International studio (50.1913)

Contemporary Spanish Painting

Zuloaga. But it is also clear that, long before
Sorolla and Zuloaga, the modern school had
grown up under the influence of the Prado and of
the classical painters of the last century.
The exhibition is not very modern in that it
reveals the latest vagaries of technique; but it is
modern from the standpoint of Spanish art. To
appreciate this one has only to recall the earlier
work of the very men represented in this collec-
tion, the somber and dignified historical works, the
paintings of tragic
tales, the highly fin-
ished imaginary genre.
Traces of this earlier
fashion are to be found
in the present exhibi¬
tion, but for the most
part the Spanish artist
has broken away from
the historic and gran-
diose and is consider¬
ing the modern prob-
lems of light and at¬
mosphere, and dealing
with the intimate, or-
dinary theme.
The subjects are
very diverse. That
landscape is incon¬
spicuous is not sur-
prising, for pure land¬
scape has never been
a feature of Spanish
art. Very interesting,
however, are the color-
ful renderings of the
Toledo country by
Aureliano de Beruete,
painted with breadth
and at the same time
with delicacy and
charm; the truthful
and characteristic canvases by Jaime Morera of
the snow-covered peaks of the Guaderramas, and
a landscape of much beauty by Nicolas Rauricha,
which introduces a subjective note foreign to Span-
ish landscape painting, and makes one regret that
its author is the only representative of the strong
group of Barcelona.
Some of the landscapes are unpleasantly som-
ber, but others show Sorolla’s influence in their
effects of brilliant sunshine. Sorolla’s own con-
tribution is less high in key than usual and less
convincingly painted. It is a study of his daugh-

ter Maria, when she was recovering from an ill-
ness, lying in her chair in the open, with the snow-
capped mountains and the green and gray Pardo,
a great royal game preserve, in the background.
Pure portraiture seems to be as unusual as pure
landscape. The most distinguished portrait, mas-
terly in its character analysis, is that of a man, by
Fernando Alvarez de Sotomayor. The versatility
of this artist is shown in his equally skillful treat-
ment of a genre group, beautiful in color, of two
Galician villagers.
Anselmo Miguel Nieto
offers several group
portraits of women,
delicately painted,
with a subtle use of
color. Mezquita’s
Carolinita, a little girl
in fancy dress, recalls
Velasquez. His large
composition, My
Friends, is one of the
most extraordinary
performances in the
exhibition. In it he
handles the intricate
problem of nine full-
length figures, all of
whom he character-
izes with unrelenting
realism.
Most of the portraits
show the influence of
the genre spirit, as do
these of Mezquita.
Story-telling genre is
still unquestionably
the province of Span-
ish art; but the story
is no longer the his-
toric episode or the
imaginary tale—it is
the story of the life of the people. In this na-
tional note lies the strength and appeal of the
exhibition. Most of the artists represented are
primarily painters of genre, and they are search-
ing out and recording with vigorous realism the
national types of their country, the keenly marked
racial characteristics of complex Spain.
We find the Segovians pictured by Alcala Gali-
ano; the dull-looking Galicians by de Sotomayor;
the sharp and intense Viscayans by the brothers
de Zubiaurre. Manuel Benedito paints the Sala-
mancans listening to a sermon in a little village


Property of Senor Don Javier Bermejillo
CAROLINITA BY JOSE MARIA LOPEZ MEZQUITA

XXIV