Ricardo Baroja
Encyclopedia
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
. Carmen was the mother of anthropologist Julio Caro Baroja
, and director/screenwriter Pío Caro Baroja.
, was a mining engineer and due to the itinerant nature of his profession, Ricardo happened to be born in Minas de Río Tinto
, Province of Huelva, an ancient mining village since the time of the Phoenicia
ns in Andalusía
. Soon after his birth the Río Tinto Mines were sold to the British
-Australia
n consortium, the Rio Tinto Group
, and the family returned to San Sebastián. In 1879, when he was eight, the family moved to Madrid
, two years later they were living on the banks of the Río Arga in Pamplona
, and were in Bilbao
in 1886. At fifteen he attended the Polytechnic School of Engineering in Madrid, in an attempt to follow in his father's career as a mining engineer. While there he had an attack of tuberculosis
, a disease from which his elder brother, Dario (1869–1894), was suffering. Alarmed, his parents withdrew him from the school so he could recover. Later, following his love for art he studied museology
at the Cuerpo de Archivos y Bibliotecas (1888–1891) so that he could work in museums. He also attended a painting academy studying with Eugene Vivó. In 1890 he travelled to the art circles of Málaga
and Valencia and was inspired by the older painters Francisco Domingo Marques and Ignacio Pinazo Camarlench
. At Valencia he met the painter Julio Peris Brell
with whom he struck up a lifelong friendship. In 1894 he went to Madrid
to help his maternal aunt, Juana Nessi, run her bakery after the death of her husband, Mattias Lacasa. Soon after his younger brother, Pio
, arrived to help out by making the Viennese bread and tea at her bakery, Viena Capellanes. However, the brothers were more interested in their artistic endeavors. Ricardo was painting as well as illustrating the books his brother was now writing. During this time, in 1896, he read a science book about etching and engraving. When his aunt died the brothers sold the bakery and Ricardo became a kind of bohemian
archivist working at the Archivo de Cáceres
, and for short periods at the library in Bilbao
. In 1900 he worked for the Tax office in Teruel
and at the provincial library of Segovia
where he decided to end his career as a civil servant. He had always wanted to work in museums and had only achieved the bureaucratic tedium of filing and cataloging which went against his restless nature, and so he went on to pursue the bohemian life of the artist.
, a group of writers, philosophers, musicians and artists disillusioned with the reality that Spain
was slowly losing its empire as well as its moral, political and spiritual compass. They met at various tertulias in Madrid
to discuss its causes and attempt to seek out remedies for Spain's regeneration. He later published his Diario de Madrid, that told about those times, as Gente del 98 (1952; People of the Generation of '98). In those early days art and literature were not providing enough to live on so, upon hearing accounts of buried treasure, Ricardo set out armed and on horseback with his close friend Ramón del Valle-Inclán
for the ancient mercury
mines of Almadén
in La Mancha
in search of an undiscovered trove. This adventure ended when Valle-Inclán
accidentally shot himself in the arm and foot.
On March 31, 1901, with Pablo Picasso
and Francisco de Asís Soler, an editor, he started a magazine, Arte Joven (Young Art), publishing five issues using the pseudonym "Juan Gualberto Nessi", which was actually his birth name In 1903 he and his brother were war correspondents in Morocco
writing for the journal El Globo. He began etching in 1900 and showed in the National Exhibtition of Fine Arts of 1901, 1906, 1910, 1912, 1920, 1924, 1926, 1930 and 1936 winning a second medal in 1906 and a first in 1908 for several etchings.
On 31 May 1906, Mateu Morral
, a Catalan
anarchist, threw a bomb from a balcony on the Calle Mayor at the ceremonial coach of Alfonso XIII and Victoria Eugenia of Battenburg during their nuptial festivities. Failing in his attempted assassination, and with the Guardia Civil
close on his heels, Morral committed suicide in Torrejón de Ardoz
. Morral's
body was identified, not by political cronies, but by Valle-Inclán
and Ricardo Baroja who had met the regicidal
Catalan during the tertulias at the Horchateria de Candelas in Madrid
. Later Ricardo drew a picture and an etching of Morral
, while Valle-Inclán
and Pío Baroja
portrayed him as the anarchist in their later writings..
