Costumbrista
Encyclopedia
Costumbrismo refers to the literary or pictorial interpretation of local everyday life, mannerisms, and customs, primarily in the Hispanic scene, and particularly in the 19th century. Costumbrismo is related both to artistic realism
and to Romanticism
, sharing the Romantic interest in expression as against simple representation and the romantic and realist focus on precise representation of particular times and places, rather than of humanity in the abstract. It is often satiric and even moralizing, but unlike proper realism does not usually offer or even imply any particular analysis of the society it depicts. When not satiric, its approach to quaint folkloric
detail often has a romanticizing aspect.
Costumbrismo can be found in any of the visual or literary arts; by extension, the term can also be applied to certain approaches to collecting folkloric objects, as well. Originally found in short essays and later in novels, costumbrismo is often found in the zarzuela
s of the 19th century, especially in the género chico. Costumbrista museums deal with folklore and local art and costumbrista festivals celebrate local customs and artisans and their work.
Although initially associated with Spain in the late 18th and 19th century, costumbrismo expanded to the Americas and set roots in the Spanish-speaking portions of the Americas, incorporating indigenous elements. Juan López Morillas summed up the appeal of costumbrismo for writing about Latin American society as follows: the costumbristas' "preoccupation with minute detail, local color, the picturesque, and their concern with matters of style is frequently no more than a subterfuge. Astonished by the contradictions observed around them, incapable of clearly understanding the tumult of the modern world, these writers sought refuge in the particular, the trivial or the ephemeral."
Antecedents to costumbrismo can be found as early as the 17th century (for example in the work of playwright Juan de Zabaleta) and the current becomes clearer in the 18th century (Diego de Torres Villarroel
, José Clavijo y Fajardo
, José Cadalso
, Ramón de la Cruz
, Juan Ignacio González del Castillo
). All of these writers have, in at least some of their work, an attention to specific, local detail, an exaltation of the "typical" that would feed into both costumbrismo and Romanticism. In the 19th century costumbrismo bursts out as a clear genre in its own right, addressing a broad audience: stories and illustrations often made their first or most important appearance in cheap periodicals for the general public. It is not easy to draw lines around the genre: Evaristo Correa Calderón spoke of its "extraordinary elasticity and variety". Some of it is almost reportorial and documentary, some simply folkloric; what it has in common is the effort to capture a particular place (whether rural or urban) at a particular time.
Sebastián de Miñano y Bedoya (1779–1845) is considered by some a costumbrista, although arguably his writing is too political to properly fit the genre. According to Andrés Soria, the first incontestable costumbristas are the anonymous and pseudonymous contributors to La Minerva (1817), El Correo Literario y Mercantil (1823–1833) and El Censor (1820–1823). Later come the major figures of literary costumbrismo: Serafín Estébanez Calderón
(1799–1867), Ramón de Mesonero Romanos
(1803–1882), and Mariano José de Larra
(1809–1837) who sometimes wrote under the pseudonym "Fígaro". Estébanez Calderón (who originally wrote for the abovementioned Correo Literario y Mercantil) looked for a "genuine" and picturesque Spain in the recent past of particular regions; Mesonero Romanos was a careful observer of the Madrid
of his time, especially of the middle classes; Larra, according to José Ramón Lomba Pedraja, arguably transcended his genre, using the form of costumbrismo for political and psychological ideas. An afrancesado—a liberal
child of the Englightenment—he was not particularly enamored of the Spanish society that he nonetheless observed minutely.
Costumbrismo was by no means without foreign influences. The work of Joseph Addison
and Richard Steele
nearly a century earlier in The Spectator
had influenced French writers, who in turn influenced the costumbristas. Furthermore, Addison and Steele's own work was translated into Spanish in the early 19th century, and Mesonero Romanos, at least, had read it in French. Still, an even stronger influence came by way of Victor-Joseph Étienne de Jouy (whose work appeared in translation in La Minerva and El Censor), Louis-Sébastien Mercier
(especially for Le Tableau de Paris, 1781–1788), Charles Joseph Colnet Du Ravel, and Georges Touchard-Lafosse. In addition, there were the travelogues such as Richard Ford
's A Handbook for Travellers in Spain
, written by various foreigners who had visited Spain and, in painting, the foreign artists (especially, David Roberts
) who had settled for a time especially in Seville
and Granada
and drew or painted local subjects.
While Estébanez Calderón, Mesonero Romanos, and (insofar as he fits the genre) Larra were the major costumbrista writers, many other Spanish writers of the 19th century devoted all or part of their careers to costumbrismo. Antonio María Segovia (1808–1874), who mainly wrote pseudonymously as "El Estudiante" and who founded the satiric-literary magazine El Cócora; his collaborator Santos López Pelegrín
(1801–1846), "Abenámar"; many early contributors to Madrid's Semanario Pintoresco Español (1836-1857), Spain's first illustrated magazine; and such lesser lights as Antonio Neira de Mosquera (1818–1853), "El Doctor Malatesta" (Las ferias de Madrid, 1845); Clemente Díaz, with whom costumbrismo took a turn toward the rural; Vicente de la Fuente (1817–1889), portraying the lives of bookish students (in between writing serious histories); José Giménez Serrano, portraying a romantic Andalusia
; Enrique Gil y Carrasco, a Carlist
from Villafranca del Bierzo
, friend of Alexander von Humboldt
, and contributor to the Semanario Pintoresco Español; and many other regionalists around Spain.
was in vogue, Heads of the People or Portraits of the English was serialized in London starting in 1838 and was published in its entirety in 1840–1841. It combined essays such "distinguished writers" (the volume's own choice of words) as William Makepeace Thackeray
and Leigh Hunt with pictures of individuals emblematic of different English "types". This was followed in France by a work first serialized as Les Français, Moeurs Contemporaines ("The French, Contemporary Manners", beginning in 1839) and published in a volume in 1842 as Les Français peints par eux-mêmes. Encyclopédie Morale du dixneuviéme siécle ("The French, drawn by themselves. Moral Encyclopedia of the 19th Century"). The Spanish soon followed with Los españoles pintados por sí mismos ("The Spanish Drawn By Themselves") serialized from 1842 and published in a volume in 1843.
A collective and hence, necessarily, uneven anthology of "types", Los españoles… was a mixture of verse and prose, and of writers and artists from various generations. Illustrators included Leonardo Alenza
(1807–1845), Fernando Miranda, Francisco Lameyer (1825–1877), Vicente Urrabieta y Ortiz, and Calixto Ortega. The writers included Mesonero and Estébanez as well as various less costumbrista writers and many not usually associated with the genre, such as Gabriel García Tassara (1817–1875) or the conservative politician Francisco Navarro Villoslada (1818–1895). Andrés Soria remarks that, except for the Andalusian "types", everything was from the point of view of Madrid. Unlike later costumbrismo, the focus remained firmly on the present day. In some ways, the omissions are as interesting as the inclusions: no direct representation of the aristocracy, of prominent businessmen, of the high clergy, or of the army, and except for the "popular" classes, the writing is a bit circumspect and cautious. Still, the material is strong on ethnological, folkloric, and linguistic detail.
In an epilogue to Los españoles…, "Contrastes. Tipos perdidos, 1825, Tipos hallados, 1845" ("Contrasts. Types lost, 1825, types found, 1845"), Mesonero on the one hand showed that the genre, in its original terms, was played out, and on the other laid the ground for future costumbrismo: new "types" would always arise, and many places remained to be written about in this fashion. The book had many descendants, and a major reissue in 1871. A particularly strong current came out of Barcelona
: for example, José M. de Freixas's Enciclopedia de tipos vulgares y costumbres de Barcelona ("Encyclopedia of vulgar types and customs of Barcelona", 1844) illustrated by Servat, and El libro Verde de Barcelona ("The Green Book of Barcelona", 1848) by "José y Juan" (José de Majarrés and Juan Cortada y Sala. The very title of Los valencianos pintados por sí mismos (Valencia 1859) gave a nod of the hat to the earlier work,
A revival of collective works of costumbrismo in the time of the First Spanish Republic
saw the reissue of Los españoles… (1872), as well as the publication of Los españoles de hogaño ("The Spanish these days", 1872), focused on Madrid, and the vast undertaking Las mujeres españolas, portuguesas y americanas… ("Spanish, Portuguese, and American Women…", published in Madrid, Havana
, and Buenos Aires
in 1872–1873 and 1876). Also from this time was the satiric Madrid por dentro y por fuera ("Madrid from inside and outside, 1873) by Manuel del Palacio (1831–1906).
Carlos Frontaura carried on costumbrismo in Madrid with Las tiendas ("Shops", 1886) and "Tipos madrileños" ("Madrid types", 1888). Ramón de Navarrete (1822–1897) writing variously as or "Asmodeo" (after Asmodeus
, king of the demons), broke with the history of the genre by writing of the upper classes in Madrid during the Restoration
, as in his Sueños y realidades ("Dreams and realities, 1878). Enrique Sepúlveda wrote about both Madrid and Barcelona, Narcís Oller (1846–1930) about Barcelona, and Sabino de Goicoechea (1826–1901), known as "Argos", about the Basque Country. Galicia was represented by the collective work El álbum de Galicia. Tipos, costumbres y leyendas ("The album of Galicia. Types, customs and legends", 1897).
(1821–1865), one of the contributors to Los españoles… followed up in 1846 with Doce españoles de brocha gorda, que no pudiéndose pintar a sí mismos, me han encargado a mí, Antonio Flores, sus retratos ("Twelve Spaniards with a broad brush, who not being able to portray themselves have put me, Antonio Flores, in charge of their portraits"), subtitled a "novel of popular customs" ("novela de costumbres populares"). Published in 1846 and reissued several times, the book merged the hitherto more essayistic costumbrista form with aspects of the novel
(although not a particularly tightly plotted novel). Somewhat more novelistic was his Fe, Esperanza y Caridad ("Faith Hope and Charity"), published serially in La Nación in 1850–1851 and also much reprinted. Flores had been Eugène Sue
's translator into Spanish, and Sue's influence is strong in this work. Flores turned to again to custumbrismo, of a sort, in 1853 with Ayer, hoy y mañana o la fe, el vapor y la electricidad (cuadros sociales de 1800, 1850 y 1899) ("Yesterday, today and tomorrow or faith, steam and electricity (social pictures of 1800, 1850, and 1899)") going Mesonero's "types lost" and "types found" one better by projecting a vision of the future influenced by the work of Émile Souvestre
. His newspaper El Laberinto continued publishing his costumbrista work even posthumously, such as Tipos y costumbres españolas (1877).
