JULIO ROMERO DE TORRES, THE PAINTER OF ANDALUSIAN DARK-HAIRED WOMEN

Julio Romero de Torres was born in Cordoba on November 9, 1874. He was the son of Rafael Romero Barros, painter and founding director of the Museo de Bellas Artes de Cordoba the Provincial Museum. With his father as only teacher, he began painting at age 10. His two other brothers, Rafael, who died young, and Henry, who was awarded with the Bronze Medal at Nationals, 1901 and 1904, became a prominent art critic and historian and was also trained by his father.

It has been said that he was the painter of the soul of Andalusia, it is the best example of Andalucian artist. His paintings showed a human reality so beloved as the female figure, well rooted in the secular tradition of his race, his paintings reflect an atmosphere of romance and legend, tragic or sentimental feelings of an idealized Córdoba.

Young Julio Romero would be introduced to painting when Spain was under very opposite influences: Romanticism, Impressionism, Realism and Modernism. Therefore, before getting the personal artistic expression that gave him his deserved fame, he went through many different styles from most of previous trends.

Romero de Torres worked as a teacher at the School of Fine Arts of Cordoba and received many awards and recognitions in many countries in the world. He travelled to Morocco and Tunisia and some European countries, such as: Italy, France, Great Britain and Netherlands.

The young painter lived intensely cultural life of the late Cordoba XIX. He was introduced in various settings of the Madrid of the early years of the XX century. Among them, of course, the world of song and spectacles of bullfighting.

In 1914 European war broke out and the name of Julio Romero de Torres jumps into the forefront of that year, leading a manifesto, along with a select group of intellectuals who wanted to protect spiritual values and he adhered to the Allied war cause.

He was a good man, sensitive, quiet, discreet, clear and certain in his judgments. He read a lot, he especially liked the Russian realist novel (Tolstoy and Dovstoievsky), played the guitar well and loved the theater. Above all he was simple, he never sought praise. One curiosity about him is that thanks to him the Cordobes hat (a wide-brimmed hat) became very famous, he used to wear a cape and this kind of hat.

In the early months of 1930, Julio Romero de Torres, exhausted by overwork, and suffering from a liver disease, is in his native Cordoba trying to recover. Tired, and moreover, seeing his friends disappear affected very much. But he still paints in his studio and between the months of January and February he would paint his final and brilliant work "The little piconera." On May 10, 1930 Julio Romero de Torres died at his home in Cordoba which shook the entire city of Cordoba, whose people took to the streets at his funeral due, to the great admiration he had harvested from his countrymen, even from the most humble working classes to the upper aristocracy of Cordoba, it made very clear the immense popularity he got to enjoy during his life.

And now I leave you some of his paintings. I hope you enjoy them!

Source:

ecured.es

usuarios.multimania

identidadandaluza.wordpress.com

THE "SPANISH REVOLUTION", ANOTHER MAY 1968?

A few months ago, Stephane Hessel (aged 93), a French veteran of the Resistance and diplomat, wrote the book “Indignez vous!”, which with only 30 pages became a best-seller and the social conscience of France, encouraging people to abandon the indifference and protest against the politics caste, which is not up to current needs. And now it seems that this same social consciousness has come to Spain and made to react (at last!) people here, who seemed to be totally apathetic and behaving like sheep, despite the bad social, political and economical situation that this country is living currently.

The already called “May 15 Movement” has entered hard into the Local and Regional Electoral Campaign. The demonstrators are formed by a very heterogeneous group of people, mostly young people, though there are also many unemployed, housewifes, “mileuristas” (people whose salaries are up to 1000 euros), retired people, civil servants, mortgaged, anti systems, progressive, conservative,……. grouped together after marches were held on May 15 against the failure of Spain’s political leaders to provide solutions to unemployment and the low-wage economy. Over 20 percent of Spaniards are out of work and youth unemployment stands at around 40 percent.

