The Museo Ibáñez is exhibiting its vast collection of modern and contemporary Spanish art in its entirety for the first time. The opening of the new building next to the Pérez Siquier Centre, which exhibits the entire collection of Spanish photography and art from Almería, has freed up the space of several rooms on the upper floor of the Ibáñez Museum, the true mother house of the cultural complex in Olula del Río. This has led to a complete rearrangement of its collections, now exhibited with a new, clearer and more didactic museography, with all the explanatory texts in Spanish and English.
Until now, 40% of the Spanish art collection remained in the storerooms due to lack of space, but with the transfer of the Almerian art collection to the new building, four large rooms have been added to the original Museo Ibáñez building. The complete collection, treasured by Andrés García Ibáñez for several decades, covers more than two centuries of artistic creation, from Goya to the new realisms of today. Considered one of the most important of its kind in Spain, it includes works by the most significant artists of the great Spanish realist and figurative tradition of the 19th and 20th centuries, almost a hundred artists. Two hundred and fifty works, including paintings, sculptures and engravings, are displayed in seven rooms, chronologically from the late 18th century with Goya and ending with Antonio López, the Madrid Realists and some representatives of the younger generations of Spanish realists.
Goya’s complete collections of Caprichos, Desastres and Disparates are on display in first edition copies, together with several single engravings of La Tauromaquia and Los Prisioneros, as well as the oil on tin plate “Scene of the War of Independence”, dated around 1810-1812. Early Romanticism is represented by works by such significant artists as Esquivel, Cabral Bejarano and Eugenio Lucas. Special mention should be made of the works of the Madrazo family, who were the leading portraitists of their time. In this respect, the “Portrait of the 1st Count of Fontao” by Federico de Madrazo, a work dated 1842, stands out, as well as several other portraits by his sons Ricardo and Raimundo de Madrazo, of masterly Velázquez roots and very refined technique.
Other works of realist Romanticism include those by Eduardo Rosales, Palmaroli, Joaquín Espalter, Dionisio Fierros, Alejandro Ferrant and López Cabrera. In this same context, the great “Paisaje del Guadarrama” by Juan Espina y Capo stands out, a work of unusual compositional modernity, executed with dense material that evokes the landscape painting of Courbet.
Within the 19th century, the collection places special emphasis on the Valencian school, in which all its great creators are represented with very significant works. Of the generation prior to Sorolla, we should highlight Muñoz Degrain with his recently discovered landscape “El becerro de oro” (The Golden Calf), Emilio Sala, Antonio Gomar, Francisco Miralles and Ignacio Pinazo. Of the latter, the masterly “Portrait of the architect Carmelo Lacal” is exhibited, a very important and representative work by the author, which places him on the same level as the greatest representatives of European Naturalism.
Sorolla’s great canvas “Portrait of the Countess of Albox” is on display, one of the most important pieces in the collection, executed by the great artist in 1905, the moment of maximum maturity and recognition in his career. Works by Mongrell, Pons Arnau and Benedito by his most direct disciples are also on display. Continuing with the list of artists who marked the turn of the century, the “Portrait of Monsieur Banchy” by Zuloaga and other works by Álvarez de Sotomayor and Eduardo Chicharro stand out. In the sculpture section, works by Venancio Vallmitjana, Mariano Benlliure, Agustín Querol and Mateo Inurria stand out.
In the leap from the 19th to the 20th century, Catalan Modernisme is represented by several of its most important artists. Of particular note is a superb child portrait by Ramón Casas and other works by Laureano Barrau, Segundo Matilla and Luis Graner. From the important Granada school of the early 20th century, works by López Mezquita, Soria Aedo, Suárez Peregrín and Pedro Antonio from Almería are on display, with the painting “Granadina”, executed in 1927 and very significant in his career. Within the Symbolist Realism of the beginning of the century, we should also mention an important work by Anselmo Miguel Nieto
From the historical figurative avant-garde, works by Fernández Balbuena, Joaquín Sunyer, Benjamín Palencia, José Pinazo, Marisa Pinazo, Pere Pruna, Ginés Parra, Palmeiro, José de Togores, Balbino Giner and José María Mallol are on display. Important works by such important artists as Agustín Redondela, Álvaro Delgado and Alfonso Fraile from the second half of the 20th century can be seen.