Eugenio de Ochoa
(1815–1872) carried costumbrismo in a different direction. Born in the Basque country and moving often between Spain and France, his 1860 book Museo de las familias. París, Londres y Madrid ("Museum of families. Paris, London, Madrid") created a sort of cosmopolitan costumbrismo.
(1796–1877), for example, in the prose portions of his Cuentos y poesías populares andaluzas ("Popular Andalusian stories and poems", collected in 1859 from prior publication in magazines), writes within the genre, particularly in "Una paz hecha sin preliminares, sin coferencias y sin notas diplomáticas" ("A peace made without preliminaries, without conferences, and without diplomatic notes"), with its very specific setting in Chiclana de la Frontera
. Pedro Antonio de Alarcón (1833–1891) issued a collection Cosas que fueron, bringing together 16 costumbrista articles.
Andrés Soria sees José María de Pereda
(1833–1906) as the most successful fusion of costumbrista scenes into proper novels, especially his portrayals of La Montaña, the mountainous regions of Cantabria
. His Escenas montañesas (1864) is particularly in the costumbrista mode, with its mixture of urban, rural and seafaring scenes, and sections offering sketches of various milieus. Poet and novelist Antonio de Trueba
(1819 or 1821–1889) wrote squarely within the genre with Madrid por fuera and De flor en flor. Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer
(1836–1870) portrayed Madrid, Seville, and Toledo
. José María Gabriel y Galán
(1870–1905), best known as a poet, also wrote costumbrista pieces about Salamanca
. Armando Palacio Valdés
(1853–1938) also essayed the genre in newspaper articles, collected in Aguas fuertes ("Strong waters", 1884). The writer and diplomat Ángel Ganivet
(1865–1898), seen by some as a precursor to the Generation of '98
, wrote costumbrista scenes of Granada
.
Elements of costumbrismo, or even entire works in the genre, can be found among major Spanish writers of the 20th century, though to a lesser extent. Miguel de Unamuno
(1864–1936) worked in the genre for De mi país ("Of my country", 1903) and some stories such as "Solitaña" in of El espejo de la muerte ("The Mirror of Death", 1913), as did Pío Baroja
with Vitrina pintoresca ("Picturesque showcase", 1935) and in passages of his novels set in the Basque Country. Azorín (José Augusto Trinidad Martínez Ruíz, 1873–1967) often wrote in this genre; one could comb the works of Ramón Gómez de la Serna
(1888–1963) and Camilo José Cela
(1916–2002) and find many passages that could come straight from a work of costumbrismo. Although taken as a whole these writers are clearly not costumbristas, they use the costumbrista style to evoke surviving remnants of Spain's past.
In the course of the century, more and more Spanish regions asserted their particularity, allowing this now established technique of writing to be given new scope. In other regions—Madrid, Andalusia—costumbrismo itself had become part of the region's identity. The magazine España, founded 1915, wrote about some new "types": the indolent golfo; the lower class señorito chulo with his airs and exaggerated fashions; the albañil or construction worker, but with far less sympathy than costumbristas in the previous century had portrayed their predecessors. Other "types" were those who were a caricature of times past: el erudito, with his vast but pointless book-learning, or El poeta de juegos florales ("the poet of floral games").
Andrés Soria describes 20th century regional costumbrismo as more serious, less picturesque, and more poetic than in the 19th century. Among his many examples of the 20th century continuation of costumbrismo are Santiago Rusiñol
(1861–1931), writing in Catalan
about Catalonia
and Mallorca
; numerous chroniclers of the Basque Country: José María Salaverría (1873–1940), Ricardo Baroja
(1871–1953), Dionisio de Azkue ("Dunixi"), José María Iribarren (1906–1971), and, as mentioned above, Pío Baroja; Vicente Blasco Ibáñez
(1867–1928) writing about Valencia; and Vicente Medina Tomás (1866–1937), writing about Murcia.
A strong current of costumbrismo continued in 20th century Madrid, including in poetry (Antonio Casero, 1874–1936) and theater (José López Silva
, 1860–1925; Carlos Arniches Barreda, 1866–1943). Other writers who continued the tradition were Eusebio Blasco
(1844–1903), Pedro de Répide (1882–1947), Emiliano Ramírez Ángel (1883–1928), Luis Bello (1872–1935), and Federico Carlos Sainz de Robles (1899–1983). Similarly, 20th century Andalusia saw work by José Nogales (1860?–1908), Salvador Rueda (1857–1933), Arturo Reyes (1864–1913), José Mas y Laglera (1885–1940), Ángel Cruz Rueda (1888–1961), and Antonio Alcalá Venceslada
(1883–1955).
Romantic Andalusian costumbrismo (costumbrismo andaluz) follows in the footsteps of two painters of the School of Cádiz, Juan Rodríguez y Jiménez, "el Panadero" ("the Baker", 1765–1830) and Joaquín Manuel Fernández Cruzado (1781–1856), both associated with Romanticism. The trend was continued by the School of Seville, in a city much more on the path of a foreign clientele. The founding figure was José Domínguez Bécquer (1805–1841), father of the poet Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (see above) and painter Valeriano Bécquer (1833–1870), who moved to Madrid. Domínguez Bécquer's influence came as an art teacher, as well as an artist. His student and cousin Joaquín Domínguez Bécquer (1817–1879) was known for his acute observation of light and atmosphere. Another of José Domínguez Bécquer's students, the bold and forceful Manuel Rodríguez de Guzmán (1818–1867), may have been the genre's strongest painter.
Other important early figures were Antonio Cabral Bejarano (1788–1861), best known for paintings of individuals theatrically posed against rural backgrounds, and an atmosphere reminiscent of Murillo
, and José Roldán (1808–1871), also very influenced by Murillo, known especially as a painter of children and urchins. One of Cabral Bejarano's sons, Manuel Cabral Bejarano (1827–1891) began as a costumbrista, but eventually became more of a realist
. Another son, Francisco Cabral Bejarano (1824–1890), also painted in the genre.
Other painters of the School of Seville were Andrés Cortés (1810–1879), Rafael García Hispaleto (1833–1854), Francisco Ramos, and Joaquín Díez; history painter José María Rodríguez de Losada (1826–1896); and portraitist José María Romero (1815–1880).
Typical subject matter included majo
s (lower class dandies
) and their female equivalents, horsemen, bandits and smugglers, street urchins and beggars, Gypsies, traditional architecture, fiestas, and religious processions such as Holy Week in Seville
.
The School of Madrid was united less by a common visual style than by an attitude, and by the influence of Goya rather than Murillo. Notable in this school were Alenza
and Lameyer, both contributors to Los españoles pintados por sí mismos. Alenza, in particular, showed a strong influence from the Flemish
painters as well as from Goya. A fine portraitist who tended to take his subjects from among the common people, in some ways he epitomizes the difference between the School of Madrid and that of Seville. For him the "official" Romanticism was a topic to satirize, as in his series of paintings Suicidios románticos ("Romantic suicides").
Probably foremost in the School of Madrid was Eugenio Lucas Velázquez (1817–1870). An artistic successor to Goya (though a more erratic painter than the master), Lucas Velázquez's work ranged from bullfighting
scenes to Orientalism
to scenes of witchcraft
. His son Eugenio Lucas Villamil (1858–1918) and his students Paulino de la Linde (1837-?) and José Martínez Victoria followed in his tracks; he was also a strong influence on Antonio Pérez Rubio (1822–1888) and Ángel Lizcano Monedero (1846–1929).
José Elbo (1804–1844) was at least strongly akin to the School of Madrid. Although born in Úbeda
in the Andalusian province
of Jaén, Elbo studied painting in Madrid under José Aparicio
(1773–1838), and was influenced by Goya; he was also influenced by the Central Europe
an equivalents of costumbrismo. His painting is rife with social criticism, and often angrily populist.
Also in Madrid, but not really part of the School of Madrid, was Valeriano Bécquer (transplanted son of José Domínguez Bécquer). Although also influenced by Goya (and by Diego Velázquez
), his work in Madrid did partake of some of the socially critical aspects of the other painters of that city, but not of the satiric aspects: his portraits of common people emphasize their dignity, seldom their foibles.
The dark vision of 20th century Madrid painter José Gutiérrez Solana (1886–1945) was influenced by costumbrismo and also directly by the Black Paintings
of Goya that had so influenced the costumbristas.