In 1910 he co-founded the Society of Spanish Engravers which regrouped as Los 24. They published about etching techniques in three issues of the journal La Estampa before being asked to publish in Circulo de Bellas Artes. In 1917 his first novel, Aventuras del submarino aleman U..., was published. He also assisted his brother-in-law, editor Rafael Caro Raggio (husband of his sister Carmen
), at his newly founded publishing house with the printing of Biblioteca de Arte, and in 1920 he published his second novel, Fernanda. In 1925 in a highly publicized conference at the Circulo de Bellas Artes, without giving names, he attacked the current vogue of art critics, specifically, Ricardo Gutierrez Abascal
(aka Juan de la Encina) and José Francés (1883-1964). The conference had a great impact and from then on critics ostracized him.
. In 1919, at the age of 48, he married his faithful partner, Carmen Monné. Also an artist, she was from an American
family of French
origin and they had met at the home of the painter Valentin Zubiaurre
. On 8 February 1926 they inaugurated their amateur theatre group El Mirlo Blanco (The White Blackbird) at their home in Madrid
with the support of many intellectuals and notable playwrights such as Valle-Inclán
, Edgar Neville
, Cipriano Rivas Cherif
and Claudio de la Torre
(1895-1973). The following year the group was dissolved by the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera
leading to protests. In 1928 he was appointed professor at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Gráficas and returned to engraving which he had abandoned since the death of his father in 1912. In these days he frequented the tertulias at the Cacharrería, Valle-Inclán's
group at the Café la Granja de Henar, and the Café Varela tertulia of Antonio Machado
and his brother Manuel. He also acted in Nemesio M. Sobrevila's silent films, Al Hollywood Madrileño (1927; In Hollywood Madrid), and the avant-garde
El Sexto sentido (The Sixth Sense), a film that was far ahead of its time and only had one public screening in 1929. El Sexto sentido is now considered a classic art film.
In 1931, returning from a rally in support of the Second Spanish Republic
, he lost his right eye in an automobile accident in Navalcarnero
, near Madrid
, which forced him to abandon painting and engraving and devote himself to writing. He was awarded the National Prize for Literature in 1935 for his novel La Nao Capitana. Later it was adapted into a film starring Paola Barbara
and Jesús Tordesillas
in (1947).
saw the home of Carmen and Ricardo destroyed in a bombing raid along with all his literary work. Taken completely by surprise the new refugees went to stay at Itzea, Pio's
home in Vera de Bidasoa in the Baztán
valley of Navarre
. Pio had fled to France
and they remained at Itzea for the duration of the war, cut off from family and friends, and painting and writing only during the summer months. During this time he painted seventy Itzea tables with the themes of war, perhaps the largest contribution of any artist to the disasters of the Spanish Civil War
. In 1940 he held exhibitions at galleries in San Sebastián
, Bilbao
and Madrid
, and even began to compose music. In 1949, along with the painter Ascensio Martiarena Lascurain, he founded the Asociación Artística de Guipúzcoa (Art Association of Guipúzcoa) and held two art exhibitions in San Sebastián
; one of etchings (January) and the other of oils (August). At his last exhibition in San Sebastián
(1952), at the age of eighty-one and almost blind, all his paintings were sold.
