Manuel García y Rodríguez

MANUEL GARCÍA Y RODRÍGUEZ (Seville, 1863 - 1925).
Untitled.
Watercolor on paper.
Presents damages in the frame.
Signed in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 24 x 40 cm; 33 x 48 cm (frame).
García y Rodríguez began his training with José de la Vega Marrugal, and then went on to the School of Fine Arts in Seville, where he was a disciple of Eduardo Cano and Manuel Wssel. At first he devoted himself to the figure, but certain circumstances, among them the impression and fascination exerted by Marín Rico and Fortuny among the young Sevillian artists, as well as the commercial successes during Sánchez Perrier's first trips abroad, made him definitively incline towards the landscape genre, which from then on would be practically his only theme. He regularly took part in the National Exhibitions of Fine Arts, winning a third medal in 1887 for his work "Orillas del Guadalquivir" (Shores of the Guadalquivir). He also obtained second medals in 1890, for "La tarde", and in 1895, for "Tarde de otoño". He also participated in the Fine Arts Exhibitions in Seville from 1921 until his death. In 1888 he took part in the Universal Exposition of Barcelona, and the following year he took part in the Universal Exposition of Paris. In 1891 his work "Entrance to an orchard in Seville" was acquired by the Museum of Barcelona at the First General Exhibition of Fine Arts; that same year the State of Prussia acquired his work "Seville" at the International Exhibition of Berlin. During the following years he also showed his works in exhibitions in Chicago and Munich. Around 1893 he made a visit to Morocco, recently also visited by other Sevillians like Sánchez Perrier or Gonzalo Bilbao, where he will return again in 1904. In 1889 he was appointed a member of the San Fernando Academy in Madrid, and between 1902 and 1903 he was an active member of the Fine Arts Center of the Seville Athenaeum. He was an illustrator as well as a painter, and in this discipline he collaborated with the weekly magazine "Blanco y Negro", and also with "La Ilustración Artística". García y Rodríguez reflected in his canvases the most typical corners of Seville, such as the banks of the Guadalquivir and the Guadaira, the corners of the Alcázar and the Sevillian neighborhoods. He belonged to the colony of landscape painters of Alcalá de Guadaira, founded by Emilio Sánchez Perrier, of which Jiménez Aranda was also a member. This group, influenced by Corot and the school of Barbizon, frequented the outskirts and outside the walls of this Sevillian town, whose corners and views of the banks of the Guadalquivir became a constant in his production. García y Rodríguez is currently represented in the Prado Museum (work on deposit at the Municipal Museum of Málaga), the National Museum of Havana, the Museum of Fine Arts of Seville and the Thyssen-Bornemisza, among others.