Some of Argentina
's most distinguished writers worked in the costumbrista genre in at least some of their writing, though few worked narrowly within the genre. Esteban Echeverría
(1805–1851) was a politically passionate Romantic writer whose work has strong costumbrista aspects; his El Matadero ("The Slaughterhouse") is still widely read. Juan Bautista Alberdi
(1810–1884) and Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
(1811–1888) both wrote at times in the genre, as did José Antonio Wilde (1813–1883), in Buenos Aires desde setenta años atrás ("Buenos Aires from seventy years ago"); Vicente G. Quesada (1830–1913), in Recuerdos de un viejo ("Memories of an old man"); Lucio V. López (1848–1894), in the novela La gran aldea ("The big village"); Martín Coronado (1850–1919), playwright; Martiniano Leguizamón (1858–1935), in the novel Montaraz; José S. Alvarez (1858–1903, "Fray Mocho"), in the story "Viaje al país de los matreros" ("A trip to bandit country"); Emma de la Barra (1861–1947), who wrote under the pseudonym César Duayen, in Stella; Joaquín V. González
(1863–1923), in Mis montañas ("My Mountains"); Julio Sánchez Gardel (1879–1937), in numerous comedies; and Manuel Gálvez
(1882–1962), in such novels as La maestra normal ("The normal school
teacher") and La sombra del convento ("The sleep of the convent").
n costumbristas include Julio Lucas Jaimes (1845–1914), Lindaura Anzoátegui de Campero (1846–1898), Jaime Mendoza (1874–1938), Alcides Arguedas
(1879–1946), and Armando Chirveches (1881–1926).
n novelist and historian José Milla (1822–1882) wrote several costumbrista works and created the character of Juan Chapín, the emblematic Guatemalan. Other Central American costumbristas are José María Peralta
(1875–1944, El Salvador
), Ramón Rosa (1848–1893, Honduras
), Carlos Alberto Uclés (1854–1942, Honduras), and a distinguished line of Costa Rica
n writers: Manuel de Jesús Jiménez (1854–1916), Manuel González Zeledón
(1864–1936), the verse writer Aquileo Echeverría (1866–1909), and, in the 20th century, Joaquín García Monge
(1881–1958).
an literature in some of the writing of José Zapiola
(1804–1885), Vicente Pérez Rosales
(1807–1886), Román Fritis (1829–1874), Pedro Ruiz Aldea (ca. 1833–1870) and especially José Joaquín Vallejo (1811–1858), who under the name "Jotabeche" was the supreme Chilean costumbrista.
Strong aspects of costumbrismo can be seen in the novels and other works of Alberto Blest Gana
(1830–1920). There are many costumbrista passages in the works of Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna
(1831–1886) and Daniel Barros Grez(1833–1904); Román Vial (1833–1896) entitled one of his books Costumbres chilenas; Zorobabel Rodríguez
(1839–1901), Moisés Vargas (1843–1898), Arturo Givovich (1855–1905), Daniel Riquelme (1854–1912), Senén Palacios (1858–1927), Egidio Poblete (1868–1940) all wrote in the mode at times. Costumbrismo figures particularly heavily in stage comedies: El patio de los Tribunales ("The courtyard of the tribunals [of justice]", by Valentín Murillo (1841–1896); Don Lucas Gómez, by Mateo Martínez Quevedo (1848–1923); Chincol en sartén ("A sparrow in the pan") and En la puerta del horno ("In the gate of horn
"), by Antonio Espiñeira (1855–1907); La canción rota ("The broken song"), by Antonio Acevedo Hernández (1886–1962); Pueblecito ("Little town") by Armando Moock (1894–1942). In prose, costumbrismo mixes eventually into realism, with Manuel J. Ortiz (1870–1945) and Joaquín Díaz García (1877–1921) as important realists with costumbrista aspects.
can claim one of the earliest antecedents to the costumbrismo in El Carnero
(written 1636–1638, but not published until 1859) by Juan Rodríguez Freile (1566–1638 or 1640), Rodríguez's work begins as a chronicle of the conquest of New Granada
, but as it approaches his own time it becomes more and more detailed and quotidian, and its second half is a series of narratives that, according to Stephen M. Hart, give "lip service" to conventional morality while taking "a keen delight in recounting the various skullduggeries of witches, rogues, murderers, whores, outlaws, priests and judges."
Colombia can also claim a particularly rich tradition of costumbrismo in the 19th century and into the 20th: José Manuel Groot (1800–1878); novelists Eugenio Díaz (1803–1865), José Manuel Marroquín
(1827–1908), and José María Vergara y Vergara (1831–1872), all of whom collaborated on the magazine El Mosaico, la revista bogotana del costumbrismo (1858–1871); Luis Segundo Silvestre (1838–1887); and Jorge Isaacs
(1837–1895), whose sole novel María
was praised by Alfonso M. Escudero as the greatest Spanish-language romantic novel.
Other Colombian costumbristas are José Caycedo Rojas (1816–1897), Juan de Dios Restrepo (1823–1894), Gregorio Gutiérrez González (1826–1872), Ricardo Carrasquilla (1827–1886), Camilo A. Echeverri (1827–1887), Manuel Pombo (1827–1898), José David Guarín (1830–1890), Ricardo Silva (1836–1887), José María Cordovez Moure (1835–1918), Rafael María Camargo (1858–1926; wrote under the pseudonym Fermín de Pimentel y Vargas), and Tomás Carrasquilla
(1858–1940).
's leading costumbristas were Gaspar Betancourt Cisneros (1803–1866, known as "El Lugareño"), Cirilo Villaverde
(1812–1894), and José María de Cárdenas y Rodríguez (1812–1882). The patrician Betancourt published a series of Escenas cotidianas que abren camino al costumbrismo en Cuba ("Day-to-day scenes that open a road to costumbrismo in Cuba, 1838–1840). His work focused often on what he found vulgar or ridiculous about Cuban life, but was written with a fatherly affection. Villaverde, probably Cuba's greatest costumbrista, wrote romantic novels, most notably Cecilia Valdés
(the first part of which was published in 1839, although the definitive version was not published until 1882). This costumbrista anti-slavery novel can be seen as an early realist work, and continues to be read in recent times. Villaverde also wrote the prologue for Cárdenas's 1847 collection of costumbristaarticles.
José Victoriano Betancourt (1813–1875) was patron to many intellectuals in 1860s Havana
; he later went into exile in Mexico. He is best remembered today as a costumbrista writer, as is another Betancourt, José Ramón Betancourt (1823–1890), author of Una feria de caridad en 183… (ellipses in original title), set in Camagüey
in the late 1830s.
, Francisco Gregorio Billini
(1844–1894) stands out for his novel Baní o Engracia y Antoñita (1892). Still, in some ways, his vision was narrow. J. Alcántara Almánzar remarks that "black people are practically absent as important characters, and this absence is very significant in a country whose majority is 'mulatto'." Blacks are more present in the costumbrista works of Cesar Nicolas Penson (1855–1901), but he is far more sympathetic to his white characters, portraying Haiti
ans as fierce beasts.
Ecuador
ians who wrote at least part of the time in the costumbrista mode include Pedro Fermín Cevallos (1812–1893), Juan León Mera
(1832–1894), José Modesto Espinosa (1833–1915), Carlos R. Tobar (1854–1920), Honorato Vázquez (1855–1933), Víctor M. Rendón (1859–1940), J. Trajano Mera (1862–1919), and Luis A. Martínez (1868–1909). Another Ecuadorian was Alfredo Baquerizo Moreno (1859–1951), a novelist and later president of the country.
(1776–1827) Mexico's first novelist (and perhaps Latin America's first novelist) wrote works that had many similar aspects, including Periquillo Sarniento (1816), recently translated into English as The Mangy Parrot. Other Mexican costumbristas are Guillermo Prieto
(1818–1897) and José Tomás de Cuéllar (1830–1894). In addition, José López Portillo y Rojas
(1850–1923), Rafael Delgado
(1853–1914), Ángel del Campo (1868–1908) and Emilio Rabasa
(1856–1930) can be seen as costumbristas, but their work can also be considered realist.
an costumbristas include Teresa Lamas Carísimo de Rodríguez Alcalá (1887–1976) and Carlos Zubizarreta (1904–1972).
vian costumbrismo begins with José Joaquín de Larriva y Ruiz (1780–1832), poeta and journalist and his younger, irreverent, Madrid-educated collaborator Felipe Pardo y Aliaga (1806–1868). A more festive and comic note was struck by Manuel Asensio Segura (1805–1871). Manuel Atanasio Fuentes (1820–29) wrote verse under the name El Murciélago ("the Bat"), a name which he also gave to a magazine he founded.
Ricardo Palma
(1833–1919), best known for the multi-volume Tradiciones peruanas
, was a man of letters, a former liberal politician and later the director of the National Library of Peru, who rebuilt the collection of that library after the War of the Pacific
. He referred to his works in this mode as tradiciones, rather than costumbrismo.
Other Peruvian costumbristas are satirist and verse writer Pedro Paz Soldán y Unanue (1839–1895), Abelardo M. Gamarra (1850–1924), and the nostalgic José Gálvez (1885–1957).
, Manuel A. Alonso
(1822–1889) published El gibaro: cuadro de costumbres de la isla de Puerto Rico (The Jíbaro
[modern spelling]: picture of customs of the island of Puerto Rico", 1849), Puerto Rico's most important contribution to the genre. Manuel Fernández Juncos
(1846–1928), born in Asturias
, Spain, emigrated at age eleven to the island and wrote Tipos y caracteres y Costumbres y tradiciones ("Types and characters and customs and traditions").
an costumbristas include Santiago Maciel (1862–1931), Manuel Bernárdez
(1867–1942), Javier de Viana
(1868–1926), Adolfo Montiel Ballesteros (1888–1971), and Fernán Silva Valdés (1887–1975). Most of these writers also did significant work outside of the genre.
(c.1807–1865), Daniel Mendoza (1823–1867), Francisco de Sales Pérez (1836–1926), Nicanor Bolet Peraza (1838–1906), Francisco Tosta García (1845–1921), José María Rivas (1850–1920), Rafael Bolívar Alvarez (1860–1900), and Pedro Emilio Coll (1872–1947).
Realism (arts)
Realism in the visual arts and literature refers to the general attempt to depict subjects "in accordance with secular, empirical rules", as they are considered to exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation...
and to Romanticism
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
, sharing the Romantic interest in expression as against simple representation and the romantic and realist focus on precise representation of particular times and places, rather than of humanity in the abstract. It is often satiric and even moralizing, but unlike proper realism does not usually offer or even imply any particular analysis of the society it depicts. When not satiric, its approach to quaint folkloric
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
detail often has a romanticizing aspect.
Costumbrismo can be found in any of the visual or literary arts; by extension, the term can also be applied to certain approaches to collecting folkloric objects, as well. Originally found in short essays and later in novels, costumbrismo is often found in the zarzuela
Zarzuela
Zarzuela is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular song, as well as dance...
s of the 19th century, especially in the género chico. Costumbrista museums deal with folklore and local art and costumbrista festivals celebrate local customs and artisans and their work.