In 1926 his good friend, Valle-Inclán
wrote in the prologue for Ricardo's new book, El Pedigree, remarking on the merit of his companion:
He died on December 19, 1953 in Vera de Bidosoa of tongue cancer caused by his fondness for pipe-smoking and snuff
. In March 1959 his widow, Carmen Monné, organized an exhibition in homage to Ricardo at the Salas Municipales de Arte (Chambers Municipal Art Gallery) of San Sebastián
. Their old friends, the Ducloux sisters, were responsible for gathering all the works available from valuable private collections. In 1995 the town council of his birthplace, Minas de Río Tinto
, honored him by renaming a street, Avenida Ricardo Baroja.
Spanish people
The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....
Basque
Basque people
The Basques as an ethnic group, primarily inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country , a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.The Basques are known in the...
painter, writer and engraver. As an engraver
Engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design on to a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing...
, he is considered the successor of Goya
Francisco Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown, and through his works was both a commentator on and chronicler of his era...
. He was the brother of the novelist 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...
and writer/ethnologist Carmen Baroja
Carmen Baroja
Carmen Baroja Nessi , Spanish writer and ethnologist who wrote under the pseudonym Vera Alzate. She was the sister of the writers Ricardo and Pio Baroja, and mother of the anthropologist Julio Caro Baroja and film director Pio Caro Baroja.-Early life:Carmen was the youngest child of Serafin Baroja,...
. Carmen was the mother of anthropologist Julio Caro Baroja
Julio Caro Baroja
Julio Caro Baroja was a world-renowned Basque Spanish anthropologist, historian, linguist and essayist. He was known for his special interest in Basque culture, history and society. Of Basque ancestry, he was the nephew of the renowned writer Pio Baroja; and his brother, painter, writer and...
, and director/screenwriter Pío Caro Baroja.
Early life
Ricardo's father, Serafin BarojaSerafin Baroja
Serafín Baroja was a Basque writer and mining engineer who wrote popular Basque poetry and lyrics. He was the father of a trio of illustrious children who left a deep mark on the art and literature of twentieth century Spain...
, was a mining engineer and due to the itinerant nature of his profession, Ricardo happened to be born in Minas de Río Tinto
Rio Tinto
- Businesses :* Rio Tinto Group, a British-Australian, multinational mining and resources group with headquarters in London and Melbourne* Rio Tinto Alcan, a Canadian aluminum mining and production company headquartered in Montreal-Portugal:...
, Province of Huelva, an ancient mining village since the time of the Phoenicia
Phoenicia
Phoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...
ns in Andalusía
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...
. Soon after his birth the Río Tinto Mines were sold to the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n consortium, the Rio Tinto Group
Rio Tinto Group
The Rio Tinto Group is a diversified, British-Australian, multinational mining and resources group with headquarters in London and Melbourne. The company was founded in 1873, when a multinational consortium of investors purchased a mine complex on the Rio Tinto river, in Huelva, Spain from the...
, and the family returned to San Sebastián. In 1879, when he was eight, the family moved to 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...
, two years later they were living on the banks of the Río Arga in Pamplona
Pamplona
Pamplona is the historial capital city of Navarre, in Spain, and of the former kingdom of Navarre.The city is famous worldwide for the San Fermín festival, from July 6 to 14, in which the running of the bulls is one of the main attractions...
, and were in Bilbao
Bilbao
Bilbao ) is a Spanish municipality, capital of the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. With a population of 353,187 , it is the largest city of its autonomous community and the tenth largest in Spain...
in 1886. At fifteen he attended the Polytechnic School of Engineering in Madrid, in an attempt to follow in his father's career as a mining engineer. While there he had an attack of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
, a disease from which his elder brother, Dario (1869–1894), was suffering. Alarmed, his parents withdrew him from the school so he could recover. Later, following his love for art he studied museology
Museology
Museology is the diachronic study of museums and how they have established and developed in their role as an educational mechanism under social and political pressures.-Overview:...
at the Cuerpo de Archivos y Bibliotecas (1888–1891) so that he could work in museums. He also attended a painting academy studying with Eugene Vivó. In 1890 he travelled to the art circles of Málaga
Málaga
Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...
and Valencia and was inspired by the older painters Francisco Domingo Marques and Ignacio Pinazo Camarlench
Ignacio Pinazo Camarlench
Ignacio Pinazo Camarlench was a Spanish painter, and one of the most prominent artists of Valencia from the end of the nineteenth century, working in the Impressionist style....
