GONZALO BILBAO

 

Post - 271

.

SUNDAY Feature on ART of Architecture -by Gautam Shah

.

Gonzalo Bilbao Martínez (1860-1938) was a Spanish Costumbrista painter, and later an art professor. He studied Law, but came back to art. He was constantly on the move, traveling to places like Rome, Naples, Venice, Paris, America and exotic Arabic locations like, Algeria, Morocco.

Martinez frequently visited to Paris, and that allowed him to observe styles of other painters. These changed his impressionistic style to luminarist technique. Luminarism is concerned with the effects of light and shade through smoother or edge-less application of colours. Impressionism, uses bold and distinctive brush strokes for the ‘effects.’

Martinez painted local urban and rural scenes, besides some sensual portraits. His works strongly reflect Spanish manners and society of the time, in spite of exotic locations and people.

 In 1893, he was appointed a member of the Academia de Bellas Artes and, in 1901, became President of the Athenaeum. In 1903, he became a Professor at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de Santa Isabel de Hungría.

 

.