Although initially associated with Spain in the late 18th and 19th century, costumbrismo expanded to the Americas and set roots in the Spanish-speaking portions of the Americas, incorporating indigenous elements. Juan López Morillas summed up the appeal of costumbrismo for writing about Latin American society as follows: the costumbristas
Origins
Diego de Torres Villarroel
Diego de Torres Villarroel was a Spanish writer, poet, dramatist, doctor, mathematician, priest and professor of the University of Salamanca. His most famous work is his autobiography, Vida, ascendencia, nacimiento, crianza y aventuras del Doctor Don Diego de Torres Villarroel .-Life:Villarroel...
, José Clavijo y Fajardo
Jose Clavijo y Fajardo
José Clavijo y Fajardo , Spanish publicist, was born on Lanzarote . He settled in Madrid, became editor of El Pensador, and by his campaign against the public performance of autos sacramentales, secured their prohibition in 1765...
, José Cadalso
José Cadalso
José de Cadalso y Vázquez , Spanish, Colonel of the Royal Spanish Army, author, poet, playwright and essayist, one of the canonical producers of Spanish Enlightenment literature...
, Ramón de la Cruz
Ramón de la Cruz
Ramón de la Cruz , Spanish neoclassical dramatist, was born in Madrid.He was a clerk in the ministry of finance, and is the author of three hundred sainetes, little farcical sketches of city life, written to be played between the acts of a longer play. He published a selection in ten volumes...
, Juan Ignacio González del Castillo
Juan Ignacio González del Castillo
Juan Ignacio González del Castillo was a Spanish author of comic theatre.- References :...
). All of these writers have, in at least some of their work, an attention to specific, local detail, an exaltation of the "typical" that would feed into both costumbrismo and Romanticism. In the 19th century costumbrismo bursts out as a clear genre in its own right, addressing a broad audience: stories and illustrations often made their first or most important appearance in cheap periodicals for the general public. It is not easy to draw lines around the genre: Evaristo Correa Calderón spoke of its "extraordinary elasticity and variety". Some of it is almost reportorial and documentary, some simply folkloric; what it has in common is the effort to capture a particular place (whether rural or urban) at a particular time.
Serafin Estebanez Calderon
Serafín Estébanez Calderón was a Spanish author, best known by the pseudonym of El Solitario. He was born at Málaga. His first literary effort was El Listen verde, a poem signed "Safinio" and written to celebrate the revolution of 1820...
(1799–1867), Ramón de Mesonero Romanos
Ramón de Mesonero Romanos
Ramón de Mesonero Romanos , Spanish prose-writer, was born at Madrid.At an early age he became interested in the history and topography of his native city...
(1803–1882), and Mariano José de Larra
Mariano José de Larra
Mariano José de Larra was a Spanish romantic writer best known for his numerous essays, as well as his infamous suicide...
(1809–1837) who sometimes wrote under the pseudonym "Fígaro". Estébanez Calderón (who originally wrote for the abovementioned Correo Literario y Mercantil) looked for a "genuine" and picturesque Spain in the recent past of particular regions; Mesonero Romanos was a careful observer of the Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
of his time, especially of the middle classes; Larra, according to José Ramón Lomba Pedraja, arguably transcended his genre, using the form of costumbrismo for political and psychological ideas. An afrancesado—a liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
child of the Englightenment—he was not particularly enamored of the Spanish society that he nonetheless observed minutely.
Costumbrismo was by no means without foreign influences. The work of Joseph Addison
Joseph Addison
Joseph Addison was an English essayist, poet, playwright and politician. He was a man of letters, eldest son of Lancelot Addison...
and Richard Steele
Richard Steele
Sir Richard Steele was an Irish writer and politician, remembered as co-founder, with his friend Joseph Addison, of the magazine The Spectator....
nearly a century earlier in The Spectator
The Spectator (1711)
The Spectator was a daily publication of 1711–12, founded by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele in England after they met at Charterhouse School. Eustace Budgell, a cousin of Addison's, also contributed to the publication. Each 'paper', or 'number', was approximately 2,500 words long, and the...
had influenced French writers, who in turn influenced the costumbristas. Furthermore, Addison and Steele's own work was translated into Spanish in the early 19th century, and Mesonero Romanos, at least, had read it in French. Still, an even stronger influence came by way of Victor-Joseph Étienne de Jouy (whose work appeared in translation in La Minerva and El Censor), Louis-Sébastien Mercier
Louis-Sébastien Mercier
Louis-Sébastien Mercier was a French dramatist and writer.-Early life and education:He was born in Paris to a humble family: his father was a skilled artisan who polished swords and metal arms. Mercier nevertheless received a decent education.-Literary career:Mercier began his literary career by...
(especially for Le Tableau de Paris, 1781–1788), Charles Joseph Colnet Du Ravel, and Georges Touchard-Lafosse. In addition, there were the travelogues such as Richard Ford
Richard Ford (writer)
Richard Ford was an English writer. He graduated at Trinity College, Oxford, in 1817, and was afterward called to the bar, but never practiced. He spent four years traveling in Spain and in 1845 published his delightful Handbook for Travellers in Spain, in two volumes...
's A Handbook for Travellers in Spain
A Handbook for Travellers in Spain
Richard Ford’s A Handbook for Travellers in Spain marked a defining moment in English travel literature.British tourists were travelling through Europe in increasing numbers and the need for guidebooks was beginning to be supplied by publishers like John Murray.Ford, who had gained tremendous...
, written by various foreigners who had visited Spain and, in painting, the foreign artists (especially, David Roberts
David Roberts (painter)
David Roberts RA was a Scottish painter. He is especially known for a prolific series of detailed lithograph prints of Egypt and the Near East that he produced during the 1840s from sketches he made during long tours of the region . These, and his large oil paintings of similar subjects, made him...
) who had settled for a time especially in Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
and Granada
Granada
Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...
and drew or painted local subjects.
While Estébanez Calderón, Mesonero Romanos, and (insofar as he fits the genre) Larra were the major costumbrista writers, many other Spanish writers of the 19th century devoted all or part of their careers to costumbrismo. Antonio María Segovia (1808–1874), who mainly wrote pseudonymously as "El Estudiante" and who founded the satiric-literary magazine El Cócora; his collaborator Santos López Pelegrín
Santos López Pelegrín
Santos López Pelegrín was a Spanish journalist and author whose work is associated with Romanticism....
(1801–1846), "Abenámar"; many early contributors to Madrid's Semanario Pintoresco Español (1836-1857), Spain's first illustrated magazine; and such lesser lights as Antonio Neira de Mosquera (1818–1853), "El Doctor Malatesta" (Las ferias de Madrid, 1845); Clemente Díaz, with whom costumbrismo took a turn toward the rural; Vicente de la Fuente (1817–1889), portraying the lives of bookish students (in between writing serious histories); José Giménez Serrano, portraying a romantic Andalusia
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
; Enrique Gil y Carrasco, a Carlist
Carlism
Carlism is a traditionalist and legitimist political movement in Spain seeking the establishment of a separate line of the Bourbon family on the Spanish throne. This line descended from Infante Carlos, Count of Molina , and was founded due to dispute over the succession laws and widespread...
from Villafranca del Bierzo
Villafranca del Bierzo
thumb|250px|Castle of Villafranca.Vilafranca del Bierzo is a village and municipality located in the comarca of El Bierzo, in the province of León, Castile and León, Spain.It is one of Galician speaking councils of Castilla y León....
, friend of Alexander von Humboldt
Alexander von Humboldt
Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt was a German naturalist and explorer, and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt...
, and contributor to the Semanario Pintoresco Español; and many other regionalists around Spain.
The Spanish Drawn By Themselves
Much as literary costumbrismo had been influenced by English models, often by way of France, the same occurred with the equivalent in the visual arts, but with far more recent models. In a period when physiognomyPhysiognomy
Physiognomy is the assessment of a person's character or personality from their outer appearance, especially the face...
was in vogue, Heads of the People or Portraits of the English was serialized in London starting in 1838 and was published in its entirety in 1840–1841. It combined essays such "distinguished writers" (the volume's own choice of words) as William Makepeace Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray was an English novelist of the 19th century. He was famous for his satirical works, particularly Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of English society.-Biography:...
and Leigh Hunt with pictures of individuals emblematic of different English "types". This was followed in France by a work first serialized as Les Français, Moeurs Contemporaines ("The French, Contemporary Manners", beginning in 1839) and published in a volume in 1842 as Les Français peints par eux-mêmes. Encyclopédie Morale du dixneuviéme siécle ("The French, drawn by themselves. Moral Encyclopedia of the 19th Century"). The Spanish soon followed with Los españoles pintados por sí mismos ("The Spanish Drawn By Themselves") serialized from 1842 and published in a volume in 1843.
A collective and hence, necessarily, uneven anthology of "types", Los españoles… was a mixture of verse and prose, and of writers and artists from various generations. Illustrators included Leonardo Alenza
Leonardo Alenza
Leonardo Alenza was a Spanish painter and engraver. He was born in Madrid. He studied art under Juan Rivera and José de Madrazo, and became a good portrait painter, but was more especially famous for his pictures of the lower classes at play and work. He became a member of the Royal Academy of San...
(1807–1845), Fernando Miranda, Francisco Lameyer (1825–1877), Vicente Urrabieta y Ortiz, and Calixto Ortega. The writers included Mesonero and Estébanez as well as various less costumbrista writers and many not usually associated with the genre, such as Gabriel García Tassara (1817–1875) or the conservative politician Francisco Navarro Villoslada (1818–1895). Andrés Soria remarks that, except for the Andalusian "types", everything was from the point of view of Madrid. Unlike later costumbrismo, the focus remained firmly on the present day. In some ways, the omissions are as interesting as the inclusions: no direct representation of the aristocracy, of prominent businessmen, of the high clergy, or of the army, and except for the "popular" classes, the writing is a bit circumspect and cautious. Still, the material is strong on ethnological, folkloric, and linguistic detail.
