Javea, Alicante, home town of the painter Juan Bautista Segarra (1916-1994), will be the final destination for one of his least known works, a mural of big dimensions (11 metres in width), which has served over a period of more than seventy years (painted in 1952), as a decorative element of the López-Criado men’s wear shop, one of the best shops of the sector in the city of Valencia. The participation of Segarra was a direct consequence of a recommendation by Mariano García, an iconic Valencian furniture entrepreneur, and the interior designer responsible for the López-Criado shop. The mural depicts a dynamic fighting scene with a riders on different steeds.
Juan Bautista Segarra, born in Jávea trained in Mallorca, and later became part of the so called Grupo Z, an artistic movement from Valencia. After his move to the Spanish capital, he worked as teacher and painter, while creating different large scale murals for private and public buildings in Madrid, such as the Hotel Palace.
Before the imminent move of his business, the owner, Julio López wanted to find a way to preserve the painting. He contacted different institutions in order to find the necessary help to carry out the move of the mural correctly. Among those institutions were CulturArts, where he was advised by Carmen Pérez in relation to the restoration work, the Museums Committee led by Felipe Garin and the Council of Javea, where the final place for the painting will be. One possible custodian for the mural could be the Museum Arqueológico Soler Blasco, which has an entire room named after the painter, although there has not been an official confirmation yet.
Last week the official ceremony for the hand over of the mural took place in the former store, which was attended by Julio López and Empar Bolufer Castelló, city councillor of Javea for culture, education and equality. By signing the agreement, Empar Bolufer confirmed that the town council of Javea “will cover the costs of the move and the restoration of the piece with its next budget”. Bolufer admitted that he hadn’t been aware of the existence of the mural and explained, “Felipe Garín called the mayor, José Chulvi and informed him about this piece in Valencia. From that moment on we collaborated in the process of the urgent extraction, the restoration and the following move.”
