José Romano Gutiérrez-Solana y Gutiérrez-Solana (28 February 1886,

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

– 24 June 1945, Madrid) was a Spanish painter, engraver, and author. He usually signed his paintings as "J. Solana". Generally, he is considered to be an

Expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

, but his style was heavily influenced by

El Greco Doménikos Theotokópoulos (, ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco (; "The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance, regarded as one of the greatest artists of all time. ...

, the '' Black Paintings'' of

Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, an ...

and the works of Eugenio Lucas Velázquez.Biographical notes
at El Poder de la Palabra.

Biography

His father was born in Mexico and came to Spain after receiving an inheritance from his relatives in Ruesga; marrying a cousin from Arredondo. His first lessons came from his uncle, José Díez Palma, who was a professor of drawing at the

University of Salamanca The University of Salamanca () is a public university, public research university in Salamanca, Spain. Founded in 1218 by Alfonso IX of León, King Alfonso IX, it is the oldest university in the Hispanic world and the fourth oldest in the ...

. From 1900 to 1904, he studied at the Escuela de Bellas Artes de San Fernando and, in 1906, received honorable mention at the Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes.Brief biography
from the Gran Enciclopedia de Cantabria @ Cantabria 102 Municipios. In 1909, his parents moved to

Cantabria Cantabria (, ; ) is an autonomous community and Provinces of Spain, province in northern Spain with Santander, Cantabria, Santander as its capital city. It is called a , a Nationalities and regions of Spain, historic community, in its current ...

, so he divided his time between Santander and Madrid. He also made frequent trips to

La Mancha La Mancha () is a natural region, natural and historical region in the provinces of Spain, Spanish provinces of province of Albacete, Albacete, province of Cuenca, Cuenca, province of Ciudad Real, Ciudad Real and province of Toledo, Toledo. It ...

, Aragón and

Andalucía Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

, making sketches and notes as he went to the carnivals and visited the cemeteries, hospitals and

bordello A brothel, strumpet house, bordello, bawdy house, ranch, house of ill repute, house of ill fame, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in Human sexual activity, sexual activity with prostitutes. For legal or cultural reasons, establis ...

s;Archivo Solana
@ the Museo Reina Sofia. deriving great inspiration from the mobs at

El Rastro El Rastro de Madrid or simply el Rastro is the most popular open air flea market in Madrid (Spain). It is held every Sunday and public holiday during the year and is located along ''Plaza de Cascorro'' and ''Ribera de Curtidores'', between ''Calle ...

, the market in Madrid. Well-supplied with money from his father, he took singing lessons, attended the theater and developed a great passion for the bullfights. At one point, he became an assistant in the cuadrilla (team) of the

torero A bullfighter or matador () is a performer in the activity of bullfighting. ''Torero'' () or ''toureiro'' (), both from Latin ''taurarius'', are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter, and describe all the performers in the activi ...

"Bombé". Eventually, he settled in Madrid in 1917, where he frequented the parks, the

Museo del Prado The Museo del Prado ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It houses collections of Art of Europe, European art, dating from the 12th century to the early 20th ce ...

and the National Archaeological Museum. He became a regular at the , where he associated with Ramón del Valle Inclán, Ricardo Baroja,

Julio Romero de Torres Julio Romero de Torres (9 November 1874 – 10 May 1930) was a Spanish painter. His brothers, Rafael and , also became painters. Biography He was the son of Rafael Romero Barros, a painter who served as Director of the Fine Arts Museum o ...

Ignacio Zuloaga Ignacio Zuloaga y Zabaleta (July 26, 1870October 31, 1945) was a Spanish painter, born in Eibar, Guipuzcoa, near the monastery of Loyola. Family He was the son of metalworker and damascening, damascener Plácido Zuloaga and grandson of the orga ...

and other members of '' Generación del '98''. He also attended the

tertulia A ''tertulia'' (, ; ; ) is a social gathering with literary or artistic overtones, especially in Iberian Peninsula, Iberia or in Spanish America. Tertulia also means an informal meeting of people to talk about current affairs, arts, etc. The word ...

s at the , presided over by

Ramón Gómez de la Serna Ramón Gómez de la Serna y Puig (July 3, 1888 – January 13, 1963), born in Madrid, was a Spanish writer, dramatist and avant-garde agitator. He strongly influenced surrealist film maker Luis Buñuel. Ramón Gómez de la Serna was especially ...

, where he met with fellow painters, writers and other notable intellectuals, including Francisco Iturrino, , José Bergamín and Tomás Borrás. It was during this period that his personal style found full expression. In 1928, he held his first showing in Paris, which turned out to be a failure. At another exhibition, his paintings were hung behind large doors, so they would not "bother" King

Alfonso XIII Alfonso XIII (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Alfonso León Fernando María Jaime Isidro Pascual Antonio de Borbón y Habsburgo-Lorena''; French language, French: ''Alphonse Léon Ferdinand Marie Jacques Isidore Pascal Antoine de Bourbon''; 17 May ...

when he came for a visit. By 1936, however, at the beginning of the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

, he had achieved fame throughout Europe. At that time, he went to Paris, following a brief stay in

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

. After the war, he returned to Madrid, where he remained until his death. In addition to his paintings, he wrote several books; mostly accounts of his travels and descriptions of local customs. In 1926, he wrote a novel: ''Florencio Cornejo''.

Selected writings

* ''La España negra'', 1920. Reprinted by Forgotten Books, 2015 * ''Madrid: escenas y costumbres'' (2 Vols., 1913 and 1918
Full text of Vol.2
@ Google Books. Reprinted by Trigo Editions * ''Madrid callejero'', 1923. Reprinted by Trigo Editions * ''Florencio Cornejo'', 1926. Reprinted by Creatica, 2011

References

External links

ArtNet: More works by Gutiérrez Solana.Arcadja Auctions: More works by Gutiérrez Solana.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gutierrez Solana, Jose 1886 births 1945 deaths 20th-century Spanish painters 20th-century Spanish male artists Spanish male painters Spanish Expressionist painters Painters from Madrid 20th-century travel writers Spanish travel writers Spanish male novelists Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando alumni 20th-century Spanish novelists 20th-century Spanish male writers

Biography

Selected writings

References

Further reading

External links