They were convened by an organization called Democracia Real Ya, formed three months before and which informed of the first meeting through the social networks (Twitter and Facebook) and day after day the number of people has been increasing at everywhere.

Protests in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol and in more than 150 other countries across Spain have been running during this whole week, even yesterday, that was the “day of reflection” (today is Local and Regional Elections Day) and in spite of a ruling by the country’s electoral board prohibiting any types of demonstrations before Sunday’s local and regional elections races. And it seems these protests will continue for some more days.

They are mainly complaining about the widespread corruption among the political class, though they have a long list of requests: they also complain about the rivalry between the two great parties that has poisoned the political atmosphere preventing real action being taken to solve the country’s problems, they are contrary to bipartisanship, they are sick of politicians that don’t listen to them, they want to change the Election Law, .......... A priori, they don’t ask to vote for any party, but they don’t call for abstention either.

Perhaps and in the least, this movement will make politicians to think of what they are doing wrong and if they are smart enough they could change their ways in political life. Let us hope so!

26th, MAY

This is a live broadcast of Puerta del Sol in Madrid,

where protesters still remain

PIPPA MIDDLETON CAME TO MADRID FOR A WEEKEND TRIP

Pippa Middleton, the real sensation in William and Kate's wedding, flew to Madrid last weekend to enjoy Saint Isidro's celebration. She came with several female friends and an old flame of hers, George Percy (the son of the Duke of Northumberland, one of Britain’s richest me), and she really made the most of her time in Madrid. Firstly, on Friday night they went to an exclusive local nightlife ("Fortuna").

On Saturday morning Pippa went shopping with her friends, in the afternoon all the group went  to see a bullfighting to Las Ventas, though it was cancelled because of the rain. Later they went to have dinner, consisted of paella and tapas and enjoyed a flamenco show at "Villa Rosa", probably the oldest drinking bar in Madrid, where they sang Happy Birthday to Percy and afterwards they went nightclubbing to another exclusive local called "Penthouse", to have some drinks and finally, on Sunday morning they took a relaxing boat ride at Retiro's Park (one of Madrid's largest parks) with Percy as gondolieri. Certainly Princess Catalina's sister needed this short (though very well spent) break, after the stressful Royal wedding last month.

SNAPS OF SAN ISIDRO CELEBRATION, THE PATRON SAINT

If you fancy to read and learn more about this celebration, please click on the link of the post I wrote last year about it: San Isidro celebration.

THE CHOTIS DANCING:

And to finish this post so "madrileño" today, I am linking a video of the traditional madrileño dance: the "chotis", but firstly I am leaving just a few words about its origin:

The term "chotis" is a Castilianization of the word "schottisch", that means "Scottish" in German. To dance a "Schottisch" meant a slow Polka. In Madrid the chotis dance was first performed in 1850 at the Royal Palace, and so it was called "German Polka", shortly after it became the most traditional and popular dance in Madrid. Since then chotis has been performed in all the traditional feasts in Madrid (San Isidro, San Antonio and La Paloma).

Please pause the Ipod first  (sorry, the image quality

is not perfect but I haven't found a better copy)

see the man's feet.........

FAREWELL TO SEVE BALLESTEROS, A LEGEND IN GOLF AND A BRAVE MAN IN LIFE

When I returned yesterday from my beach vacation, I learned through the press that Severiano Ballesteros had died the previous night, after suffering a serious worsening of their disease (a cancer of the brain) and against which he had been struggling since it was detected in March 2008.

He was 54, still a very young man, and as this great golfer was a true icon in my country in the 80 and 90 (as now could be Rafa Nadal, for example), although I've never been a fan of golf sport, I grew up witnessing their deeds and accomplishments, and for all that, his death has impressed me more. He was very popular and much loved in my country and perhaps even more outside our borders. And although I am still under my little blogging break I could not help writing this little post today to his memory, joining to all the tributes that he will be have around the world.

I just wanted to add a few lines more about their human side, which for me it is always the most interesting part in any people.

He was born in 1957 in Pedreña, a small town in Santander (northern Spain), where he grew up next to a golf course, the Royal Golf de Pedreña, a club opened by King Alfonso XIII in 1928, where he worked since very small as a caddy of other prestigious golfers and where he began to feel the itch for this sport and where all who saw him began to realize very quickly that he had a natural gift for golf. At 17 he began his career and since then the career of one of the best record in professional golf history began to be shaped: 2 Masters, 3 British Open, 6 Ryder Cup, 5 Match Play, British Order of Merit, Gold Medal of the Parliament of Cantabria, Prince of Asturias Award for Sports ...

Always hearty and with a broad smile on his face (though showing always a strong will too), his personal life was not, however, as fortunate as was his professional life. In 1987 he married Carmen Botin, a daughter of Emilio Botin, President of Santander Bank, one of the wealthiest families in Spain, had 3 children but after 16 years of marriage the heartbreak came and separated. A few years later, he tried to rebuild his life with a woman twenty years younger, but fate played another dirty trick, and 29 years girlfriend (and mother of a child of 13), would die shortly afterwards in a car accident in 2007, when they were preparing their upcoming wedding. Seve was quite concerned and later that year, perhaps pushed by several injuries, decided to retire from golf and was devoted to designing and organizing golf tournaments.

Finally, 3 years ago he would fight his last battle: doctors discovered two tumors in the brain the size of a golf ball, in the last three years he was operated four times on life and death and subjected to different treatments of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hard processes of rehabilitation and retraining in order to start over from scratch, and even created a Foundation that bears his name, to collect benefits in the fight against cancer and to support young people who started playing golf. I even remember that very recently I saw a TV program on medicine and surgery and he came out in the program talking about the operation that it was done to him and encouraging, at the same time, a 16 years old girl who was going to have made similar surgery, to fight like him. I hope this girl has all the best of luck and keep fighting!

Lately, it seemed that the hardest thing was over and that his strength and courage had coped with his illness, fighting like a young wild boar to get his last Masters, sadly he has not been able to win.

He will always be remembered as the man who democratized golf,

a sport considered as elitist, until he started to play it.

Seve (as he was known by his many loyal British fans) has gone,

but he will always be in our memory

11th, May 2011 

A moving memorial service took place today in honor of Seve Ballesteros, in Pedreña, his home town. Seve's brother, Baldomero Ballesteros, was quoted as saying: "The funeral rites will be as simple as those for any neighbour from the village. He was born here and here he will remain."

Ryder Cup captains Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie, Sam Torrance and Jose Maria Olazabal were part of the procession led by the Ballesteros family to their local San Pedro church.

Hundreds of mourners applauded as the procession, headed by his children Javier (carrying the urn holding his father's ashes),  Carmen (clutching the magnolia flower he had chosen himself to be placed in front of the altar) and Miguel (declaring in church: "Papa, as you can see, Javier, Carmen and me are strong, just like you asked us. For us it is not a day to say goodbye, we know you are by our side and we will always be by yours. We love you, dad"). And leading by a Scot bagpiper, knowing Ballesteros's love of Scotland- entered the church after a 10-minute walk from his house overlooking the Bay of Biscay.

Members of the local rowing club provided a guard of honour with raised oars - his father had been a rower and trainer at the lub which carries his name - and they passed houses which had Spain flags hanging from balconies embossed with black ribbons. Also children of the Seve Ballesteros Foundation carried three irons aloft to signify the club with which he started practising as a child.

English golfer Tony Jacklin said "I've only met two people in my life with such charisma. One was Arnold (Palmer) and the other was Seve." And Jack Nicklaus, who retired with a record 18 major titles, said the world of golf had lost "a great entertainer and ambassador". Nick Faldo also added: "There will never be another Seve. He had everything - the good looks, the charisma, the smile, the walk and the swash-buckling golf game. It's been a pretty special day".

A genius and a legend, rest in peace Seve Ballesteros

 

Source:

skysports.com

telegraph.co.uk