ZULOAGA, HUNTINGTON, AND THE DIFUSSION OF SPANISH CULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES (ENGLISH)

This book on Zuloaga and Huntington collects the similarities and differences of two characters who made the greater contributions to the knowledge of Spanish culture in the United States of America. An essential contribution for discovering the ultimate reasons for the straight connection between two such unusual characters. In the publishing market there are numerous texts about the biography of Ignacio Zuloaga, but they didn’t pay the necessary attention to the enormous impact that the Spaniard made in the United States, as well as the bizarre circumstances that occurred. In the case of Archer Huntington, the few biographical texts have been vitiated by the interest in hiding his intriguing family origins and the novel circumstances of his childhood and youth; some facts revealed in this work contribute to understand his amazing life.

Ignacio Zuloaga and Archer Huntington shared similar life cycles, being born in the same year, 1870; on both sides of the Atlantic. They grew up in two countries not only different in almost everything, but also in opposite development cycles: the US on the way to world leadership and Spain immersed in the greatest crisis in its history. Curiously, if the Zuloaga family were not conspicuously liberal (which allowed Ignacio to avoid military service) the painter would have been mobilized for combat and could have ended up fighting the Americans in Cuba.

Zuloaga’s and Huntington’s family environments were opposite. Their studies were also very different, although both Ignacio Zuloaga and Archer Huntington were largely self-taught. The vocations of both men were fascinating: museology and painting. Two somewhat unlikely dedications given the Huntingtons ‘dedication to business in the US (unrelated to Spain) and the Zuloagas’ dedication to the industrial arts (weapons, damascene, and ceramics). Ignacio was the first painter in the family.

The ideological and social differences between the two characters were not an obstacle for them to maintain a sincere friendship throughout their lives, leaving a deep mark on who got to know Huntington and Zuloaga. A pair of brush geniuses-

Author: Dr. Ignacio Suárez-Zuloaga. President of the Zuloaga Foundation.

Edited by: Zuloaga Foundation. Spanish and English bilingual edition.

Year: 2017.

85 pages. 20 photographs.