The collection closes with a large number of works by Antonio López from La Mancha, the leading figure of contemporary Spanish realism, including paintings and sculptures. From his group of Madrid Realists, works by Amalia Ávia, Joaquín Ramo, Enrique Gran and Francisco López are on display. To round off, several works by younger realists such as Golucho, Matías Quetglas, Luis Paltré, Ignacio Estudillo and Eduardo Millán.
ARTISTS IN THE SPANISH ART COLLECTION
-Francisco Goya y Lucientes (Fuendetodos, 1746 – Burdeos, 1828)
-Antonio Cabral Bejarano (Seville, 1788 – 1861)
-Antonio María Esquivel y Suárez de Urbina (Seville, 1806 – Madrid, 1857)
-Eugenio Lucas Velázquez (Madrid, 1817 – 1870)
-Joaquín Espalter y Rull (Sitges, 1809 – Madrid, 1880)
-Dionisio Fierros (Cudillero, 1827 – Madrid, 1894)
-Venancio Vallmitjana Barbany (Barcelona, 1828 – 1919)
-Eduardo Rosales Gallinas (Madrid, 1836 – 1873)
-Vicente Palmaroli González (Madrid, 1834 – 1896)
-Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz (Roma, 1815 – Madrid, 1894)
-Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta (Madrid, 1841 – Versalles, 1920)
-Ricardo de Madrazo y Garreta (Madrid, 1851 – 1917)
-Juan Espina y Capo (Madrid, 1848 – 1933)
-Manuel Domínguez Sánchez (Madrid, 1940 – Cuenca, 1906)
-Alejandro Ferrant y Fischermans (Madrid, 1942 – 1917)
-Jaime Morera y Galicia (Lérida, 1954 – Madrid, 1927)
-Ricardo Villodas y de la Torre (Madrid, 1846 – Soria, 1904)
-Antonio Muñoz Degrain (Valencia, 1840 – Málaga, 1924)
-Francisco Domingo Marqués (Valencia, 1842 – Madrid, 1920)
-Antonio Gomar y Gomar (Valencia, 1849 – Madrid, 1911)
-Ignacio Pinazo Camarlench (Valencia, 1849 – Godella, 1916)
-Francisco Miralles Galup (Valencia, 1848 – Barcelona, 1901)
-José Villegas Cordero (Seville, 1848 – 1921)
-Emilio Sala Francés (Alcoy, 1850 – Madrid, 1910)
-Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (Valencia, 1863 – Cercedilla, 1923)
-Mariano Benlliure Gil (Valencia, 1862 – Madrid, 1947)
-Agustín Querol Subirats (Tortosa, 1860 – Madrid, 1909)
-Mateo Inurria Lainosa (Córdoba, 1869 – Madrid, 1924)
– José Garnelo Alda (Enguera, 1866 – 1944, Montilla)
-Ricardo López Cabrera (Cantillana, 1864 – Sevilla, 1950)
-Ramón Casas Carbó (Barcelona, 1866 – 1932)
-Luis Graner Arrufi (Barcelona, 1863 – 1929)
-Laureano Barrau (Barcelona, 1863 – Ibiza, 1957)
-Segundo Matilla Marina (Madrid, 1962 – Barcelona, 1937)
-Cecilio Pla Gallardo (Valencia, 1860 – Madrid, 1934)
-Ignacio Zuloaga Zabaleta (Eibar, 1870 – Madrid, 1945)
-Eduardo Chicharro Agüera (Madrid, 1873 – 1949)
