work.
It was at the time when Sanguino and other sculptors were working on models for the project in a room at the Palacio de Oriente (as it was then known) that he actually met Francisco Franco, who came to see them while attending a credentials ceremony. Nobody was brave enough to speak to him. Sanguino said of him "He was a very short man, but he impressed."
Move to the United States
In 1957, Sanguino wed the American Dana Woodward, with whom he had his first three children Luis Russel, Jordi and Triana Cristina. At this time in his life, he took up residence with his family in the state of New York. Sanguino had arrived in the United States with nothing more than some photographs of some of his works in the Valley of the Fallen, but then nevertheless began a most fruitful stage in his artistic career; he kept making monumental works, ones worthy of drawing attention from the National Sculpture Society of New York, who called him "a classic of the 20th century". It was also in this time that Sanguino got to know Salvador Dalí and many other artists, thus becoming the youngest ever member chosen to be in this association. His acquaintance with Dalí began one weekend morning when the surrealist painter called him on the telephone, saying that somebody had given him Sanguino's references as a sculptor with some impact. At first, Sanguino did not believe that it really was Dalí.
Living in New York was useful to Sanguino for knowing and studying works by great artists such as the Italian painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani (1884–1920), Constantin Brâncuși (1876–1957) and Auguste Rodin (1840–1917), and he characterized his first American stage as a seeking phase, which is reflected in works from this time.
In the United States, Sanguino exhibited at various venues, foremost among which were Hammer Galleries of New York and the Palm Beach Gallery in Florida.
Sanguino did not stop taking part in contests, whether organized in Spain (like the one held by Málaga city council, whose objective was a monument to Francisco Franco, at which he won over, with his draft works, sculptors like Juan de Ávalos and Santiago de Santiago, although in the end, he did not come out on top) or in the United States.
Even though Sanguino lived in the United States, in 1967 he bought a farm in Mataelpino, a village lying in El Boalo municipality in the Sierra de Guadarrama, which allowed him to alternate living and working between Spain and New York. Thus, in 1970 he realized an important exhibition at the Grifé&Escoda gallery, this being his first exhibition in Spain.
First return to Spain
Sanguino returned to Spain to live in the land of his birth in 1976 (albeit not definitively), then receiving the Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic from His Majesty King Juan Carlos I, for representing and feeling proud of his country wherever he was. This remained obvious in his struggle to get 12 October, traditionally and to this day marked in the United States as Columbus Day, "Day of the Italians", declared "Hispanicity Day" ("día de la Hispanidad") since, according to Sanguino, Columbus, even though it is believed that he was Genoese (although it has never been proved that he was), went on a Spanish expedition, and therefore he should be celebrated with a day called Día de la Raza or Día de la Hispanidad, which is indeed now celebrated in many of the world's countries each year on 12 October. Meeting with a few Spanish friends, he and they together stressed that this day was to be observed as a homage to Spain, and for this they decided at the Commodore Hotel (now called the Hyatt Grand Central New York) adjoining Grand Central Terminal in New York to give a kind of dinner for some 300 people. The event was rather more successful than expected, with more than one thousand people showing up, among whom were some of that time's more prominent figures, including New York's mayor John Lindsay and Spain's ambassador to the United States, at that time the Count of Motrico, José María de Areilza. This led to there being a big parade the next year on Fifth Avenue in honour of Spanish Day. Because Sanguino was one of the movement's main promoters, some, among them a few ambassadors and consuls, proposed that he receive the medal. In the end, it was indeed conferred upon him, even as Francisco Franco still lived. Nevertheless, it was not until 1976 that Sanguino received it from the King of Spain.
Move to Mexico In 1978, Sanguino once again moved, making his new home this time in Mexico, there leaving a great mark with his works and beginning a new artistic stage in which he accentuated his sculptures' classicism. In 1979 he wed a young woman from Segovia, Curra Álvarez, mother to his two youngest children, Curro and Rocío. He lived with them in Mexico for thirteen years.