. At Valencia he met the painter Julio Peris Brell
Julio Peris Brell
Julio Peris Brell was a valencian painter. Peris Brell's paintings are distinguished by the power of his technique for analysing and translating different light aspects, specially in landscapes genres, portrait and still life.-Life:...
with whom he struck up a lifelong friendship. In 1894 he went to 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...
to help his maternal aunt, Juana Nessi, run her bakery after the death of her husband, Mattias Lacasa. Soon after his younger brother, Pio
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...
, arrived to help out by making the Viennese bread and tea at her bakery, Viena Capellanes. However, the brothers were more interested in their artistic endeavors. Ricardo was painting as well as illustrating the books his brother was now writing. During this time, in 1896, he read a science book about etching and engraving. When his aunt died the brothers sold the bakery and Ricardo became a kind of bohemian
Bohemian style
In modern usage, the term "Bohemian" is applied to people who live unconventional, usually artistic, lives. The adherents of the "Bloomsbury Group", which formed around the Stephen sisters, Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf in the early 20th century, are among the best-known examples...
archivist working at the Archivo de Cáceres
Cáceres, Spain
Cáceres is the capital of the same name province, in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. , its population was 91,131 inhabitants. The municipio has a land area of 1,750.33 km², and is the largest in geographical extension in Spain....
, and for short periods at the library in Bilbao
Bilbao
Bilbao ) is a Spanish municipality, capital of the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. With a population of 353,187 , it is the largest city of its autonomous community and the tenth largest in Spain...
. In 1900 he worked for the Tax office in Teruel
Teruel
Teruel is a town in Aragon, eastern Spain, and the capital of Teruel Province. It has a population of 34,240 in 2006 making it one of the least populated provincial capitals in the country...
and at the provincial library of Segovia
Segovia
Segovia is a city in Spain, the capital of Segovia Province in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is situated north of Madrid, 30 minutes by high speed train. The municipality counts some 55,500 inhabitants.-Etymology:...
where he decided to end his career as a civil servant. He had always wanted to work in museums and had only achieved the bureaucratic tedium of filing and cataloging which went against his restless nature, and so he went on to pursue the bohemian life of the artist.
Early 20th Century
Ricardo belonged to the Generation of '98Generation 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 ....
, a group of writers, philosophers, musicians and artists disillusioned with the reality that Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
was slowly losing its empire as well as its moral, political and spiritual compass. They met at various tertulias in 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...
to discuss its causes and attempt to seek out remedies for Spain's regeneration. He later published his Diario de Madrid, that told about those times, as Gente del 98 (1952; People of the Generation of '98). In those early days art and literature were not providing enough to live on so, upon hearing accounts of buried treasure, Ricardo set out armed and on horseback with his close friend Ramón del Valle-Inclán
Ramón del Valle-Inclán
Ramón María del Valle-Inclán y de la Peña , Spanish dramatist, novelist and member of the Spanish Generation of 98, is considered perhaps the most noteworthy and certainly the most radical dramatist working to subvert the traditionalism of the Spanish...
for the ancient mercury
Mercury (element)
Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...
mines of Almadén
Almadén
Almadén, Spain, is a town and municipality in the province of Ciudad Real, within the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. The town is located at 4° 49' W and 38° 46' N and is 589 meters above sea level. Almadén is approximately 200 km south of Madrid in the Sierra Morena...
in La Mancha
La Mancha
La Mancha is a natural and historical region or greater comarca located on an arid, fertile, elevated plateau of central Spain, south of Madrid, stretching between the Montes de Toledo and the western spurs of the Serrania de Cuenca. It is bounded on the south by the Sierra Morena and on the north...
in search of an undiscovered trove. This adventure ended when Valle-Inclán
Ramón del Valle-Inclán
Ramón María del Valle-Inclán y de la Peña , Spanish dramatist, novelist and member of the Spanish Generation of 98, is considered perhaps the most noteworthy and certainly the most radical dramatist working to subvert the traditionalism of the Spanish...
accidentally shot himself in the arm and foot.