In an epilogue to Los españoles…, "Contrastes. Tipos perdidos, 1825, Tipos hallados, 1845" ("Contrasts. Types lost, 1825, types found, 1845"), Mesonero on the one hand showed that the genre, in its original terms, was played out, and on the other laid the ground for future costumbrismo: new "types" would always arise, and many places remained to be written about in this fashion. The book had many descendants, and a major reissue in 1871. A particularly strong current came out of Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
: for example, José M. de Freixas's Enciclopedia de tipos vulgares y costumbres de Barcelona ("Encyclopedia of vulgar types and customs of Barcelona", 1844) illustrated by Servat, and El libro Verde de Barcelona ("The Green Book of Barcelona", 1848) by "José y Juan" (José de Majarrés and Juan Cortada y Sala. The very title of Los valencianos pintados por sí mismos (Valencia 1859) gave a nod of the hat to the earlier work,
A revival of collective works of costumbrismo in the time of the First Spanish Republic
First Spanish Republic
The First Spanish Republic was the political regime that existed in Spain between the parliamentary proclamation on 11 February 1873 and 29 December 1874 when General Arsenio Martínez-Campos's pronunciamento marked the beginning of the Bourbon Restoration in Spain...
saw the reissue of Los españoles… (1872), as well as the publication of Los españoles de hogaño ("The Spanish these days", 1872), focused on Madrid, and the vast undertaking Las mujeres españolas, portuguesas y americanas… ("Spanish, Portuguese, and American Women…", published in Madrid, Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
, and Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
in 1872–1873 and 1876). Also from this time was the satiric Madrid por dentro y por fuera ("Madrid from inside and outside, 1873) by Manuel del Palacio (1831–1906).
Carlos Frontaura carried on costumbrismo in Madrid with Las tiendas ("Shops", 1886) and "Tipos madrileños" ("Madrid types", 1888). Ramón de Navarrete (1822–1897) writing variously as or "Asmodeo" (after Asmodeus
Asmodeus
Asmodeus may refer to:* Asmodai, a demon-like figure of the Talmud and Book of Tobit* Asmodeus , Austrian black-metal band*Asmodeus , the name of several characters in Marvel Comics*Asmodeus...
, king of the demons), broke with the history of the genre by writing of the upper classes in Madrid during the Restoration
Spain under the Restoration
The Restoration was the name given to the period that began on December 29, 1874 after the First Spanish Republic ended with the restoration of Alfonso XII to the throne after a coup d'état by Martinez Campos, and ended on April 14, 1931 with the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic.After...
, as in his Sueños y realidades ("Dreams and realities, 1878). Enrique Sepúlveda wrote about both Madrid and Barcelona, Narcís Oller (1846–1930) about Barcelona, and Sabino de Goicoechea (1826–1901), known as "Argos", about the Basque Country. Galicia was represented by the collective work El álbum de Galicia. Tipos, costumbres y leyendas ("The album of Galicia. Types, customs and legends", 1897).
Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Poet, journalist and pamphleteer Antonio FloresAntonio Flores
Antonio González Flores was a Spanish singer-songwriter and actor.He was the only son of singers and actors Antonio González 'El Pescaílla' and Lola Flores. He was the brother of actresses Lolita Flores and Rosario Flores...
(1821–1865), one of the contributors to Los españoles… followed up in 1846 with Doce españoles de brocha gorda, que no pudiéndose pintar a sí mismos, me han encargado a mí, Antonio Flores, sus retratos ("Twelve Spaniards with a broad brush, who not being able to portray themselves have put me, Antonio Flores, in charge of their portraits"), subtitled a "novel of popular customs" ("novela de costumbres populares"). Published in 1846 and reissued several times, the book merged the hitherto more essayistic costumbrista form with aspects of the novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
(although not a particularly tightly plotted novel). Somewhat more novelistic was his Fe, Esperanza y Caridad ("Faith Hope and Charity"), published serially in La Nación in 1850–1851 and also much reprinted. Flores had been Eugène Sue
Eugène Sue
Joseph Marie Eugène Sue was a French novelist.He was born in Paris, the son of a distinguished surgeon in Napoleon's army, and is said to have had the Empress Joséphine for godmother. Sue himself acted as surgeon both in the Spanish campaign undertaken by France in 1823 and at the Battle of Navarino...
's translator into Spanish, and Sue's influence is strong in this work. Flores turned to again to custumbrismo, of a sort, in 1853 with Ayer, hoy y mañana o la fe, el vapor y la electricidad (cuadros sociales de 1800, 1850 y 1899) ("Yesterday, today and tomorrow or faith, steam and electricity (social pictures of 1800, 1850, and 1899)") going Mesonero's "types lost" and "types found" one better by projecting a vision of the future influenced by the work of Émile Souvestre
Émile Souvestre
Émile Souvestre was a French novelist who was a native of Morlaix, Finistère.He was the son of a civil engineer and was educated at the college of Pontivy, with the intention of following his father's career by entering the Polytechnic School...
. His newspaper El Laberinto continued publishing his costumbrista work even posthumously, such as Tipos y costumbres españolas (1877).
Eugenio de Ochoa
Eugenio de Ochoa
Eugenio de Ochoa was a Spanish author, writer and translator.-References:*Richard Eugene Chandler and Kessel Schwartz. Louisiana State University Press, 1991. ISBN 9780807117354; pp. 337–338...
(1815–1872) carried costumbrismo in a different direction. Born in the Basque country and moving often between Spain and France, his 1860 book Museo de las familias. París, Londres y Madrid ("Museum of families. Paris, London, Madrid") created a sort of cosmopolitan costumbrismo.
Costumbrismo by major Spanish realists
Many of the great Spanish realist writers of the 19th century worked at times in the costumbrista mode, especially at the start of their careers. Fernán CaballeroFernán Caballero
Fernán Caballero was the pseudonym adopted from the name of a village in the province of Ciudad Real by the Spanish novelist Cecilia Francisca Josefa Böhl de Faber....
(1796–1877), for example, in the prose portions of his Cuentos y poesías populares andaluzas ("Popular Andalusian stories and poems", collected in 1859 from prior publication in magazines), writes within the genre, particularly in "Una paz hecha sin preliminares, sin coferencias y sin notas diplomáticas" ("A peace made without preliminaries, without conferences, and without diplomatic notes"), with its very specific setting in Chiclana de la Frontera
Chiclana de la Frontera
Chiclana de la Frontera is a town in southwestern Spain, in the province of Cádiz, near the Gulf of Cadiz. The area is a fertile region, with much agriculture, including vineyards...
. Pedro Antonio de Alarcón (1833–1891) issued a collection Cosas que fueron, bringing together 16 costumbrista articles.
José María de Pereda
José María de Pereda was one of the most distinguished of modern Spanish novelists....
(1833–1906) as the most successful fusion of costumbrista scenes into proper novels, especially his portrayals of La Montaña, the mountainous regions of Cantabria
Cantabria
Cantabria is a Spanish historical region and autonomous community with Santander as its capital city. It is bordered on the east by the Basque Autonomous Community , on the south by Castile and León , on the west by the Principality of Asturias, and on the north by the Cantabrian Sea.Cantabria...
. His Escenas montañesas (1864) is particularly in the costumbrista mode, with its mixture of urban, rural and seafaring scenes, and sections offering sketches of various milieus. Poet and novelist Antonio de Trueba
Antonio de Trueba
Antonio de Trueba was a Spanish poet, novelist, and folklorist born at Montellana, Biscay, in 1821 , where he was privately educated....
(1819 or 1821–1889) wrote squarely within the genre with Madrid por fuera and De flor en flor. Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer
Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer
Gustavo Adolfo Domínguez Bastida, better known as Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, was a Spanish post-romanticist writer of poetry and short stories, now considered one of the most important figures in Spanish literature. He adopted the alias of Bécquer as his brother Valeriano Bécquer, a painter, had...
(1836–1870) portrayed Madrid, Seville, and Toledo
Toledo, Spain
Toledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...
. José María Gabriel y Galán
José María Gabriel y Galán
José María Gabriel y Galán was a Spanish poet in Castilian and Extremaduran.He was a teacher in Guijuelo & Piedrahíta...
(1870–1905), best known as a poet, also wrote costumbrista pieces about Salamanca
Salamanca
Salamanca is a city in western Spain, in the community of Castile and León. Because it is known for its beautiful buildings and urban environment, the Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988. It is the most important university city in Spain and is known for its contributions to...
. Armando Palacio Valdés
Armando Palacio Valdés
Armando Palacio Valdés was a Spanish novelist and critic.-Biography:Valdés was born at Entralgo in the province of Asturias on the October 4, 1853.His first writings were printed in the Revista Europea...
(1853–1938) also essayed the genre in newspaper articles, collected in Aguas fuertes ("Strong waters", 1884). The writer and diplomat Ángel Ganivet
Ángel Ganivet
Ángel Ganivet García , Spanish writer and diplomat. He was considered a precursor to the Generation of '98.-Some of his works:* Granada la bella. * Idearium español...
(1865–1898), seen by some as a precursor to the Generation of '98
Generation of '98
The Generation of '98 was a group of novelists, poets, essayists, and philosophers active in Spain at the time of the Spanish-American War ....
, wrote costumbrista scenes of Granada
Granada
Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...
.
Elements of costumbrismo, or even entire works in the genre, can be found among major Spanish writers of the 20th century, though to a lesser extent. Miguel de Unamuno
Miguel de Unamuno
Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo was a Spanish essayist, novelist, poet, playwright and philosopher.-Biography:...
(1864–1936) worked in the genre for De mi país ("Of my country", 1903) and some stories such as "Solitaña" in of El espejo de la muerte ("The Mirror of Death", 1913), as did Pío Baroja
Pío Baroja
Pío Baroja y Nessi was a Spanish Basque writer, one of the key novelists of the Generation of '98. He was a member of an illustrious family, his brother Ricardo was a painter, writer and engraver, and his nephew Julio Caro Baroja, son of his younger sister Carmen, was a well known...
with Vitrina pintoresca ("Picturesque showcase", 1935) and in passages of his novels set in the Basque Country. Azorín (José Augusto Trinidad Martínez Ruíz, 1873–1967) often wrote in this genre; one could comb the works of Ramón Gómez de la Serna
Ramón Gómez de la Serna
Ramón Gómez de la Serna Puig was a Spanish writer, dramatist and avant-garde agitator. He strongly influenced surrealist film maker Luis Buñuel....
