Tomás Campuzano

TOMÁS CAMPUZANO (Santander, 1857 - Becerril de la Sierra, Madrid, 1934).
"Landscapes".
Etchings on paper.
It has slight faults.
Measurements: 8 x 12 cm (x2); 35 x 25 cm (paper, x2).
Considered one of the greatest disseminators of modern landscape in Spain, Campuzano was one of the greatest representatives of the landscape embedded in the traditional and nostalgic vision that characterizes the bourgeois taste of the second half of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. He was also an outstanding aguafortista. A man of paradoxical personality and extravagant biography, educated in a progressive family and son of a railroad engineer, the artist was forced to study law, to later work as a state official. However, he soon gave it all up to devote himself to painting. Throughout his life, being a traveler, he made numerous sketchbooks of his stays in England, France, the Netherlands, Germany and Cuba. Also noteworthy are the drawings he made as artistic correspondent of the Panama Canal, for "La Ilustración Española y Americana". He also worked in scenography painting and illustration. He participated in numerous exhibitions, both individual and collective. He obtained third medals in the National Fine Arts of 1884 and 1890, second in 1897 in engraving, and decorations in 1895 and 1901, also in that section. In his landscapes we can appreciate the mark of Carlos de Haes, who was his teacher, together with the approaches of the plenairists. In some cases, however, he idealizes and immobilizes the landscape, as is the case with the views of ports, where the ships are still sailing and he suppresses the steamships, in accordance with the tastes of the commercial bourgeoisie. Campuzano was from 1893 administrator of the Calcografía Nacional, and from 1902 director of the Escuela Nacional de Artes Gráficas. He was also associated with the Círculo de Bellas Artes and the Ateneo de Madrid. His works are in the Prado Museum, the Collection and Patrimony of Caja Cantabria and the University of Santiago de Compostela, as well as in various private collections.