On March 31, 1901, with Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
and Francisco de Asís Soler, an editor, he started a magazine, Arte Joven (Young Art), publishing five issues using the pseudonym "Juan Gualberto Nessi", which was actually his birth name In 1903 he and his brother were war correspondents in Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
writing for the journal El Globo. He began etching in 1900 and showed in the National Exhibtition of Fine Arts of 1901, 1906, 1910, 1912, 1920, 1924, 1926, 1930 and 1936 winning a second medal in 1906 and a first in 1908 for several etchings.
On 31 May 1906, Mateu Morral
Mateu Morral
Mateu Morral Roca was a Spanish anarchist, known for his assassination attempt on the lives of Alfonso XIII of Spain and his wife Victoria Eugenia .The son of a Barcelona textile merchant, Morral learned several languages, and traveled to Germany...
, a Catalan
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...
anarchist, threw a bomb from a balcony on the Calle Mayor at the ceremonial coach of Alfonso XIII and Victoria Eugenia of Battenburg during their nuptial festivities. Failing in his attempted assassination, and with the Guardia Civil
Civil Guard (Spain)
The Civil Guard is the Spanish gendarmerie. It has foreign peace-keeping missions and maintains military status and is the equivalent of a federal military-status police force. As a police force, the Guardia Civil is comparable today to the French Gendarmerie, the Italian Carabinieri and the...
close on his heels, Morral committed suicide in Torrejón de Ardoz
Torrejón de Ardoz
Torrejón de Ardoz is a town in the urban area of Madrid, Spain that has about 110,000 inhabitants.It is a town 20 km east of Madrid on the NII highway . It is essentially a dormitory town, mostly consisting of apartments. It can be reached by bus from Av...
. Morral's
Mateu Morral
Mateu Morral Roca was a Spanish anarchist, known for his assassination attempt on the lives of Alfonso XIII of Spain and his wife Victoria Eugenia .The son of a Barcelona textile merchant, Morral learned several languages, and traveled to Germany...
body was identified, not by political cronies, but by Valle-Inclán
Ramón del Valle-Inclán
Ramón María del Valle-Inclán y de la Peña , Spanish dramatist, novelist and member of the Spanish Generation of 98, is considered perhaps the most noteworthy and certainly the most radical dramatist working to subvert the traditionalism of the Spanish...
and Ricardo Baroja who had met the regicidal
Regicide
The broad definition of regicide is the deliberate killing of a monarch, or the person responsible for the killing of a monarch. In a narrower sense, in the British tradition, it refers to the judicial execution of a king after a trial...
Catalan during the tertulias at the Horchateria de Candelas in 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...
. Later Ricardo drew a picture and an etching of Morral
Mateu Morral
Mateu Morral Roca was a Spanish anarchist, known for his assassination attempt on the lives of Alfonso XIII of Spain and his wife Victoria Eugenia .The son of a Barcelona textile merchant, Morral learned several languages, and traveled to Germany...
, while Valle-Inclán
Ramón del Valle-Inclán
Ramón María del Valle-Inclán y de la Peña , Spanish dramatist, novelist and member of the Spanish Generation of 98, is considered perhaps the most noteworthy and certainly the most radical dramatist working to subvert the traditionalism of the Spanish...
and 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...
portrayed him as the anarchist in their later writings..