(1888–1963) and Camilo José Cela
Camilo José Cela
Camilo José Cela y Trulock, 1st Marquis of Iria Flavia was a Spanish novelist and short story writer. He was awarded the 1989 Nobel Prize in Literature "for a rich and intensive prose, which with restrained compassion forms a challenging vision of man's vulnerability".-Biography:Cela published his...
(1916–2002) and find many passages that could come straight from a work of costumbrismo. Although taken as a whole these writers are clearly not costumbristas, they use the costumbrista style to evoke surviving remnants of Spain's past.
20th century literary costumbrismo in Spain
The tradition of costumbrismo in Spain by no means ended at the turn of the century, but it simply did not play as important a role in 20th century Spanish literature as it did in the century before. As noted above, several of the most important 20th century Spanish writers at least dabbled in, or were influenced by, the genre. When we go beyond the first string of writers, we see more of a continuation of costumbrismo.In the course of the century, more and more Spanish regions asserted their particularity, allowing this now established technique of writing to be given new scope. In other regions—Madrid, Andalusia—costumbrismo itself had become part of the region's identity. The magazine España, founded 1915, wrote about some new "types": the indolent golfo; the lower class señorito chulo with his airs and exaggerated fashions; the albañil or construction worker, but with far less sympathy than costumbristas in the previous century had portrayed their predecessors. Other "types" were those who were a caricature of times past: el erudito, with his vast but pointless book-learning, or El poeta de juegos florales ("the poet of floral games").
Santiago Rusiñol
Santiago Rusiñol i Prats was a Catalan post-impressionist/Symbolist painter, poet, and playwright.He was born in Barcelona in 1861, and died in Aranjuez in 1931 while painting its famous gardens....
(1861–1931), writing in Catalan
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
about Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
and Mallorca
Mallorca
Majorca or Mallorca is an island located in the Mediterranean Sea, one of the Balearic Islands.The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Cabrera Archipelago is administratively grouped with Majorca...
; numerous chroniclers of the Basque Country: José María Salaverría (1873–1940), Ricardo Baroja
Ricardo Baroja
Ricardo Baroja y Nessi was a Spanish Basque painter, writer and engraver. As an engraver, he is considered the successor of Goya. He was the brother of the novelist Pío Baroja and writer/ethnologist Carmen Baroja...
(1871–1953), Dionisio de Azkue ("Dunixi"), José María Iribarren (1906–1971), and, as mentioned above, Pío Baroja; Vicente Blasco Ibáñez
Vicente Blasco Ibáñez
Vicente Blasco Ibáñez was a Spanish realist novelist writing in Spanish, a screenwriter and occasional film director....
(1867–1928) writing about Valencia; and Vicente Medina Tomás (1866–1937), writing about Murcia.
A strong current of costumbrismo continued in 20th century Madrid, including in poetry (Antonio Casero, 1874–1936) and theater (José López Silva
José López Silva
José López Silva was a Spanish playwright....
, 1860–1925; Carlos Arniches Barreda, 1866–1943). Other writers who continued the tradition were Eusebio Blasco
Eusebio Blasco
Eusebio Blasco Soler was a Spanish journalist, poet and playwright....
(1844–1903), Pedro de Répide (1882–1947), Emiliano Ramírez Ángel (1883–1928), Luis Bello (1872–1935), and Federico Carlos Sainz de Robles (1899–1983). Similarly, 20th century Andalusia saw work by José Nogales (1860?–1908), Salvador Rueda (1857–1933), Arturo Reyes (1864–1913), José Mas y Laglera (1885–1940), Ángel Cruz Rueda (1888–1961), and Antonio Alcalá Venceslada
Antonio Alcalá Venceslada
Antonio Alcalá Venceslada was a Spanish writer, poet, archivist and teacher....
(1883–1955).
Costumbrismo in the visual arts in Spain
As in literary costumbrismo, Madrid and Andalusia (particularly Seville) were Spain's two great centers of costumbrismo in the visual arts. Andalusian costumbrista paintings were mainly romantic and folkloric, largely devoid of social criticism. Much of their market was to foreigners for whom Andalusia epitomized their vision of a Spain distinct from the rest of Europe. The costumbrista artists of Madrid were more acerbic, sometimes even vulgar, in portraying the life of lower class Madrid. More of their market was domestic, including to the often snobbish (and often Europeanizing and liberal) elite of the capital. Among other things, the School of Madrid often used large masses of solid color and painted with a broad brush, while the School of Seville painted more delicately. The Madrid paintings have a certain urgency, while the Seville paintings are typically serene, even misty. The Madrid painters focus more on unique individuals, the Sevillianos on individuals as representatives of a type.Romantic Andalusian costumbrismo (costumbrismo andaluz) follows in the footsteps of two painters of the School of Cádiz, Juan Rodríguez y Jiménez, "el Panadero" ("the Baker", 1765–1830) and Joaquín Manuel Fernández Cruzado (1781–1856), both associated with Romanticism. The trend was continued by the School of Seville, in a city much more on the path of a foreign clientele. The founding figure was José Domínguez Bécquer (1805–1841), father of the poet Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (see above) and painter Valeriano Bécquer (1833–1870), who moved to Madrid. Domínguez Bécquer's influence came as an art teacher, as well as an artist. His student and cousin Joaquín Domínguez Bécquer (1817–1879) was known for his acute observation of light and atmosphere. Another of José Domínguez Bécquer's students, the bold and forceful Manuel Rodríguez de Guzmán (1818–1867), may have been the genre's strongest painter.
Other important early figures were Antonio Cabral Bejarano (1788–1861), best known for paintings of individuals theatrically posed against rural backgrounds, and an atmosphere reminiscent of Murillo
Bartolomé Estéban Murillo
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo was a Spanish Baroque painter. Although he is best known for his religious works, Murillo also produced a considerable number of paintings of contemporary women and children...
, and José Roldán (1808–1871), also very influenced by Murillo, known especially as a painter of children and urchins. One of Cabral Bejarano's sons, Manuel Cabral Bejarano (1827–1891) began as a costumbrista, but eventually became more of a realist
Realism (arts)
Realism in the visual arts and literature refers to the general attempt to depict subjects "in accordance with secular, empirical rules", as they are considered to exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation...
. Another son, Francisco Cabral Bejarano (1824–1890), also painted in the genre.
Other painters of the School of Seville were Andrés Cortés (1810–1879), Rafael García Hispaleto (1833–1854), Francisco Ramos, and Joaquín Díez; history painter José María Rodríguez de Losada (1826–1896); and portraitist José María Romero (1815–1880).
Typical subject matter included majo
Majo
Majo or Maja , also Manolo and Manola after the most popular names, were terms for people from the lower classes of Spanish society, especially in Madrid, who distinguished themselves by their elaborate outfits and sense of style in dress and manners, as well as by their cheeky behavior.They...
s (lower class dandies
Dandy
A dandy is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies, pursued with the appearance of nonchalance in a cult of Self...
) and their female equivalents, horsemen, bandits and smugglers, street urchins and beggars, Gypsies, traditional architecture, fiestas, and religious processions such as Holy Week in Seville
Holy Week in Seville
Holy Week in Seville is one of the most important traditional events of the city. It is celebrated in the week leading up to Easter , and is one of the better known religious events within Spain...
.
The School of Madrid was united less by a common visual style than by an attitude, and by the influence of Goya rather than Murillo. Notable in this school were Alenza
Leonardo Alenza
Leonardo Alenza was a Spanish painter and engraver. He was born in Madrid. He studied art under Juan Rivera and José de Madrazo, and became a good portrait painter, but was more especially famous for his pictures of the lower classes at play and work. He became a member of the Royal Academy of San...
and Lameyer, both contributors to Los españoles pintados por sí mismos. Alenza, in particular, showed a strong influence from the Flemish
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
painters as well as from Goya. A fine portraitist who tended to take his subjects from among the common people, in some ways he epitomizes the difference between the School of Madrid and that of Seville. For him the "official" Romanticism was a topic to satirize, as in his series of paintings Suicidios románticos ("Romantic suicides").
Probably foremost in the School of Madrid was Eugenio Lucas Velázquez (1817–1870). An artistic successor to Goya (though a more erratic painter than the master), Lucas Velázquez's work ranged from bullfighting
Bullfighting
Bullfighting is a traditional spectacle of Spain, Portugal, southern France and some Latin American countries , in which one or more bulls are baited in a bullring for sport and entertainment...
scenes to Orientalism
Orientalism
Orientalism is a term used for the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists, as well as having other meanings...
to scenes of witchcraft
Witchcraft
Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...
. His son Eugenio Lucas Villamil (1858–1918) and his students Paulino de la Linde (1837-?) and José Martínez Victoria followed in his tracks; he was also a strong influence on Antonio Pérez Rubio (1822–1888) and Ángel Lizcano Monedero (1846–1929).
José Elbo (1804–1844) was at least strongly akin to the School of Madrid. Although born in Úbeda
Úbeda
Úbeda is a town in the province of Jaén in Spain's autonomous community of Andalusia, with some 35,600 inhabitants. Both this city and the neighboring city of Baeza benefited from extensive patronage in the early 16th century resulting in the construction of a series of Renaissance style palaces...
in the Andalusian province
Provinces of Spain
Spain and its autonomous communities are divided into fifty provinces .In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian , sing. província.*Galician , sing. provincia.*Basque |Galicia]] — are not also the capitals of provinces...
of Jaén, Elbo studied painting in Madrid under José Aparicio
Jose Aparicio
José Aparicio was a Spanish painter of the Neoclassic period.Born in Alicante and died in Madrid. His early training in Valencia and Madrid, then in Paris with Jacques-Louis David. He was named by Ferdinand VII as painter of the Royal chamber. He became director of the Royal Academy of San Fernando...
(1773–1838), and was influenced by Goya; he was also influenced by the Central Europe
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
an equivalents of costumbrismo. His painting is rife with social criticism, and often angrily populist.
