Miguel García Vivancos (April 19, 1895 in

Mazarrón Mazarrón is a municipality in the autonomous community and province of Murcia, southeastern Spain. The municipality has an area of , and a population of 31,562 inhabitants in 2019. A military fort (named C1 or ''Castillitos''-small castles) bui ...

Region of Murcia The Region of Murcia (, ; es, Región de Murcia ), is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain located in the southeastern part of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast. The region is in ...

– January 23, 1972 in Córdoba) was a Spanish Naïve painter and anarchist. He was a member of the

National Confederation of Labor National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

( es, Confederación Nacional del Trabajo, CNT), during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...

he commanded several military units. With the defeat of the Republic he went into exile, where he developed a career as a painter. He was artistically known by his second surname.

Biography

He was born in

on April 19, 1895. Apprentice at the arsenal of Cartagena, he went with his widowed mother and brothers to

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. At an early age he joined the anarchist National Labor Confederation (CNT); To actively fight against the gunmen hired by the businessmen to suppress workers' demands, he formed the group "

Los Solidarios Los Solidarios (“Solidarity”), also known as Crisol (“Crucible”), was a Spanish anarchist armed-struggle group founded in 1922 in Barcelona, as a reply to the dirty war strategy used by the employers and government against trade unions. ...

" together with

Buenaventura Durruti José Buenaventura Durruti Dumange (14 July 1896 – 20 November 1936) was a Spanish insurrectionary, anarcho-syndicalist militant involved with the CNT and FAI in the periods before and during the Spanish Civil War. Durruti played an in ...

Francisco Ascaso Francisco Ascaso Abadía (Almudévar April 1, 1901 – Barcelona July 20, 1936) was the cousin of Joaquín Ascaso, the President of the Regional Defence Council of Aragon,Jesús Mestre i Campi, ''Diccionari d'Història de Catalunya'', Edicions ...

Juan García Oliver Joan Garcia i Oliver (1901–1980) was a Catalan anarcho-syndicalist revolutionary and Minister of Justice of the Second Spanish Republic. He was a leading figure of anarchism in Spain. Career Childhood and family Joan Garcia i Oliver was ...

Gregorio Jover Gregorio is a masculine given name and a surname. It may refer to: Given name * Gregorio Conrado Álvarez (1925–2016), Uruguayan army general and de facto President of Uruguay from 1981 until 1985 * Gregorio Álvarez (historian) (1889–1986), ...

, Ramona Berri and Aurelio Fernández. During the civil war he commanded the

Harriers Column The Harriers Column of the FAI, or Los Aguiluchos, was the last of the great Catalan anarcho-syndicalist columns. Later, more militias left Catalonia for the front, but they would no longer do so in the form of a column but rather as reinforceme ...

that left Barcelona to fight in the front of Huesca. García Vivancos agreed with the militarization of the militias and tried to cooperate with the

communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

. Later he commanded the 125th Mixed Brigade and the 25th Division, intervening in the battles of Belchite and

Teruel Teruel () is a city in Aragon, located in eastern Spain, and is also the capital of Teruel Province. It has a population of 35,675 in 2014 making it the least populated provincial capital in the country. It is noted for its harsh climate, with ...

. In May 1938 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. During the rest of the war, he also held command of the 29th Division - a former

POUM The Workers' Party of Marxist Unification ( es, Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista, POUM; ca, Partit Obrer d'Unificació Marxista) was a Spanish communist party formed during the Second Republic and mainly active around the Spanish Civil ...

militia - and the 24th Division — replacing

Antonio Ortiz Ramírez Antonio Ortiz Ramírez (Barcelona, April 13, 1907 – April 2, 1996) was a prominent member of the National Confederation of Labor and the Iberian Anarchist Federation. He dedicated himself to woodworking throughout his life, held various posit ...

. He fled at the end of the civil war to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, where he was held in 1940 in the Vernet concentration camp. He remained there at the beginning of the

Nazi occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 ...

, before being liberated by the resistance and joining it. After the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he worked in many different trades . One day he began to paint scenes and landscapes of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

on handkerchiefs to sell to

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

soldiers. This is how he discovered his talent for painting by beginning to capture his works in oil on canvas. In the year 1947 he met Picasso who welcomed him warmly as he had heard of his actions during the civil war. Picasso became interested in his painting and sought out the dealer María Cuttoli to make it known. In 1948 he held his first exhibition in Paris at the Mirador gallery. He made a name for himself, and in one of his exhibitions, André Breton dedicated a few lines to it, saying: Seriously ill, he returned to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, where he died in Córdoba on January 23, 1972.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * 1895 births 1972 deaths People from Mazarrón French Resistance members Spanish anarchists Spanish military personnel of the Spanish Civil War (Republican faction) 20th-century Spanish painters 20th-century male artists Spanish male painters Naïve painters {{Anarchist-stub