In 1910 he co-founded the Society of Spanish Engravers which regrouped as Los 24. They published about etching techniques in three issues of the journal La Estampa before being asked to publish in Circulo de Bellas Artes. In 1917 his first novel, Aventuras del submarino aleman U..., was published. He also assisted his brother-in-law, editor Rafael Caro Raggio (husband of his sister Carmen
Carmen Baroja
Carmen Baroja Nessi , Spanish writer and ethnologist who wrote under the pseudonym Vera Alzate. She was the sister of the writers Ricardo and Pio Baroja, and mother of the anthropologist Julio Caro Baroja and film director Pio Caro Baroja.-Early life:Carmen was the youngest child of Serafin Baroja,...
), at his newly founded publishing house with the printing of Biblioteca de Arte, and in 1920 he published his second novel, Fernanda. In 1925 in a highly publicized conference at the Circulo de Bellas Artes, without giving names, he attacked the current vogue of art critics, specifically, Ricardo Gutierrez Abascal
Ricardo Gutiérrez Abascal
-Life:He was born in Bilbao, and educated in Germany. In 1931 he was named director of the Madrid Museum of Modern Art but exiled to Mexico in 1939. He authored The Masters of Modern Art , Julio Antonio , Victorio Macho , and Altarpiece of Modern Painting ...
(aka Juan de la Encina) and José Francés (1883-1964). The conference had a great impact and from then on critics ostracized him.
Theatre & Film
On 5 September 1915 the theatre Compañia de María Guerrero premiered his first play El Cometa (The Comet) in BilbaoBilbao
Bilbao ) is a Spanish municipality, capital of the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. With a population of 353,187 , it is the largest city of its autonomous community and the tenth largest in Spain...
. In 1919, at the age of 48, he married his faithful partner, Carmen Monné. Also an artist, she was from an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
family of French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
origin and they had met at the home of the painter Valentin Zubiaurre
Valentin Zubiaurre
Valentin Zubiaurre was a Spanish composer who was a professor at the Madrid Royal Conservatory and worked at the Chapel Royal.-Life:...
. On 8 February 1926 they inaugurated their amateur theatre group El Mirlo Blanco (The White Blackbird) at their home in 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...
with the support of many intellectuals and notable playwrights such as Valle-Inclán
Ramón del Valle-Inclán
Ramón María del Valle-Inclán y de la Peña , Spanish dramatist, novelist and member of the Spanish Generation of 98, is considered perhaps the most noteworthy and certainly the most radical dramatist working to subvert the traditionalism of the Spanish...
, Edgar Neville
Edgar Neville
Edgar Neville Romrée, Count of Berlanga de Duero was a Spanish playwright and film director, a member of the Generation of '27....
, Cipriano Rivas Cherif
Cipriano Rivas Cherif
Cipriano Rivas Cherif was a Spanish playwright and director, owner of the Caracol Theatre Club and one of the pioneering directors of the Spanish theatrical avant-garde in the early twentieth century...
and Claudio de la Torre
Claudio de la Torre
Claudio de la Torre was a Spanish novelist, poet and dramatist....
(1895-1973). The following year the group was dissolved by the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera
Miguel Primo de Rivera
Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja, 2nd Marquis of Estella, 22nd Count of Sobremonte, Knight of Calatrava was a Spanish dictator, aristocrat, and a military official who was appointed Prime Minister by the King and who for seven years was a dictator, ending the turno system of alternating...
leading to protests. In 1928 he was appointed professor at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Gráficas and returned to engraving which he had abandoned since the death of his father in 1912. In these days he frequented the tertulias at the Cacharrería, Valle-Inclán's
Ramón del Valle-Inclán
Ramón María del Valle-Inclán y de la Peña , Spanish dramatist, novelist and member of the Spanish Generation of 98, is considered perhaps the most noteworthy and certainly the most radical dramatist working to subvert the traditionalism of the Spanish...
group at the Café la Granja de Henar, and the Café Varela tertulia of Antonio Machado
Antonio Machado
Antonio Cipriano José María y Francisco de Santa Ana Machado y Ruiz, known as Antonio Machado was a Spanish poet and one of the leading figures of the Spanish literary movement known as the Generation of '98....
and his brother Manuel. He also acted in Nemesio M. Sobrevila's silent films, Al Hollywood Madrileño (1927; In Hollywood Madrid), and the avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
El Sexto sentido (The Sixth Sense), a film that was far ahead of its time and only had one public screening in 1929. El Sexto sentido is now considered a classic art film.
