Costumbrismo Art Movement

Spain, 1822 - 1910

Costumbrista Oil Paintings and Artists, Costumbrista Art Movement

Costumbrismo Art Movement from Spanish costumbre meaning 'custom' and known in English as "Costumbrism", is an art movement in the painting of local daily existence, characteristics, and traditions in nineteenth-century Spain and Latin America. Costumbrismo is related to both Realism and Romanticism, it shares an interest in the personal expression of humanity with the Romantics, whereas the realist focuses on the precise representation of specific circumstances and places in the abstract. A movement arising from the enthusiasm of romantics for the folk life of the common people, Costumbrismo was a drive towards a practical representation of the world. It conveyed an emergence of national consciousness and a yearning to convey aspects of the life of the general population, while lauding patriarchal ethics and traditions. It is frequently satiric and even moralizing, but unlike proper realism, it does not typically offer or even suggest a specific examination of the general public it portrays. When not satiric, its way of dealing with quaint folkloric details often has a romanticizing angle.

The two schools of Costumbrismo art in Spain were the Andalusian Costumrismo, particularly Seville, and the School of Madrid. Andalusian Costumbrismo paintings were romantic, sentimental, and folkloric, devoid of social criticism. A large portion of their art market was to foreigners who saw Andalusia as embodying their vision of a Spain distinct from the rest of Europe. The School of Seville is painted more carefully and delicately, and the compositions are typically tranquil, even misty, with the attention being on people as a group.

Andalusian Costumbrismo The School of Seville.

Romantic Andalusian Costumbrismo (Costumbrismo Andaluz) follows in the footsteps of two painters of the School of Cádiz, Juan Rodríguez y Jiménez and Joaquín Manuel Fernández Cruzado, both related to Romanticism. The trend was continued by the School of Seville, in a city much more on the path of a foreign clientele. The group's founder was José Domínguez Bécquer, who moved to Madrid. Domínguez Bécquer's influence came from his work as an artist and as a teacher.

Another influential early figures were Antonio Cabral Bejarano, best known for canvases of people posed against rustic backgrounds. They also evoke an atmosphere reminiscent of Bartolome Esteban Murillo, and José Roldán, also very influenced by Murillo, and known especially as a painter of children and urchins. Another major painter of the School of Seville was Andrés Cortés.

Typical subject matter included Majos, lower-class men who were excessively concerned about their clothes and appearance and their female counterparts called Majas, horsemen, bandits and smugglers, street urchins and beggars, Gypsies, and religious and public fiestas.

The School of Madrid Costumbrismo.

In depicting the life of lower class Madrid, the Costumbrismo artists of Madrid were sourer, in some cases even fouler. A substantial percentage of their market was domestic, including the often snobbish and often more European liberals of the capital. The School of Madrid employed large amounts of strong, bold color, painted with an expansive brushstroke. The paintings have a certain urgency about them, and the artists concentrated more on interesting people.

The School of Madrid was united less by a typical visual style than by a state of mind and by the influence of Goya over Bartolome Esteban Murillo. Eugenio Lucas Velázquez, an artistic successor to Goya, was probably the most prominent artist, and he had a strong influence on Antonio Pérez Rubio and Ángel Lizcano Monedero.

The dark vision of twentieth-century Madrid painter José Gutiérrez Solana was influenced by Costumbrismo and also by the Black Paintings of Goya that had so affected the Costumbristas.

Latin American Costumbrismo.

Despite being related to Spain in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Costumbrismo expanded to Latin America, incorporating the customs and traditions of the new countries. Costumbrismo played an essential role in the artistic development of Latin American countries. It was based on a portrayal of nature that was accurate and tied into learning about the newly emerged nation. In addition, it was based on the simple and precise reproduction of the characteristics and features of local folk life and culture. At the same time, the Costumbristas' depictions of ethnic motifs were often depicted in the form of lovingly recreated, sometimes idyllic and charming, genre scenes. Costumbrismo understood the aesthetic value of nature and the events of everyday life and introduced simple people into the subject matter of Latin American art.

Famous Costumbrismo Art Movement Oil Painting Reproductions

Costumbrismo Art Movement Painters Biography & Painting Reproductions

Other sections of interest on The World's Artist Website

If you do not see the oil painting reproduction you want, no problem. Just let us know, and we can find it and paint it, or you can also request a made-to-order oil painting . To be sure you are satisfied before you order, look at our wall art mock-up photo to help solve your decorating needs and see the oil painting in your space. To see our painting process in action, visit our studio and our artists' pages. You can also search our database by artist, color, or subject matter . We created an interesting page comparing real oil painting locations with famous artwork from different art movements in Then and Now, plus Tilt-Shift painting photos .

Need a dog portrait , or a portrait oil painting from your photographs , or even an oil painting of your home ? We can paint these for you. Also you can learn about the art and the famous artists who painted it by visiting the artist biography section covering more than 600+ famous painters.

If you want to visualize a painting and research the size of an art canvas before you buy it, you can see it below in Art Canvas Sizes. Discover how to care for your genuine oil painting after purchase in the Oil Painting Care section, also shown below. And our Frequently Asked Questions link in the footnotes has many answers to your most asked questions.