Also in Madrid, but not really part of the School of Madrid, was Valeriano Bécquer (transplanted son of José Domínguez Bécquer). Although also influenced by Goya (and by Diego Velázquez
Diego Velázquez
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was a Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period, important as a portrait artist...
), his work in Madrid did partake of some of the socially critical aspects of the other painters of that city, but not of the satiric aspects: his portraits of common people emphasize their dignity, seldom their foibles.
The dark vision of 20th century Madrid painter José Gutiérrez Solana (1886–1945) was influenced by costumbrismo and also directly by the Black Paintings
Black Paintings
The Black Paintings is the name given to a group of paintings by Francisco Goya from the later years of his life, likely between 1819–1823. They portray intense, haunting themes, reflective of both his fear of insanity and by then, his bleak outlook on humanity...
of Goya that had so influenced the costumbristas.
Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
's most distinguished writers worked in the costumbrista genre in at least some of their writing, though few worked narrowly within the genre. Esteban Echeverría
Esteban Echeverría
José Esteban Antonio Echeverría was an Argentine poet, fiction writer, cultural promoter, and political activist who played a significant role in the development of Argentine literature, not only through his own writings but also through his organizational efforts...
(1805–1851) was a politically passionate Romantic writer whose work has strong costumbrista aspects; his El Matadero ("The Slaughterhouse") is still widely read. Juan Bautista Alberdi
Juan Bautista Alberdi
Juan Bautista Alberdi was an Argentine political theorist and diplomat. Although he lived most of his life in exile in Montevideo and Chile, he was one of the most influential Argentine liberals of his age.-Biography:...
(1810–1884) and Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento was an Argentine activist, intellectual, writer, statesman and the seventh President of Argentina. His writing spanned a wide range of genres and topics, from journalism to autobiography, to political philosophy and history...
(1811–1888) both wrote at times in the genre, as did José Antonio Wilde (1813–1883), in Buenos Aires desde setenta años atrás ("Buenos Aires from seventy years ago"); Vicente G. Quesada (1830–1913), in Recuerdos de un viejo ("Memories of an old man"); Lucio V. López (1848–1894), in the novela La gran aldea ("The big village"); Martín Coronado (1850–1919), playwright; Martiniano Leguizamón (1858–1935), in the novel Montaraz; José S. Alvarez (1858–1903, "Fray Mocho"), in the story "Viaje al país de los matreros" ("A trip to bandit country"); Emma de la Barra (1861–1947), who wrote under the pseudonym César Duayen, in Stella; Joaquín V. González
Joaquín V. González
Joaquín Víctor González was an Argentine educator, political scientist, writer, magistrate, and politician.- Early life :...
(1863–1923), in Mis montañas ("My Mountains"); Julio Sánchez Gardel (1879–1937), in numerous comedies; and Manuel Gálvez
Manuel Gálvez
Manuel Gálvez was an Argentine novelist, poet, essayist, historian and biographer....
(1882–1962), in such novels as La maestra normal ("The normal school
Normal school
A normal school is a school created to train high school graduates to be teachers. Its purpose is to establish teaching standards or norms, hence its name...
teacher") and La sombra del convento ("The sleep of the convent").
Bolivia
BoliviaBolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
n costumbristas include Julio Lucas Jaimes (1845–1914), Lindaura Anzoátegui de Campero (1846–1898), Jaime Mendoza (1874–1938), Alcides Arguedas
Alcides Arguedas
Alcides Arguedas was a Bolivian writer and historian.-Background and political and diplomatic roles:He was born in La Paz, where he studied law and political science. He later studied sociology in Paris and represented his country at several diplomatic missions in both Europe and America...
(1879–1946), and Armando Chirveches (1881–1926).
Central America
GuatemalaGuatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
n novelist and historian José Milla (1822–1882) wrote several costumbrista works and created the character of Juan Chapín, the emblematic Guatemalan. Other Central American costumbristas are José María Peralta
José María Peralta
José María Peralta was born in San Salvador. He was President of El Salvador from 15 February to 12 March 1859.He died in San Salvador....
(1875–1944, El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
), Ramón Rosa (1848–1893, Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
), Carlos Alberto Uclés (1854–1942, Honduras), and a distinguished line of Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
n writers: Manuel de Jesús Jiménez (1854–1916), Manuel González Zeledón
Manuel González Zeledón
Manuel González Zeledón was a Costa Rican writer. Writing under the nom-de-plume "Magón", he also worked to promote culture and literature in the country....
(1864–1936), the verse writer Aquileo Echeverría (1866–1909), and, in the 20th century, Joaquín García Monge
Joaquín García Monge
Joaquín García Monge is considered one of Costa Rica's most important writers. He was born in Desamparados, Costa Rica in 1881 and was educated in both Costa Rica and Chile, where he fell under the influence of the leading literary currents of his time...
(1881–1958).
Chile
Costumbrismo enters ChileChile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an literature in some of the writing of José Zapiola
José Zapiola
José Zapiola Cortés was a Chilean musician, composer and orchestra conductor.-Life:Zapiola was born in Santiago, the illegitimate son of the Argentinian lawyer Bonifacio Zapiola y Lezica and of the Chilean Carmen Cortés. He early showed a great talent for music and studied with Fray Antonio...
(1804–1885), Vicente Pérez Rosales
Vicente Pérez Rosales
Vicente Pérez Rosales was a politician, traveller, merchant, miner and Chilean diplomat that organized the colonization by Germans and Chileans of the Llanquihue area. Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park is named after him....
(1807–1886), Román Fritis (1829–1874), Pedro Ruiz Aldea (ca. 1833–1870) and especially José Joaquín Vallejo (1811–1858), who under the name "Jotabeche" was the supreme Chilean costumbrista.
Strong aspects of costumbrismo can be seen in the novels and other works of Alberto Blest Gana
Alberto Blest Gana
Alberto Blest Gana was a Chilean novelist and diplomat, considered the father of Chilean novel. Blest Gana was of Irish and Basque descent....
(1830–1920). There are many costumbrista passages in the works of Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna
Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna
Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna was a Chilean writer, journalist, historian and politician. Vicuña Mackenna was of Irish and Basque descent.-Biography:...
(1831–1886) and Daniel Barros Grez(1833–1904); Román Vial (1833–1896) entitled one of his books Costumbres chilenas; Zorobabel Rodríguez
Zorobabel Rodríguez
Zorobabel Rodríguez Rodríguez was a Chilean boxer who competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics.In 1924 he was eliminated in the first round of the lightweight class after losing his fight to the upcoming gold medalist Hans Jacob Nielsen.-External links:*...
(1839–1901), Moisés Vargas (1843–1898), Arturo Givovich (1855–1905), Daniel Riquelme (1854–1912), Senén Palacios (1858–1927), Egidio Poblete (1868–1940) all wrote in the mode at times. Costumbrismo figures particularly heavily in stage comedies: El patio de los Tribunales ("The courtyard of the tribunals [of justice]", by Valentín Murillo (1841–1896); Don Lucas Gómez, by Mateo Martínez Quevedo (1848–1923); Chincol en sartén ("A sparrow in the pan") and En la puerta del horno ("In the gate of horn
Gates of horn and ivory
The gates of horn and ivory are a literary image used to distinguish true dreams from false. The phrase originated in the Greek language, in which the word for "horn" is similar to that for "fulfil" and the word for "ivory" is similar to that for "deceive"...
"), by Antonio Espiñeira (1855–1907); La canción rota ("The broken song"), by Antonio Acevedo Hernández (1886–1962); Pueblecito ("Little town") by Armando Moock (1894–1942). In prose, costumbrismo mixes eventually into realism, with Manuel J. Ortiz (1870–1945) and Joaquín Díaz García (1877–1921) as important realists with costumbrista aspects.
Colombia
ColombiaColombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
can claim one of the earliest antecedents to the costumbrismo in El Carnero
El Carnero
The Billygoat in its native language, is perhaps the most important novel of the Colombian colonial times. It is a historical and costumes chronicle written in 1638 by the American-born Juan Rodríguez Freyle...
(written 1636–1638, but not published until 1859) by Juan Rodríguez Freile (1566–1638 or 1640), Rodríguez's work begins as a chronicle of the conquest of New Granada
New Kingdom of Granada
The New Kingdom of Granada was the name given to a group of 16th century Spanish colonial provinces in northern South America governed by the president of the Audiencia of Bogotá, an area corresponding mainly to modern day Colombia and parts of Venezuela. Originally part of the Viceroyalty of...
, but as it approaches his own time it becomes more and more detailed and quotidian, and its second half is a series of narratives that, according to Stephen M. Hart, give "lip service" to conventional morality while taking "a keen delight in recounting the various skullduggeries of witches, rogues, murderers, whores, outlaws, priests and judges."
Colombia can also claim a particularly rich tradition of costumbrismo in the 19th century and into the 20th: José Manuel Groot (1800–1878); novelists Eugenio Díaz (1803–1865), José Manuel Marroquín
José Manuel Marroquín
Jose Manuel Marroquin Ricaurte was a Colombian political figure and President of Colombia.- Biographic data :José Manuel Marroquín was born in Bogotá, on August 6, 1827. He died in the same city on September 19, 1908.- Early life :...
(1827–1908), and José María Vergara y Vergara (1831–1872), all of whom collaborated on the magazine El Mosaico, la revista bogotana del costumbrismo (1858–1871); Luis Segundo Silvestre (1838–1887); and Jorge Isaacs
Jorge Isaacs
Jorge Isaacs Ferrer was a Colombian writer, politician and soldier. His only novel, María, became one of the most notable works of the Romantic movement in Spanish literature....
(1837–1895), whose sole novel María
María (novel)
María is a novel written by Colombian writer Jorge Isaacs between 1864 and 1867. It is a costumbrist novel representative of the Spanish romantic movement...
was praised by Alfonso M. Escudero as the greatest Spanish-language romantic novel.