In 1931, returning from a rally in support of the Second Spanish Republic
Second Spanish Republic
The Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....
, he lost his right eye in an automobile accident in Navalcarnero
Navalcarnero
Navalcarnero is a municipality in the Community of Madrid, Spain, located about 31 km from Madrid.Sights include the church of Inmaculada Concepción.-History:...
, near 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...
, which forced him to abandon painting and engraving and devote himself to writing. He was awarded the National Prize for Literature in 1935 for his novel La Nao Capitana. Later it was adapted into a film starring Paola Barbara
Paola Barbara
Paola Barbara was an Italian film actress. She appeared in 62 films between 1935 and 1978.She was born and died in Rome, Italy.-Selected filmography:* The Appointment * We Were Seven Sisters...
and Jesús Tordesillas
Jesús Tordesillas
Jesús Tordesillas was a Spanish film actor. He appeared in 94 films between 1921 and 1973. He starred in the film Reckless which was entered into the 1951 Cannes Film Festival.-Selected filmography:...
in (1947).
Spanish Civil War & After
The sudden uprising of the Spanish Civil WarSpanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
saw the home of Carmen and Ricardo destroyed in a bombing raid along with all his literary work. Taken completely by surprise the new refugees went to stay at Itzea, Pio's
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...
home in Vera de Bidasoa in the Baztán
Baztan (valley)
Baztan is a comarca located in a wide valley in Navarre, Spain, with the Baztan river running through it. The valley belongs to the Merindad de Pamplona.-Municipal terms:*Baztán*Urdax*Zugarramurdi...
valley of Navarre
Navarre
Navarre , officially the Chartered Community of Navarre is an autonomous community in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France...
. Pio had fled to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and they remained at Itzea for the duration of the war, cut off from family and friends, and painting and writing only during the summer months. During this time he painted seventy Itzea tables with the themes of war, perhaps the largest contribution of any artist to the disasters of the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
. In 1940 he held exhibitions at galleries in San Sebastián
San Sebastián
Donostia-San Sebastián is a city and municipality located in the north of Spain, in the coast of the Bay of Biscay and 20 km away from the French border. The city is the capital of Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. The municipality’s population is 186,122 , and its...
, Bilbao
Bilbao
Bilbao ) is a Spanish municipality, capital of the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. With a population of 353,187 , it is the largest city of its autonomous community and the tenth largest in Spain...
and 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...
, and even began to compose music. In 1949, along with the painter Ascensio Martiarena Lascurain, he founded the Asociación Artística de Guipúzcoa (Art Association of Guipúzcoa) and held two art exhibitions in San Sebastián
San Sebastián
Donostia-San Sebastián is a city and municipality located in the north of Spain, in the coast of the Bay of Biscay and 20 km away from the French border. The city is the capital of Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. The municipality’s population is 186,122 , and its...
; one of etchings (January) and the other of oils (August). At his last exhibition in San Sebastián
San Sebastián
Donostia-San Sebastián is a city and municipality located in the north of Spain, in the coast of the Bay of Biscay and 20 km away from the French border. The city is the capital of Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. The municipality’s population is 186,122 , and its...
(1952), at the age of eighty-one and almost blind, all his paintings were sold.