-Manuel Benedito Vives (Valencia, 1875 – Madrid, 1963)
-José Mongrell Torrent (Valencia, 1974 – Barcelona, 1937)
-Agapito Casas Abarca (Barcelona, 1874 – 1964)
-José Álvarez de Sotomayor (Ferrol, 1875 – Madrid, 1960)
-Diego López García (Seville, 1875 – 1969)
-Julio del Val y Colomé (Burgos, 1878 – Madrid, 1963)
-Lorenzo Coullaut Valera (Marchena, 1876 – Madrid, 1932)
-José María López Mezquita (Granada, 1883 – Madrid, 1954)
-Anselmo Miguel Nieto (Madrid, 1881 – 1964)
-Francisco Pons Arnau (Valencia, 1886 – 1953)
-Francisco Posada Moreno (Madrid, 1883 – Oviedo, 1912)
-Pedro Antonio Martínez Expósito (Pulpí, 1886 – Río de Janeiro, 1965)
-Francisco Soria Aedo (Granada, 1898 – Madrid, 1965)
-José Suárez Peregrín (Granada, 1908 – 1937)
-Eduardo Soria (Santander, 1890 – 1945)
-José Pinazo Martínez (Valencia, 1879 – Madrid, 1933)
-Joaquín Sunyer y de Miró (Sitges, 1874 – 1956)
-Marisa Pinazo Mitjans (Madrid, 1912 – 1990)
-Benjamín Palencia (Barrax, 1994 – Madrid, 1980)
-Ginés Parra (Zurgena, 1896 – París, 1960)
-José Segura Ezquerro (Almería, 1897 – La Habana, 1963)
-Pere Pruna Ocerans (Barcelona, 1904 – 1977)
-Roberto Fernández Balbuena (Madrid, 1890 – Méjico, 1966)
-José de Togores y Llach (Cerdanyola, 1993 – Barcelona, 1970)
-José María Mallol Suazo (Barcelona, 1910 – 1986)
-José Palmeiro Martínez (Madrid, 1903 – Bergerac, 1984)
-Luis Muntané Muns (Mataró, 1899 – Barcelona, 1987)
-Balbino Giner García (Valencia, 1910 – Colliure, 1976)
-Rafael Pellicer Galeote (Madrid, 1906 – 1963)
-Juan Polo Velasco (Fernán Núñez, 1923 – 2017)
-Agustín Redondela (Madrid, 1922 – 2015)
-Álvaro Delgado Ramos (Madrid, 1922 – 2016)
-Alfonso Fraile (Marchena, 1930 – Madrid, 1988)
-Antonio Zarco Fortes (Madrid, 1930 – 2018)
-José Paredes Jardiel (Madrid, 1928 – Villajoyosa, 2000)
-Francisco López Hernández (Madrid, 1932 – 2017)
-Enrique Gran Villagraz (Santander, 1928 – Madrid, 1999)
-Joaquín Ramo (Madrid, 1928 – París, 2019)
-Amalia Avia Peña (Santa Cruz de la Zarza, 1930 – Madrid, 2011)
-Antonio López García (Tomelloso, 1936)
-José Hernández Muñoz (Tánger, 1944 – Madrid, 2013)
-José María Serrano Carriel (Córdoba, 1972)
-Cristóbal Serrano Carriel “Noé” (Córdoba, 1973)
-Matías Quetglas (Ciudadela, 1946)
-Miguel Ángel Mayo “Golucho” (Madrid, 1949)
– Luis Paltré Jiménez (Cabra, 1958)
-Juan Antonio Presas (Madrid, 1965)
-Rafel Bestard Mas (Palma de Mallorca, 1967)
-Eduardo Millán Sañudo (Jerez de la Frontera, 1979)
-Ignacio Estudillo Pérez (Jerez de la Frontera, 1985)
-Antonio Lara Luque (Jerez de la Frontera, 1985)