According to SHOEFRANTICS, the architecture continues in the neoclassical style during the first half of the century, then manages to break through, hesitating, behind the French fashions. In the second half of the century. XIX achieves some success an alleged nationalism that manifests itself in the use, not always fortunate, of colored tiles in the external cladding.
The same is true of sculpture. Piquer, Vallmitjana, Bellver, Mogrovejo and others retain classic tastes; Querol, Suñol, Susillo let themselves be overcome by monumentalism, sometimes bombastic and never fruitful.
The painting surpasses in development the other arts in the century. XIX. Goya fills almost the entire first thirty years: no one inherited his genius, but the imitators and even the falsifiers of his works abounded; they deserve a special mention among the first Leonardo Alenza among the second Eugenio Lucas. Vicente López (1772-1850) was a great portrait painter, sometimes excessively accurate. In the second half of the century, the elegant Federico Madrazo (1815-1894) succeeded him as the official portraitist. In the post-romantic movement two great artists of vigorous temperament can present Spain: Eduardo Rosales (1836-1873) and Maríano Fortuny (1838-1874); the first was able to deal with historical subjects and the portrait, recalling, without imitating it, pure tradition; the second cultivated with predilection the painting of costumes of the century. XVIII; he was the ”
The strong personality of Joaquín Sorolla, the painter of Levantine light, great costume artist and vigorous portrait painter (1863-1923) closes the Spanish painting of the nineteenth century.
Spanish painting of the twentieth century appears to us under two aspects that are not only different, but opposite, which perhaps one day may be merged together, but which now seem almost irreducible.
The aspect, which we will call traditional, presents, especially in painting, great richness and variety of shades. An address that, in some respects, is related to the art of Goya due to the ardent desire to enhance popular emotional elements – religion, superstition, tragic landscapes, bullfights, etc. – has the most glorious representative in Ignacio Zuloaga, an artist of extraordinary talent and vigor. Without a direct relationship with him, but in the same direction, Gutiérrez Solana is the great continuer of a secular address in Spanish art, which he can recognize Goya and Ribera as masters.
Another current, also traditional, which perhaps we can say was born from the Prado Museum – Velázquez, the Venetians, the Flemings, etc. – can be seen personified in various painters, such as the Sevillian Gonzalo Bilbao, the Galician Sotomayor (portraitist, costume painter and lover, less assiduous than he should, of mythological subjects) and the Valencian Manuel Benedito, an extremely elegant and elegant portraitist for the decorative genre. The Madrid-born Chicharro, who at the beginning of the century was a companion in Rome of these two last artists, has been involved for a long time with technical studies and masterfully treated the most disparate genres. A little younger than these López Mezquita, with full mastery of the brush and with the strength of observation, follows the naturalist current, always strong in Spain. Julio Romero de Torres (died 1930) successfully cultivated the Andalusian, or rather Cordovan note, steeped in melancholy. Anselmo Miguel Nieto is an exquisite artist.
Two great decorators deserve a special mention, one of whom is world famous; Sert, who through Goya joins Tiepolo, and Nestor, from the Canaries, a precise and imaginative designer in his works.
The address of the national costume has as its most faithful representatives the Zubiaurre brothers in Gascony, Viladrich in Aragon, Castelao and Juan Luis in Galicia, Pinazo in Valenza, Morcillo in Granata, Hermoso in Extremadura, with very different artistic qualities. The lyrical and colouristic exaltation gives a special imprint to Anglada Camarasa’s costume design.
For landscape painting it is worth mentioning, at the beginning of the century, Beruete, Marlín Rico, Rusiñol, Mir and, perhaps most notably of all these, Dario de Regoyos.
The foregoing can be reduced more or less to traditional schemes. The transition to the modern is indicated by artists, such as the Catalans Nonelle Sunyer, the Basques Echevarria, Iturrino and Arteta, but among them Vázquez Díaz stands out, tireless fighter for the triumph of the exclusively artistic values of painting and drawing.
However these artists, who are not the only ones in whom modern tendencies converge, cannot be cited as examples of the fusion of the traditional with the present or, to put it better, with Cubism or post-Cubism.
We have named the opposite aspect to the traditional, Cubism, the invention of a Spaniard, Pablo Picasso (v.), Born in Málaga but trained in La Coruña, Barcelona and Paris. Among his Spanish followers we only mention Juan Gris from Madrid. In these very modern addresses – cubism, surrealism, etc. – there are artists of strong personality and fame, such as Pruna, Miró, Salvador Dali, Gali, Junyer, Palencia, Bores, González Bernal, etc. Nor should we forget the painter Maria Blanchard, who lived and died in Paris.
Other artists, many of whom are very young, such as those just mentioned, reveal such characteristics and characteristics as to give hope that, perhaps, the harmonic fusion of the classic with the new will be shaped in them: Valverde, Balbuena, Gregorio Prieto, Hidalgo de Caviedes, Souto.
Spanish sculpture of the twentieth century is represented by faithful masters, such as Benlliure and Blay, to the norms of the previous century; but soon, with the works of the late Mateo Inurria and Julio Antonio, it acquires values which, affirmed in the works of José Clará, José Capuz, Mateo Hernández, Victorio Maeho, E. Barral, Comendado and others, bring Spanish plastic to a level that ‘it had not reached any more after the seventeenth century.
Polychrome sculpture is resurrected and renewed, thanks to the efforts of Quimín de Torre, Asorey, Bonome, etc. Alongside Picasso, the very original Pau Gargallo triumphs in Paris. Angel Ferrant and Alberto Manolo are the ones who represent the most modern trends in Spanish sculpture.
In architecture, the liquidation of the nineteenth century takes place before the invasion of “modernism” – the Paris exhibition of 1900 – which only in Catalonia and thanks to the vigorous personality of Gaudi left remarkable and somewhat independent examples. As we enter the century, an insincere traditionalist current spreads and spreads, whereby the buildings are inspired by the Plateresque, and an artificial “Spanish style” is created which has greatly influenced the interior decoration and furniture. In the post-war period, modern currents of “functional architecture”, etc. arrived in Spain, and skyscrapers and buildings in the German, Dutch, etc. style were built in large cities. A resurrection of the Baroque begins in Madrid, producing lucky examples. The most illustrious names among the Spanish architects of the present time are those of Juan Moya, Modesto López Otero, Antonio Palacios, Antonio Flórez, Pedro Muguruza, Spain Zuazo, etc. The major undertakings are the university city of Madrid, with the overall plans of López Otero, and the ministries of Spain Zuazo. Mercadal, Arniches, L. Moya, Sánchez Arcas, Bergamín, Aizpurua, among others, belong to a younger generation. Torres Balbás, Emilio Moya, Alejandro Ferrant, Franciseo Iñiguez, etc. have specialized in the restoration of monuments, of great importance for a country like Spain. ensemble of López Otero, and the ministries of Spain Zuazo. Mercadal, Arniches, L. Moya, Sánchez Arcas, Bergamín, Aizpurua, among others, belong to a younger generation. Torres Balbás, Emilio Moya, Alejandro Ferrant, Franciseo Iñiguez, etc. have specialized in the restoration of monuments, of great importance for a country like Spain. ensemble of López Otero, and the ministries of Spain Zuazo. Mercadal, Arniches, L. Moya, Sánchez Arcas, Bergamín, Aizpurua, among others, belong to a younger generation. Torres Balbás, Emilio Moya, Alejandro Ferrant, Franciseo Iñiguez, etc. have specialized in the restoration of monuments, of great importance for a country like Spain.
