VALENCIA, SPAIN.- Spanish painter from Valencia José Peris Aragó, 96, died in his home of Alboraya (Valencia). He was the most important poster designer for the Cifesa film company. He studied at the Escuela de Bellas Artes de San Carlos de Valencia and belonged to the generation of the renovated artists of Valencia of the 1930’s. When the Civil War begun, he took side with the Intellectual Alliance of Antifascists and designed several posters with the war theme. Among them is one that is very well known, titled “¡No pasarán dijo Ma-drid y lo ha cumplido! ¡No pasará dice Valencia y lo cumplirá!”. (They will not pass stated Madrid and it has done so. They will not pass says Valencia and they will do so!).
When the Civil War ended, he was hired by Cifesa to design film posters. He designed posters for the following movies: “¡A mí la Legión!”, “Aeropuerto”, “La gitanilla”, “Lola la Piconera”, “La Lola se va a los puertos”, “Muchachas de Bagdad”, “Lucrecia Borgia”, “Once pares de botas”, “Agustina de Aragón”, “El beso de Judas” y “Gloria marinera”, among many others.
On October 2002 the Valencia Film Festival dedicated an exhibition to his works at Cifesa. In his oil paintings he had a realist style focused on portraits and self-portraits.
