Francisco Matas Torres Biography
Francisco Torres Matas was born in Malaga on February 4, 1945, in the family home in the Ciudad Jardín neighborhood. Due to his poor health, he had difficulty following the normal pace of studies during his early childhood. However, despite the challenges, at the age of just 10, in 1955, he managed to enter the School of Applied Arts and Artistic Crafts of Malaga, where he studied for seven years with professors such as Antonio Cañete Sánchez or José Roquero Tovar, both academics at the San Telmo Academy in Málaga since 1958 and 1959 respectively.
Despite his academic success, Francisco's father did not look favorably on his artistic vocation, asking him to work in the family barbershop on Atarazanas Street. However, Francisco managed to continue his education. After completing his apprenticeship at the School of Arts in 1961, he expanded his training with Alfonso de la Torre Marín, who taught color and composition courses at Educación y Descanso in Málaga.
At just 17 years old, at the end of 1962, Francisco inaugurated his first solo exhibition in the Art Room of the Caja de Ahorros de Ronda de Málaga, with 23 works of different themes. A year later, he repeated the experience, this time showing his works in the Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País de Málaga, as Julia de la Torre Fazio later reported.
Francisco has actively collaborated with the presidents of the San Telmo Academy since his entry as an academic number. He worked with Baltasar Peña Hinojosa until 1986; subsequently with Alfonso Canales Pérez-Bryan, between 1986 and 2006, with whom he held the position of first vice president since 2002; and finally with Manuel del Campo y del Campo, with whom he continued to hold the same position until his death.