Manuel Benedito y Vives

MANUEL BENEDITO Y VIVES (Valencia, 1875 - Madrid, 1963).
"Pastora Imperio dancing", 1913.
Oil on canvas.
Unsigned.
Provenance: Private collection. It presents certificate of the foundation Manuel Benedito.
Measurements: 55 x 55 cm, 58 x 58 cm (frame).

Manuel Benedito painted three portraits of Pastora Imperio, one of the most outstanding flamenco dancers, and also made some paintings in which the protagonist dances live in the tablao or in the zambra. As in this case in which the representation requires a quick, loose, direct brushstroke to fix the figure of the dancer and the atmosphere of nocturnal darkness of the place in which she performs.

Benedito y Vives began his training at the School of Fine Arts of San Carlos in Valencia in 1888, where he studied under the direction of Salvá y Vilá, and in 1894 he entered the workshop of Joaquín Sorolla, who would be his main teacher. Two years later he travels with him to Madrid, where he makes illustrations for "La revista moderna" and "Blanco y Negro". He obtained a pension in Rome in 1900 and, after spending four years there, he traveled through France, Belgium and Holland, taking up residence in Volendam in 1909. He cultivated the portrait, the still life, the local types and the landscape, and among his individual exhibitions stand out those celebrated in the room Amaré in 1907, and in the halls of "Black and White" in 1910. In 1918 he was appointed artistic advisor to the Royal Tapestry Factory, and in 1923 academic of the Royal Academies of Fine Arts of San Fernando (Madrid) and of Noble Arts of San Carlos (Valencia). He worked as a professor at the School of Fine Arts of San Carlos, and later of color and composition at the San Fernando School, replacing his teacher Sorolla. Later he was appointed director of the School of Fine Arts in Madrid. In 1925 he was appointed corresponding member of the Hispanic Society of America, corresponding member of the National Academy of Fine Arts of Lisbon, and in 1941 president of the board of trustees of the Sorolla Museum. After his death in 1963 the Casa-Museo Benedito was founded in Madrid. In his maturity he turned to portraiture; Alfonso XIII and Concha Piqué, among other prominent personalities of the time, posed for him. Among his awards are the first medals obtained in the National Exhibitions of Fine Arts of 1904 and 1906; and the gold medals in the Hispano-French Exhibition of 1908, and in the International Exhibitions of Munich (1909), Brussels (1910), Buenos Aires (1910) and Barcelona (1911). Works by Manuel Benedito are kept in the Prado Museum, the Fine Arts Museums of Valencia, Santander, Asturias, Havana and Buenos Aires and the Hispanic Society of America (New York), among others, and in outstanding private collections such as the Jr. Sackar of Sydney.