In 1926 his good friend, Valle-Inclán
Ramón del Valle-Inclán
Ramón María del Valle-Inclán y de la Peña , Spanish dramatist, novelist and member of the Spanish Generation of 98, is considered perhaps the most noteworthy and certainly the most radical dramatist working to subvert the traditionalism of the Spanish...
wrote in the prologue for Ricardo's new book, El Pedigree, remarking on the merit of his companion:
Ricardo Baroja is loved by the Muses. Not one of the nine sisters has denied him her gift.
Had he pursued the graphic arts, he would have outdone the best. I imagine him in an Italian city, a painter in the days of the Renaissance. That rare ability to conceive and to execute quickly makes him brilliantly capable of doing grand mural works. What paradoxical humor he would have shown in training his disciples from the scaffolding, in welcoming rulers, in having dicussions with cardinals! Verbal grace, frank humor, pleasant laughter, paradoxical flights are also distinctive in Ricardo Baroja - beloved of the Muses - who, eschewing romantic sputterings, heads toward old age.
He died on December 19, 1953 in Vera de Bidosoa of tongue cancer caused by his fondness for pipe-smoking and snuff
Snuff
Snuff is a product made from ground or pulverised tobacco leaves. It is an example of smokeless tobacco. It originated in the Americas and was in common use in Europe by the 17th century...
. In March 1959 his widow, Carmen Monné, organized an exhibition in homage to Ricardo at the Salas Municipales de Arte (Chambers Municipal Art Gallery) of San Sebastián
San Sebastián
Donostia-San Sebastián is a city and municipality located in the north of Spain, in the coast of the Bay of Biscay and 20 km away from the French border. The city is the capital of Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. The municipality’s population is 186,122 , and its...
. Their old friends, the Ducloux sisters, were responsible for gathering all the works available from valuable private collections. In 1995 the town council of his birthplace, Minas de Río Tinto
Rio Tinto
- Businesses :* Rio Tinto Group, a British-Australian, multinational mining and resources group with headquarters in London and Melbourne* Rio Tinto Alcan, a Canadian aluminum mining and production company headquartered in Montreal-Portugal:...
, honored him by renaming a street, Avenida Ricardo Baroja.
Writings
- Aventuras del submarino aleman U... (1917; Adventures of the German submarine U...)
- Fernanda, (1920)
- El pedigree, (1926)
- Los tres retratos, (1930)
- La Nao Capitana: Cuento Español del mar antiquo, (1935; The Flagship)
- La tribu de halcón: Cuento prehistorico de actualidad y el coleccionista de relámpagos, (1940)
- Bienandanzas y fortunas, (1941)
- Pasan y se van, (1941)
- Clavijo: tres versiones de una vida, (1942)
- El Dorado, (1942)
- Los dos hermanos piratas (Cuento del mar Mediterraneo), (1945)
- Gente del 98 (1952; People of the Generation of 98)
Films
- 1927 Al Hollywood Madrileño (In Hollywood Madrid), Nemesio Sobrevila (director). Silent
- 1928 Zalacaín el aventurero (Zalacaín the Adventurer), Francisco Camacho (director). Silent/lost
- 1929 El sexto sentido (The Sixth Sense), Nemesio Sobrevila (director). Silent
- 1931 La incorregible, (Manslaughter), Leo Mitller (director). Sound/mono
- 1947 La Nao Capitana, (The Flagship; adapted from his novel), Florián ReyFlorián ReyFlorián Rey , born at La Almunia de Doña Godina, , 25 January 1894 - death at Benidorm , 11 April 1962 was the most successful Spanish film director in the 20's and 30's....
(director).
External links
- Film: El sexto sentido (The Sixth Sense) http://www.europafilmtreasures.eu/PY/276/see-the-film-the_sixth_sense
- Film: Al Hollywood Madrileño (In Hollywood Madrid) http://www.videolala.com/watch-al-hollywood-madrileno-1927
- Film: La incorregible (Manslaughter) http://videolala.com/watch-la-incorregible-1931
- Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia
- Editorial Caro Raggio Madrid