Ignacio Zuloaga
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Ignacio Zuloaga y Zabaleta (July 26, 1870October 31, 1945) was a Spanish painter, born in
Eibar Eibar ( eu, Eibar, es, Éibar) is a city and municipality within the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Basque Country of Spain. It is the head town of Debabarrena, one of the '' eskualde / comarca'' of Gipuzkoa. Eibar has 27,138 inhabitants ( Eusta ...
(
Guipuzcoa Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French depa ...
), near the monastery of Loyola.


Family

He was the son of metalworker and damascener
Plácido Zuloaga Plácido Maria Martin Zuloaga y Zuloaga (5 October 18341 July 1910) was a Spanish sculptor and metalworker. He is known for refining damascening, a technique that involves inlaying gold, silver, and other metals into an iron surface, creating an ...
and grandson of the organizer and director of the royal armoury ( Don Eusebio) in Madrid. His uncle was
Daniel Zuloaga Daniel Zuloaga y Boneta (1852 – December 27, 1921) was a Spanish ceramist and painter. He is considered to be one of the innovators of art pottery in Spain. He worked primarily from his workshops in Madrid and Segovia, but his work extended th ...
. His great-grandfather who was also the royal armourer was a friend and contemporary of
Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 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, and ...
.


Biography

In his youth, he drew and worked in the armourer's workshop of his father, Plácido. His father's craftmanship, a familial trade, was highly respected throughout Europe, but he intended his son for either commerce, engineering, or architecture, but during a short trip to Rome with his father, he decided to become a painter. His first painting was exhibited in Paris in 1890. At the age of 18 he moved to Paris, settling in
Montmartre Montmartre ( , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank. The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 is bordered by Rue Ca ...
, to find work and training as a painter. He was nearly destitute, and lived off some meager contributions by his mother and the benevolence of fellow Spaniards, including
Paco Durrio Francisco Durrio de Madrón, known as Paco Durrio (22 May 1868, Valladolid - 30 August 1940, Paris) was a Spanish sculptor, ceramicist and goldsmith; of French descent. He worked in the Art Nouveau and Symbolist styles. Life and work His father ...
,
Pablo Uranga Pablo is a Spanish form of the name Paul. People *Pablo Alborán, Spanish singer *Pablo Aimar, Argentine footballer *Pablo Armero, Colombian footballer * Pablo Bartholomew, Indian photojournalist *Pablo Brandán, Argentine footballer * Pablo Brene ...
, and
Santiago Rusiñol Santiago Rusiñol i Prats (, ; Barcelona 25 February 1861 – Aranjuez 13 June 1931) was a Spanish painter, poet, journalist, collector and playwright. He was one of the leaders of the Catalan ''modernisme'' movement. He created more than a ...
. After only six months' work he completed his first picture, which was exhibited at the
Paris Salon The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...
of 1890. Continuing his studies in Paris, where he lived for five years, he was in contact with post-impressionists such as
Ramon Casas Ramon Casas i Carbó (; 4 January 1866 – 29 February 1932) was a Catalan artist. Living through a turbulent time in the history of his native Barcelona, he was known as a portraitist, sketching and painting the intellectual, economic, and ...
,
Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...
and
Toulouse-Lautrec Comte Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901) was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist and illustrator whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of Paris in the l ...
, yet his tendencies were always to a thematic that was more ethnic in scope. He attempted to gain success during a sojourn in London; but lackluster patronage led him to return to Spain, settling in
Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...
, then
Segovia Segovia ( , , ) is a city in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia. Segovia is in the Inner Plateau (''Meseta central''), near the northern slopes of th ...
, and developed a style based on a realist Spanish tradition, recalling Velázquez and Murillo in their earthy colouring and genre themes. He painted portraits of attired bullfighters and
flamenco Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and ...
dancers; or portraits of family members and friends in such attire. He also painted village dwarves (''El enano Gregorio el Botero''; Hermitage, St Petersburg, Russia) and beggars, often as stark figures in a dreary landscape with a traditional landscape or town in the background. He also painted some village-scape scenes. He favored earth or muted tones, including maroon, black, and grey, with the exception of colorful folk attire or the bright red cassock in some paintings. Zuloaga married Valentine Dethomas on May 18, 1899. Valentine's brother,
