Monday, March 29, 2010

(Social) Realism: Spain




Mariano José María Bernardo Fortuny y Marsal (1838 – 1874)

Mariano José María Bernardo Fortuny y Marsal (June 11, 1838 – November 21, 1874) was a Spanish painter. His brief career encompassed both the Romantic fascination with orientalist themes, and a prescient loosening of brush-stroke and color.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariano_Fortuny_%28painter%29
















Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (1863 – 1923)

Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (February 27, 1863 – August 10, 1923) was a Spanish painter, born in Valencia, who excelled in the painting of portraits, landscapes, and monumental works of social and historical themes. His most typical works are characterized by a dexterous representation of the people and landscape under the sunlight of his native land.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joaqu%C3%ADn_Sorolla



Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida Segovian Figures 1912



Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida On the Sand Valencia Beach



Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida Tuna Catch



Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida El Bote Blanco



Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida La Siesta 1911





Ignacio Zuloaga y Zabaleta (1870 – 1945)
Ignacio Zuloaga y Zabaleta (July 26, 1870 – October 31, 1945) was a Spanish Basque painter, born in Eibar, in the Basque country, near the monastery of Loyola. He was the son of metalworker and damascener Plácido Zuloaga and grandson of the organizer and director of the royal armoury in Madrid.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignacio_Zuloaga

















Manuel Benedito Vives (1875 - 1963)
His creations encompassed all the themes in Spain’s most traditional calendar’s iconography: mine workers (1909), scenes of bourgeois children (1910 and 1913) and hunting as a leisure activity (1911 and 1913), as well as the representation of the prevailing tastes in female beauty (1917 and 1930).

He was a member of the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts (of which he also became director) and the San Carlos Academy of Fine Arts in Valencia. He was also appointed advisor to the Royal Tapestry Factory (1918), Knight of the French Legion of Honour (1919), Correspondent Member of the Hispanic Society of York (1925) and member of the National Fine Arts Academy of Lisbon (1935), as well as receiving the prestigious Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso X the Wise, one of the highest distinctions awarded by the Spanish state.

Having started under his wing, the name of Manuel Benedito continued to be associated with that of Sorolla, firstly because he replaced him as professor of colour and composition at the San Fernando Royal Academy and secondly because in 1941 he was appointed chairman of the board of the Sorolla Museum in Madrid.
http://www.maxam-corp.com/maxam/opencms/maxam/eng/fundacion_uee/coleccion_uee/pintores/ManuelBeneditoVives.htm
http://www.jdiezarnal.com/pintura/manuelbenedito.html








































José María López Mezquita, (1883-1954)
José María López Mezquita, (1883-1954), era un pintor español. Nació en Granada el 23 de abril de 1883 en el seno de una familia de comerciantes que, no era ciertamente el ambiente más propicio para el surgimiento de la faceta artística a la que consagró su vida. A los 9 años inició su formación en el taller de J. Larocha y a los 13, cuando su familia por negocios se traslada a Madrid, continuó en la Escuela de Pintura y Grabados. En 1901 recibió la medalla de oro en la Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes por su lienzo La cuerda de presos (Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid) y menciones especiales a otros presentados. Su formación le permitió viajar a Bélgica, Holanda, Inglaterra y Francia, bajo el mecenazgo de la infanta Isabel de Borbón y Borbón a la que retrató junto con la marquesa de Nájera (Museo de Historia de Madrid, 1915).

Regresó a su querida Granada en 1905 donde pintó Retrato de mis amigos, El velatorio, La juerga... si bien ya destacó en el retrato también son de esa época Otoño en la Alhambra y Vista del Albaicín. Co-fundador en 1910 de la Asociación Española de Pintores y Escultores. Este destacado retratista y académico de San Fernando, marchó en 1926 a Estados Unidos, donde permanecíó largos años pero con breves regresos a España y cosechó éxitos en Bruselas, Buenos Aires, etc. Trabajador silencioso y disciplinado, López Mezquita nos lleva de lo sencillo y espontáneo a lo consciente, de lo superficial a lo profundo, de la apariencia a la realidad, de la mirada a la visión. Pintor de prestigio internacional, fue miembro de la Hispanic Society -para la que pintó una serie de retratos- y lo fue también de las Academias de Bellas Artes de Lisboa, Amberes y Cuba. Tras la guerra civil, permaneció en el extranjero, y hasta 1952 no regresó a España. Próxima su muerte, todavía siguió trabajando hasta que el 6 de diciembre de 1954 falleció en Madrid. Entre sus discípulos, podemos citar al pintor granadino Francisco Soria Aedo. Co-fundador, el 11 de febrero de 1933 de la Asociación de Amigos de la Unión Soviética, creada en unos tiempos en que la derecha sostenía un tono condenatorio en relación a los relatos sobre las conquistas y los problemas del socialismo en la URSS.
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Mar%C3%ADa_L%C3%B3pez_Mezquita
http://www.culturandalucia.com/Jos%C3%A9%20Mar%C3%ADa%20L%C3%93PEZ%20MEZQUITA_Obras%20emblem%C3%A1ticas.htm















Manel Anoro (1945)
Anoro was born June 13, 1945 in the Catalan capital of Barcelona. Perhaps the most startling fact about Anaro's development as an artist is that he was thirty-five when he begun to paint in color. Colors, according to the Manel Anaro, are the fastest route to a direct connection with happiness.

Anoro views art - and happiness - as a "dialogue between oneself and things outside." The surrounding panorama at his stone house in Menorca, with views of the Pyrenees Mountains and the Costa Brava, is his sourcebook. Says Manel Anoro, "I believe you must truly know the countryside you are painting, as you must know a person before you do his portrait. In some of my earliest landscapes, the land and I weren't yet on intimate terms." It is impossible to imagine Manel Anoro's art without his vivid palette, encompassing all of the shimmering, light-infused tones of the Mediterranean. The influence of the fauves is obvious — in glowing nudes; interiors; still lifes, and landscapes. Anoro's landscapes are distinguished by what he calls a "constructed" quality. Though he regards Cézanne, Constable and Turner as "kings of naturals construction," the crisp delineation of forms within Anoro's plein air paintings most recalls Cézanne.

http://www.pcart.com/anoro/index.html
http://www.anoro.com/
http://www.artistsandart.org/2010/02/manel-anoro-amazing-spanish-artist.html

























World (Social) Realist Art (Index of Countries)
This blog page is part of an ongoing project by artist and part-time lecturer Caoimhghin Ó Croidheáin (http://gaelart.net/) to explore Realist / Social Realist art from around the world. The term Realism is used in its broadest sense to include 19th century Realism and Naturalism as well as 20th century Impressionism (which after all was following in the path of Courbet and Millet). Social Realism covers art that seeks to examine the living and working conditions of ordinary people (examples include German Expressionism, American Ashcan School and the Mexican Muralists).

Click here for (Social) Realist Art Definitions, World (Social) Realism and Global Solidarity, Art and Politics, Social Realism in history and Country Index.

Suggestions for appropriate artists from around the world welcome to caoimhghin@yahoo.com.

No comments: