He Pozoalbense collector based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife -he practices medicine there-, Blas García, is the owner of six paintings by Julio Romero de Torresof great artistic valueThe greatest connoisseur of the work of the Cordovan painter, Mercedes Valverde, assured that all the paintings he owns are “museumable”.
These are works that the vast majority have not been seen in Córdoba – five have not yet been exhibited there. This art lover proposed them, without success, to the City Council of Córdoba so that they could be exhibited on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of this genius, which will be celebrated in 2024. All of them also have details striking links with its creation or history.
Inside case of ‘Portrait of Adela Carbone [pintada en 1911]’, the most important of the six that this collector owns – he acquired it at an auction at Sotheby’s in 2023 -, it must be taken into account that it is sometimes referred to under a different title: ‘Adela Carbone, the Tanagra‘. The name corresponds to an actress and writer played by Julio Romero de Torres.
But… And the tanagra what is it? In the documentation sent by this collector to this media for the development of the numerous information published Sunday on this half-dozen pieces, it is explained that Carbone appears on this canvas luxuriously dressed, as if she had just finished a theatrical performance. . In your hands, wears “a tanagra”A statuette of terracotta 4th century Greek BC, originally from Tanagra, in the region of Boeotia. “Since their discovery in the late 19th century, these figurines have become fashionable, with many being acquired by museums and private collectors,” it is explained.
THE second work of artistic importance that Garcia possesses of the Cordovan genius is ‘Shulamite‘. It’s a job shrouded in mysteryHe painted it in 1921, with the intention of exhibiting it at the Witcomb Gallery in Buenos Aires, where the Cordovan painter organized a major exhibition in 1922.
Collector Pozoalban Blas García poses with ‘Sulamita’, one of the ‘Romero de Torres’ he owns
The painting was sold and lost track of him in Latin America for a century. Until, as García explains, a Latin American art dealer acquired it and sold it to a Spanish businessman in 2021. García bought it from the latter.
‘He portrait of Rafaelita Ruiz [1915-1916]This is another of the gems that this collector cherishes. One of its singularitiesexplains García, is what Romero de Torres captures here “a model he painted for many years“And it is not a figure of speech. His face can be found in the artist’s works such as “Serranilla”, “Carmen”, “Poema de Córdoba”, “Marta y María” or “Las dos Sendas”.
This good connoisseur of the work of Romero de Torres indicates that Rafaelita was a “very young” woman. Therefore, the Cordovan genius “never THE painted without A family in front“She stopped posing for Romero de Torres when she got married and her husband no longer wanted to be painted.”
Image of “Portrait of María Esparza”
‘In portrait of Maria Esparza [1915]”, the peculiarity is hidden from everyone’s eyes. Because, as García explains, after acquiring it in an auction house in Madrid, when x-ray the photo they found that Romero de Torres had done it “on a canvas that there was already previously used“This, explains this connoisseur of the work of the greatest Cordovan painter, was “usual”. “At that time, there were not the means that there are today”, he says.
When you jump on ‘Portrait of Carmencita Atienza‘, the fact that it is one of the last paintings by Romero de Torres. He died in May 1930 and did it between February and the month of his death. He plays the daughter of the civil governor of the time, Graciano Atienza.
It so happens that this politician was the organizer of the painter’s funeral and one of those responsible for erecting the monument to this artist in the Gardens of Agriculture. Before discussing García’s last piece, it is worth noting that it is a piece that, when this collector shows it, makes it public practically for the first time. Because This is a part he bought directly At Atienza Family“It has never been exhibited,” says this art lover.
Close list ‘Portrait of a Lady [1915-1919]. Here the singularity becomes a mystery still unsolved: This is one of the few known paintings by this artist in which he represents an older woman – there are three. But it has not been possible to know the identity of the one who posed for Romero de Torres. It is, by her clothes and her jewels, a bourgeois woman. Mercedes Valverde tries to find out who it is.