Maxime Dethomas Maxime-Pierre Jules Dethomas (; October 13, 1867 – January 21, 1929) was a French painter, draughtsman, printmaker, illustrator, and was among the best known theater-set and costume designers of his era. As an artist, Dethomas was highly regarde ...
, was a fellow student of Zuloaga in Paris. Zuloaga and his patrons felt slighted in 1900, when his painting ''Before the Bull-fight'' was rejected for inclusion into the Spanish representation at the Universal Exposition in
Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
. In 1899, one of his paintings exhibited in Paris had been purchased for the
Luxembourg Palace The Luxembourg Palace (french: Palais du Luxembourg, ) is at 15 Rue de Vaugirard in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. It was originally built (1615–1645) to the designs of the French architect Salomon de Brosse to be the royal residence of th ...
. However, he did exhibit the painting at the Exposition of the Libre Esthetique in Brussels, and did see it acquired by the Modern Gallery in
Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
. He was accepted into the
Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...
in 1901 and 1903, and displayed 34 canvases at the Barcelona International exposition of 1907. Among the more prominently displayed works is his ''Cristo de la Sangre'' (Christ of the Blood) or ''Hermandad del Cristo Crucificado'' (Brotherhood of the Crucified Christ), on display at the
Museo Reina Sofia Museo may refer to: * Museo, 2018 Mexican drama heist film *Museo (Naples Metro) Museo is a station on line 1 of the Naples Metro. It was opened on 5 April 2001 as the eastern terminus of the section of the line between Vanvitelli and Museo. ...
in Madrid. He also painted a similarly painting of individuals undergoing a traditional
mortification of the flesh Mortification of the flesh is an act by which an individual or group seeks to mortify or deaden their sinful nature, as a part of the process of sanctification. In Christianity, mortification of the flesh is undertaken in order to repent for s ...
and a bleeding crucified Christ called ''The Flagellants'' (1900). These paintings were praised by
Unamuno Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo (29 September 1864 – 31 December 1936) was a Spanish essayist, novelist, poet, playwright, philosopher, professor of Greek and Classics, and later rector at the University of Salamanca. His major philosophical essa ...
in his book on ''De Arte Pictorico'' as being honest representation of Spain: a Spain ''religious and tragic, a black Spain''. rooted in the particularly Spanish Catholic fascination with mutilating penance. Brinton in his review of an exposition in America in 1909, he states that:
It is this racy and picturesque life which Zuloaga seeks above all else to place on record, and it is these popular types unspoiled by ruthless modernism which he pursues into the farthest corners of his native land. In this zealous quest of congenial models he hesitates at nothing. He will haunt for hours a fiesta on the outskirts of some provincial town, or hasten away to the mountains, passing months at a time with smugglers and muleteers, with the superstitious fanatics of Anso in the extreme north of Aragon or with the monkish cutthroats of Las Baluecas, a little village on the southern boundary line of
Salamanca Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritag ...
.
Gil says that the faces of the old folk he paints are
severe, roughly mystical, beset by painful thoughts, shadowed by the remembrance of the glory they once were, they have sad souls, moaning under the weight of an ideal of centuries, they are not individual representations, but the synthesis of the sadness of the Spanish Soul.
One of the American collections to feature Zuloaga's work is the Johns Hopkins University's Evergreen Museum & Library, Baltimore, Maryland. Officially owned by the Evergreen House Foundation, an independent entity started by Zuloaga's great friend, philanthropist Alice Warder Garrett (1877–1952), Evergreen's works include full-length portraits of Mrs. Garrett (1915; 1928); a seated portrait of Ambassador John Work Garrett (1872–1942); a Spanish landscape; a painting based on the opera ''Goyescas''; and a landscape of
Calatayud Calatayud (; 2014 pop. 20,658) is a municipality in the Province of Zaragoza, within Aragón, Spain, lying on the river Jalón, in the midst of the Sistema Ibérico mountain range. It is the second-largest town in the province after the capital, ...
(Spain). An
Iberia The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
airline Airbus A340-642 aircraft, registration EC-IZY, is named after him.


