The Spanish Night: Flamenco, Avant-Garde and Popular Culture 1865-1936

Coinciding with the diffusion of cubism and with the arrival of artists fleeing war to the Iberian Peninsula, such as Gleizes, Picabia, and the Delaunays, Spanish dance emerges as a model for abstract and decorative rhythm. Numerous artists used the dancer s image to disarrange the figure, traveling from figuration to stylization or abstraction: among them, Picasso, Severini and Lipchitz. The same follows for the guitar, an element in numerous compositions, which is not foreign for its identification to the feminine body. Culturally Spanish subject matters, or castizo themes, were turned into a successful genre, between the advertising and tourist gaze, studies on folklore and reflections on identity. They were also years of fiestas and excesses, and flamenco made its appearance in many of these. Costumes and cross-dressing often acquire a Spanish character.