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.