Other Colombian costumbristas are José Caycedo Rojas (1816–1897), Juan de Dios Restrepo (1823–1894), Gregorio Gutiérrez González (1826–1872), Ricardo Carrasquilla (1827–1886), Camilo A. Echeverri (1827–1887), Manuel Pombo (1827–1898), José David Guarín (1830–1890), Ricardo Silva (1836–1887), José María Cordovez Moure (1835–1918), Rafael María Camargo (1858–1926; wrote under the pseudonym Fermín de Pimentel y Vargas), and Tomás Carrasquilla
Tomás Carrasquilla
Tomás Carrasquilla Naranjo was a Colombian writer who lived in the Antioquia region. He dedicated himself to very simple jobs: tailor, secretary of a judge, storekeeper in a mine, and worker of the Ministry of Public Works...
(1858–1940).
Cuba
CubaCuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
's leading costumbristas were Gaspar Betancourt Cisneros (1803–1866, known as "El Lugareño"), Cirilo Villaverde
Cirilo Villaverde
Cirilo Villaverde was a Cuban poet, novelist, journalist and freedom fighter....
(1812–1894), and José María de Cárdenas y Rodríguez (1812–1882). The patrician Betancourt published a series of Escenas cotidianas que abren camino al costumbrismo en Cuba ("Day-to-day scenes that open a road to costumbrismo in Cuba, 1838–1840). His work focused often on what he found vulgar or ridiculous about Cuban life, but was written with a fatherly affection. Villaverde, probably Cuba's greatest costumbrista, wrote romantic novels, most notably Cecilia Valdés
Cecilia Valdés
Cecilia Valdés is both a novel by the Cuban Cirilo Villaverde , and a zarzuela based on the novel. It is a work of importance for its quality, and its revelation of the interaction of classes and races in Cuba.- The novel :...
(the first part of which was published in 1839, although the definitive version was not published until 1882). This costumbrista anti-slavery novel can be seen as an early realist work, and continues to be read in recent times. Villaverde also wrote the prologue for Cárdenas's 1847 collection of costumbristaarticles.
José Victoriano Betancourt (1813–1875) was patron to many intellectuals in 1860s Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
; he later went into exile in Mexico. He is best remembered today as a costumbrista writer, as is another Betancourt, José Ramón Betancourt (1823–1890), author of Una feria de caridad en 183… (ellipses in original title), set in Camagüey
Camagüey
Camagüey is a city and municipality in central Cuba and is the nation's third largest city. It is the capital of the Camagüey Province.After almost continuous attacks from pirates the original city was moved inland in 1528.The new city was built with a confusing lay-out of winding alleys that made...
in the late 1830s.
Dominican Republic
In the Dominican RepublicDominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
, Francisco Gregorio Billini
Francisco Gregorio Billini
Francisco Gregorio Billini was a Dominican writer, pedagogue, and politician. He served as president of the Dominican Republic in name from September 1, 1884 until May 16, 1885. In fact, dictator Ulises Heureaux exercised real power behind the scenes.-Reference:* at the Enciclopedia Virtual...
(1844–1894) stands out for his novel Baní o Engracia y Antoñita (1892). Still, in some ways, his vision was narrow. J. Alcántara Almánzar remarks that "black people are practically absent as important characters, and this absence is very significant in a country whose majority is 'mulatto'." Blacks are more present in the costumbrista works of Cesar Nicolas Penson (1855–1901), but he is far more sympathetic to his white characters, portraying Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
ans as fierce beasts.
Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
ians who wrote at least part of the time in the costumbrista mode include Pedro Fermín Cevallos (1812–1893), Juan León Mera
Juan León Mera
Juan León Mera Martínez was an Ecuadorian poet, novelist, journalist, critic, politician and satirist....
(1832–1894), José Modesto Espinosa (1833–1915), Carlos R. Tobar (1854–1920), Honorato Vázquez (1855–1933), Víctor M. Rendón (1859–1940), J. Trajano Mera (1862–1919), and Luis A. Martínez (1868–1909). Another Ecuadorian was Alfredo Baquerizo Moreno (1859–1951), a novelist and later president of the country.
Mexico
Mexican costumbrismo can claim one of the longest lineages to be found in the Americas. In the same era in which the genre was gaining an identity in Spain, José Joaquín Fernández de LizardiJosé Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi
José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi , Mexican writer and political journalist, best known as the author of El Periquillo Sarniento , reputed to be the first novel written in Latin America....
(1776–1827) Mexico's first novelist (and perhaps Latin America's first novelist) wrote works that had many similar aspects, including Periquillo Sarniento (1816), recently translated into English as The Mangy Parrot. Other Mexican costumbristas are Guillermo Prieto
Guillermo Prieto
Guillermo Prieto Pradillo was a Mexican novelist, short-story writer, poet, chronicler, journalist, essayist, patriot and Liberal politician...
(1818–1897) and José Tomás de Cuéllar (1830–1894). In addition, José López Portillo y Rojas
José López Portillo y Rojas
José López Portillo y Rojas , born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, was a Mexican lawyer, politician and man-of-letters. He served as Governor of Jalisco in 1911 and as Secretary of Foreign Affairs in 1914 for coup d'état leader and brief mexican president Victoriano Huerta, during the U.S. occupation of...
(1850–1923), Rafael Delgado
Rafael Delgado
Rafael Delgado is a municipality located in the montane central zone of the State of Veracruz, about 140 km from state capital Xalapa. It has a surface of 39.48 km2.In 1831 the village of San Juan of the Rio constituted a municipality...
(1853–1914), Ángel del Campo (1868–1908) and Emilio Rabasa
Emilio Rabasa
José Emilio Rabasa Estebanell was a prominent 19th century Mexican writer, diplomat and liberal politician. He wrote extensively on Constitutional Law, served as Governor of Chiapas, as state congressman, chaired several Mexican Academies and co-founded El Universal; an influential newspaper in...
(1856–1930) can be seen as costumbristas, but their work can also be considered realist.
Paraguay
ParaguayParaguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
an costumbristas include Teresa Lamas Carísimo de Rodríguez Alcalá (1887–1976) and Carlos Zubizarreta (1904–1972).
Peru
PeruPeru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
vian costumbrismo begins with José Joaquín de Larriva y Ruiz (1780–1832), poeta and journalist and his younger, irreverent, Madrid-educated collaborator Felipe Pardo y Aliaga (1806–1868). A more festive and comic note was struck by Manuel Asensio Segura (1805–1871). Manuel Atanasio Fuentes (1820–29) wrote verse under the name El Murciélago ("the Bat"), a name which he also gave to a magazine he founded.
Ricardo Palma
Ricardo Palma
Manuel Ricardo Palma Soriano was a Peruvian author, scholar, librarian and politician. His magnum opus is the Tradiciones peruanas.- Biography :...
(1833–1919), best known for the multi-volume Tradiciones peruanas
Tradiciones Peruanas
The Tradiciones Peruanas is a compendium of some of the writings of the Peruvian writer Ricardo Palma.-Introduction:The writings, which are collectively known as the Tradiciones, started appearing in 1863 in newspapers and magazines...
, was a man of letters, a former liberal politician and later the director of the National Library of Peru, who rebuilt the collection of that library after the War of the Pacific
War of the Pacific
The War of the Pacific took place in western South America from 1879 through 1883. Chile fought against Bolivia and Peru. Despite cooperation among the three nations in the war against Spain, disputes soon arose over the mineral-rich Peruvian provinces of Tarapaca, Tacna, and Arica, and the...
. He referred to his works in this mode as tradiciones, rather than costumbrismo.
Other Peruvian costumbristas are satirist and verse writer Pedro Paz Soldán y Unanue (1839–1895), Abelardo M. Gamarra (1850–1924), and the nostalgic José Gálvez (1885–1957).
Puerto Rico
In Puerto RicoPuerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
, Manuel A. Alonso
Manuel A. Alonso
Dr. Manuel A. Alonso was a writer, poet and journalist. He is considered to be the first Puerto Rican writer of notable importance.-Early years:...
(1822–1889) published El gibaro: cuadro de costumbres de la isla de Puerto Rico (The Jíbaro
Jíbaro
Jíbaro is a term from the Taíno words "jiba" and "ro", that means forest people, commonly used in Puerto Rico to refer to mountain-dwelling peasants, but in modern times it has gained a broader cultural meaning.-History:...
[modern spelling]: picture of customs of the island of Puerto Rico", 1849), Puerto Rico's most important contribution to the genre. Manuel Fernández Juncos
Manuel Fernández Juncos
Manuel Fernández Juncos was a Spanish journalist, poet, author and humanitarian who wrote the official lyrics to La Borinqueña, Puerto Rico's official anthem.-Early years:...
(1846–1928), born in Asturias
Asturias
The Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages...
, Spain, emigrated at age eleven to the island and wrote Tipos y caracteres y Costumbres y tradiciones ("Types and characters and customs and traditions").
Uruguay
Prominent UruguayUruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
an costumbristas include Santiago Maciel (1862–1931), Manuel Bernárdez
Manuel Bernardez
Manuel Bernárdez was a Galician-born Uruguayan diplomat, poet, journalist, and editor, and is chiefly remembered as one of Uruguay's most important writers.-Life and Family:Bernárdez was the son of Juan Ramón Bernardez and Dolores Filgueira...
(1867–1942), Javier de Viana
Javier de Viana (author)
-Background:He was identified with the strongly rurally based National Party , and, because of his involvement in the intermittent Civil War which ended only in 1904, de Viana was forced into exile in Argentina for a number of years.-Writings:...
(1868–1926), Adolfo Montiel Ballesteros (1888–1971), and Fernán Silva Valdés (1887–1975). Most of these writers also did significant work outside of the genre.
Venezuela
Venezuelan costumbristas include Fermín ToroFermín Toro
Fermín Toro y Blanco was a politician, diplomat and author. His remains were located at the Panteón Nacional on 23 April 1876...
(c.1807–1865), Daniel Mendoza (1823–1867), Francisco de Sales Pérez (1836–1926), Nicanor Bolet Peraza (1838–1906), Francisco Tosta García (1845–1921), José María Rivas (1850–1920), Rafael Bolívar Alvarez (1860–1900), and Pedro Emilio Coll (1872–1947).