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MARCELO GRANDE RODRIGO (1943 – 2020)

Marcelo Grande was a Spanish set designer and painter. He was born on October 14, 1943 in Tomelloso, Ciudad Real. He began drawing and painting at an early age and was a pupil of Antonio López Torres as a teenager. He gained his first academic experience at the “Escuela de Artes y Oficios” in Ciudad Real. At the beginning of the 1960s, he decided to move to Barcelona, where he studied Fine Arts at the Sant Jordi Faculty. He then taught art at the “La Farga” school in San Cugat del Valles, Barcelona. During this time, he also experimented with art, held various exhibitions (Madrid, Les 4 gats in Mallorca) and was already active in the theater (theater company “La Tragica” and Tripijocjoctrip).

At the beginning of the 1960s, he decided to move to Barcelona, where he studied Fine Arts at the Sant Jordi Faculty. He then taught art at the ‘La Farga’ school in San Cugat del Valles, Barcelona. During this time, he also experimented artistically, held various exhibitions (e.g. Ovidio in Madrid, 4 gats in Palma de Mallorca) and started first theatre activities (theatre company ‘La Tragica’ and Tripijocjoctrip).

In the 1970s, he met the young Mario Gas, who suggested that he design a stage set for the theater. This was the beginning of a long list of collaborations on the theater and opera stage. Marcelo went to New York to study set design at Lester Polakov College on a scholarship from the Ministry of Culture. He became one of the most important set designers in Mario Gas' career. He has created many very successful productions for operas at the Liceo in Barcelona and the Teatro Real in Madrid, among others. La Ronda, the Threepenny Opera (La ópera de tres peniques), Jenufa, Il matrimonio segreto, Il Trovatore, etc. Gaetano Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore was a success with audiences and was staged for many years in numerous theatres throughout Spain (Barcelona, Madrid, Bilbao, La Coruña, Peralada, ...). In 2005 it was even performed in Savonlinna / Finland.

In the film and cinema sector, he has worked as artistic director and costume designer on productions such as Laura, La fiebre del oro (Gonzalo Heralde), El amor es extraño, Mal de amores, Las aparencias engañan, Asunto interno (Carles Balagué) and others. In 1990, he was nominated for the Goya Prize for the costume design of Vicente Aranda's film ‘Si te dicen que caí’.

As a visual artist, Marcelo Grande has created an important oeuvre of drawings, oil paintings, collages and ceramics that is spread across various locations throughout Spain and abroad. He has exhibited in galleries and museums in Madrid, Barcelona, New York, Zurich, La Mancha, Toledo, Palma de Mallorca, Catalonia and other places.

Over the last 25 years of his life, Marcelo Grande has consciously withdrawn from the world of theatre in order to devote himself intensively to painting and the visual arts. In addition to his studio in Nulles (Tarragona), he was very active in Barcelona, Sitges, Zurich and Tomelloso. He had residences in each of these places and therefore travelled back and forth frequently. He died in May 2020 in his flat in Tomelloso.

He was one of the most successful ‘Tomelloseros’ in the performing arts, theatre and opera world. In 2017, he was honoured as ‘Tomellosoero ausente’ of the year. The municipal theatre in Tomelloso has borne his name since 2021.