Javier Winthuysen Losada

JAVIER WINTHUYSEN LOSADA (Seville, 1874-Barcelona, 1956).
Untitled.
Oil on canvas.
Presents restorations.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 66 x 107 cm.
Javier Winthuysen Losada was an outstanding Spanish artist whose career developed in two main areas: landscape painting and garden design, disciplines that he cultivated in parallel throughout his life.
Coming from a family of Flemish roots settled in Cadiz since the 17th century, his artistic training began in his native city, Seville, where he frequented the workshops of José Arpa and Gonzalo Bilbao. He soon became part of the local intellectual circles, joining the Ateneo and founding the Escuela Libre de Bellas Artes together with other young artists. In this initial stage he focused his attention on Andalusian landscapes and local gardens. Later, after the Civil War, his pictorial work evolved towards an aesthetic marked by the light of the Mediterranean, worked between Barcelona and Ibiza and developed in line with his theoretical reflections on the natural environment.
His visit to Paris in 1903 was an encounter with impressionism and post-impressionism, currents that left a mark on his work. He participated in the Salons des Indépendants and Salons d'Automne, and maintained contact with important figures such as Santiago Rusiñol. Already in Madrid, he was in contact with personalities of the Institución Libre de Enseñanza, such as Joaquín Sorolla, Antonio Machado or Juan Ramón Jiménez. Throughout his life, his painting was characterized by an environmentalist sensibility that was reflected in his writings and memoirs.
In parallel, he developed a profound work as a designer and curator of historic gardens. He inherited his father's vocation for landscape architecture and directed his efforts to the recovery and creation of emblematic gardens in different regions of Spain. He stood out for his early patrimonial vision, considering gardens as cultural assets of historical and artistic value. He intervened in spaces such as the gardens of Moncloa, the gardens of San Segundo in Avila, the botanical garden of Zaragoza or the gardens of the Universidad Laboral de Gijón, among many others. This activity was extensively documented and part of it is preserved in the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid.
After the civil war, he resided in Barcelona and resumed his professional activity as a garden inspector under the administration of the Marquis of Lozoya. During these years, he focused his efforts on the restoration of emblematic natural landscapes such as the lake of Bañolas or the Palmeral de Elche.
Part of his documentary legacy was donated by his family to the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas.