DOI Heft:
Nr. 146 (May 1905)
DOI Artikel:Williams, Leonard: Spanish painters of to-day: José Moreno Carbonero
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20711#0315
A Spanish Painter
SPANISH PAINTERS OF TO-DAY: before those torrid rays a dozen hours for a wicked
JOSE MORENO CARBONERO. pittance and a porringer of watery gazpacho;
BY LEONARD WILLIAMS. ignores the baked and cracking earth, the usurer-
landlord, the swelling taxes, the greedy church,
Some months ago I introduced readers of The the scanty harvest, the blighted grape, the rotten
Studio to Sorolla the Valencian, whom many olive, the nakedness and want behind the miserable
consider to stand at the head of Spanish painting cottage door. He only sees the prosperous and
of our time. The subject of the following article happy side of things, the juergas and the manzanilla,
is a painter of a widely different mood—Jose the roses in the women's hair, the gala costumes at
Moreno Carbonero, a native of Malaga. the gay procession, the images ablaze with gold
Carbonero practically won success while quite a and silver. Well, in their prosperous and happy
child. Even in boyhood he never had to learn way, his paintings are at least as perfect as the
that fishermen must fight the seething waters ; scenes they represent. Are we the Andalusian
husbandmen, the sulky soil. From the mental peasantry ? Why then should we complain ?
notes I took while standing with my shoulders to As with the present, so with the past. To those
his easel, I dare to say that fortune smiled upon who are familiar with the record, blotted with her
him almost from his cradle. The calmness of his blood, of Spain's decadence in the seventeenth and
manner, the smoothness of
his face, his obvious lack
of interest in all that has
to do with violence and
change ! I am sure, then,
that Moreno Carbonero
was a happy and untroubled
boy, just as I am sure that
he is a happy and un-
troubled man. By happi-
ness I mean of course
success. There is no other
happiness, save possibly
that of health. Bread is
the mighty mirth-creator.
Give us a crust, and we will
pipe, or paint, or chatter
for you. Whatever the
philosophers may say, we
do not often take ourselves
too seriously. It is necessity
that takes us so.
All those who scrutinise
Moreno Carbonero, or Mo-
reno Carbonero's art, ex-
pecting to discover in one,
or other, or both, a protest
against the faults and follies
of society, will have to
undergo disenchant-
ment. A son of Andalusia,
he finds within her fields,
and roads, and river-beds,
no other lesson than un-
clouded sunshine and
unclouded laughter. He
overlooks the reaper bending his excellenxy don erancisco silvela by j. m. carbonero
298
SPANISH PAINTERS OF TO-DAY: before those torrid rays a dozen hours for a wicked
JOSE MORENO CARBONERO. pittance and a porringer of watery gazpacho;
BY LEONARD WILLIAMS. ignores the baked and cracking earth, the usurer-
landlord, the swelling taxes, the greedy church,
Some months ago I introduced readers of The the scanty harvest, the blighted grape, the rotten
Studio to Sorolla the Valencian, whom many olive, the nakedness and want behind the miserable
consider to stand at the head of Spanish painting cottage door. He only sees the prosperous and
of our time. The subject of the following article happy side of things, the juergas and the manzanilla,
is a painter of a widely different mood—Jose the roses in the women's hair, the gala costumes at
Moreno Carbonero, a native of Malaga. the gay procession, the images ablaze with gold
Carbonero practically won success while quite a and silver. Well, in their prosperous and happy
child. Even in boyhood he never had to learn way, his paintings are at least as perfect as the
that fishermen must fight the seething waters ; scenes they represent. Are we the Andalusian
husbandmen, the sulky soil. From the mental peasantry ? Why then should we complain ?
notes I took while standing with my shoulders to As with the present, so with the past. To those
his easel, I dare to say that fortune smiled upon who are familiar with the record, blotted with her
him almost from his cradle. The calmness of his blood, of Spain's decadence in the seventeenth and
manner, the smoothness of
his face, his obvious lack
of interest in all that has
to do with violence and
change ! I am sure, then,
that Moreno Carbonero
was a happy and untroubled
boy, just as I am sure that
he is a happy and un-
troubled man. By happi-
ness I mean of course
success. There is no other
happiness, save possibly
that of health. Bread is
the mighty mirth-creator.
Give us a crust, and we will
pipe, or paint, or chatter
for you. Whatever the
philosophers may say, we
do not often take ourselves
too seriously. It is necessity
that takes us so.
All those who scrutinise
Moreno Carbonero, or Mo-
reno Carbonero's art, ex-
pecting to discover in one,
or other, or both, a protest
against the faults and follies
of society, will have to
undergo disenchant-
ment. A son of Andalusia,
he finds within her fields,
and roads, and river-beds,
no other lesson than un-
clouded sunshine and
unclouded laughter. He
overlooks the reaper bending his excellenxy don erancisco silvela by j. m. carbonero
298