Zuloaga during and after the Spanish Civil War

Zuloaga was committed to the Nationalist faction 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, lin ...
and the Spanish State of the ''
caudillo A ''caudillo'' ( , ; osp, cabdillo, from Latin , diminutive of ''caput'' "head") is a type of personalist leader wielding military and political power. There is no precise definition of ''caudillo'', which is often used interchangeably with " ...
''
Franco Franco may refer to: Name * Franco (name) * Francisco Franco (1892–1975), Spanish general and dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975 * Franco Luambo (1938–1989), Congolese musician, the "Grand Maître" Prefix * Franco, a prefix used when ref ...
, whose portrait he painted in 1940. During the war, Zuloaga honored the defenders of the ''
Siege of the Alcázar The Siege of the Alcázar was a highly symbolic Nationalist victory in Toledo in the opening stages of the Spanish Civil War. The Alcázar of Toledo was held by a variety of military forces in favour of the Nationalist uprising. Militias of th ...
'' in 1936, when the building's Nationalist defenders refused to surrender despite the building being in flames. This siege, and other events such as the death of General Moscardo's son, served as a rallying cry for the Nationalist forces. In January 1939, this painting was hung in adjacent room displaying Picasso's modernist painting of
Guernica Guernica (, ), official name (reflecting the Basque language) Gernika (), is a town in the province of Biscay, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, Spain. The town of Guernica is one part (along with neighbouring Lumo) of the mu ...
during an exhibition of Spanish art in London. The nationalist content of his depiction of the Alcazar was allied to Zuloaga's celebration of folk traditions. Stylistically, the directness of the ''Siege'' painting also avoids modernity's challenge to realistic depictions:
Fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...
was not endeared to complex symbolism such as found in works such as ''Guernica''. In an April 1939 letter to his patron, Mrs Garret, Zuloaga stated:
Thanks to God, and to Franco, at last the war is won and over! And over, despite the goodwill of those so-called democratic countries – what a farce, what shame, when those countries learn the truth of this drama! We all will work with all our strength to rebuild a new Spain (free, great and unified) to Spanishize Spain, and get rid of all outside influences, so that we can keep our great nature. That’s my dream in art. I hate fads (which are destructive to racial characteristics) One must (for good or bad) be oneself, and not ape the style of anyone else. I will dedicate the years that are left to me to that end. What shame there will be in the future, for those countries who inflicted crime, savage vandalism, which reigned within the soviet clan in Spain!
He was later to claim that he was aghast, as a
francophile A Francophile, also known as Gallophile, is a person who has a strong affinity towards any or all of the French language, French history, French culture and/or French people. That affinity may include France itself or its history, language, cuisin ...
, when Hitler defeated France in 1940. After his death in 1945, he appeared on Spain's 500 peseta banknote emitted by
Francoist Spain Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...
in its 1954 series, with a depiction of Toledo on the back. Brinton in his 1909 essay was prescient of Zuloaga's future enamourment with
Falangism Falangism ( es, falangismo) was the political ideology of two political parties in Spain that were known as the Falange, namely first the Falange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista (FE de las JONS) and afterwards the Fal ...
:
He personifies in extreme form the spirit of autocracy in art, the principle of absolutism so typical of his race and country. You will meet in these bold, affirmative canvases no hint of cowardice or compromise. The work is defiant, almost despotic. It does not strive to enlist sympathy nor does it fear to be frankly antipathetic...the tones not infrequently acidulous, and the surfaces sometimes hard and metallic. Reactionary if you will...Brinton 1909, page 30.


Gallery

File:Zuloaga MNCARS.jpg, ''Don Plácido Zuloaga en su taller'' (1895), Madrid,
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía The ''Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía'' ("Queen Sofía National Museum Art Centre"; MNCARS) is Spain's national museum of 20th-century art. The museum was officially inaugurated on September 10, 1992, and is named for Queen Sofía. It ...
File:Zuloaga en MNCARS 2.jpg, ''Torerillos de pueblo'' (1906), Madrid,
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía The ''Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía'' ("Queen Sofía National Museum Art Centre"; MNCARS) is Spain's national museum of 20th-century art. The museum was officially inaugurated on September 10, 1992, and is named for Queen Sofía. It ...
File:Las_brujas_de_San_Millán_-_Ignacio_Zuloaga_Zabaleta.jpg, ''Las brujas de San Millán'' (1907) File:El violonchelista Juan de Azurmendi (Ignacio Zuloaga) 1909.jpg, ''Juan de Azurmendi'' (1909) File:Ignacio Zuloaga - Gitanilla.jpg, ''Gitanilla'' (after 1910) File:Ignacio Zuloaga y Zabaleta - Portrait of Anita Ramírez in Black - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Portrait of Anita Ramírez in Black'' (ca. 1915), Brooklyn Museum


References


Further reading

* * * *
Thesis on Zuloaga by Dena Crosson (2009), University of Maryland.Britannica on-line


External links


Fundacion Zuloaga
*
Ignacio Zuloaga Museum
(es, en, eu) {{DEFAULTSORT:Zuloaga, Ignacio 1870 births 1945 deaths People from Eibar 19th-century Spanish painters 19th-century Spanish male artists Spanish male painters 20th-century Spanish painters 20th-century Spanish male artists Basque painters Falangists Members of the Royal Academy of Belgium People of Montmartre