To understand the trajectory of our protagonist, we must contextualize ourselves in the nineteenth-century society transitioning into the early beginnings of the 20th century. It will be from this moment onward that a painting will dominate whose main theme will address the social issue as well as the symbolic.
In this regard, social realism will be understood as a trend that seeks the truthful interpretation of history and society, which, little by little, will trace a real consciousness, a general awareness; a reality battered mainly by the harshest extremes of the disadvantaged, whose theme will be addressed by the main authors of the time, accentuated primarily by the capturing and sensitivity to the atmosphere existing in the social context of the moment.
We find ourselves facing a bewildered Spain, a country marked by the principles of renewal and reorganization of the main distribution sectors carried out at the regional level where Cánovas del Castillo will propose the essential motorization of the southern zone of Spain, specifically, the region of Andalusia, which will be understood from these moments as an essential export mine for the sustenance of the rest of the peninsula (Illán, 2022 pp.5-7).
This will cause a general unrest intensified by the social and labor precarity that will be translated into society through the closures of large primary production buildings as well as factories, economic identities along with many other small industries. Andalusia will suffer an outbreak of a new reality, a reality promoted by necessity and precariousness.
It will be from these moments when a certain anecdotalism parallel to the already existing costumbrismo will arise whose representation will unfold its iconographic variants into more transcendent and moralizing themes such as poverty, illness, and death.
Numerous of these artists have been recognized for their long and illustrious career in the arts, but how many of them have fallen into oblivion? In general terms, these figures have served as inspiration as well as primary material for study for subsequent generations within our discipline. General historiography has relegated to a second place other artists who have remained in the shadow of others who, differently, had better luck. It is for this reason that in this article I would like to address the Jerezana artist María Luisa Puiggener Sánchez.
María Luisa Puiggener Sánchez was born into a well-off family. Her father, José Puiggener Pages, was a journalist, printer and editor of various magazines and newspapers in Jerez de la Frontera. In this context, the children of Puiggener received an enlightened education, an advanced interest for their time, as they conceived equal education for all their children (Serrano Lomba, 2019, p.120).
In 1890, María Luisa enrolled in the teaching courses of art for women in Seville, where she developed an interest in the arts and general culture. She received a bronze medal in ancient drawing. She continued her education at the School of Seville, and expanded her knowledge with the help of the Sevillian painter José Jiménez Aranda with whom she specialized in genre paintings costumbrista and portraits (Salinas Gil/ Roma, 2021- pp 56-74).
Therefore, one of the few women painters of the twentieth century who would gain recognition for her work. Despite opposition from art critics, she managed to have her work recognized and her figure renowned. In this sense, María Luisa succeeded in professionalizing and economically emancipating herself, as well as achieving regular participation in various exhibitions and art contests (Illán, 2022, pp. 79-81).
During the first two decades of the twentieth century, she developed an admirable artistic activity, whose trajectory pushed her to more than twenty exhibitions, where she received great social recognition from critics as well as a large number of awards and medals (Illán, 2022, pp 79-81).
María Luisa Puiggener actively participated in the Spring Art Exhibitions organized by the Excmo. Ateneo de Sevilla where she exhibited a series of works, being the only participating female artist (Salinas Gil and Lomba, 2021. pp. 54-60)
Exemplarily, she was recognized in Seville at the Juegos Florales del Ateneo, at the beginning of the twentieth century. She also emerged victorious in Granada where she exhibited her work titled «To you we sigh», whose iconography does not differ from the commented work titled «Escena de empeño, una joya» (Illán and Velázco Mesa, 2022. pp.64-70).
In the so-called first Feminist Art Exhibition, held in 1093 in Madrid, she received a good opinion from critics. At the same time, Puiggener participated in the years 1904, 1906 and 1910 in the National Exhibitions of Fine Arts, where she won Honorable Mentions in both first two.
At an international level, she participated in various exhibitions and in 1907 was selected to participate in the V International Art Exhibition in Barcelona, where she would obtain some value as María Luisa along with Gonzalo Bilbao were the only ones admitted in the contest. Her long career as an artist took her to Buenos Aires (Argentina) between the years 1908 and 1909. Later, she participated in the Centennial Exhibition of Independence of Mexico in 1910 and finally in the Buenos Aires Exhibition where she won a third medal (Puerta Féliz, 2022. 30-45)
María Luisa received an award at the Ateneo's Juegos Florales in 1902 and later also won a silver medal at the Fine Arts Exhibitions along with two Honorable Mentions in the years 1904 and 1906. On the other hand, she was selected to participate in the V International Art Exhibition in Barcelona.
Despite her current lack of recognition due to her sparse reference in literature, we can say without a doubt that her artistic career was fertile and recognized by the society of the time.
We can perceive this through Casanova's criticism who in 1904 defined María Luisa Puiggener as outstanding, placing her at a stage equal or superior to that of her male colleagues:
"Miss Puiggener outshines many masters; she teaches more than an academician in her painting. I confess that for some time now, I go to the exhibition to study it. Her name can be placed alongside those of Margarita Macip and Isabel Coello of the 21st century and with those of María Valdés and Catalina de Mendoza, more modern ones, such as Rosa Bohenhour and the Englishwoman Maudi Boo, so celebrated." Casanova, 1904. (Puerta Féliz, 2018. pp 127)
In this sense, we can observe that her main source of inspiration will undoubtedly be reality. A sad and fickle reality which she reflected in numerous of her canvases and which, along with the growing influence of Jimenez Aranda on her painting, will be one of the principal iconographic elements to analyze in María Luisa's artistic production.
Conclusions
As a final note to this brief study and approach to the figure of María Luisa Puiggener Sánchez, her figure has served as inspiration as well as reflection. I have been able to analyze how many of these women who tried to enter the world of art were not only rejected by academia but even by their own families. This is utterly devastating. And in a certain sense, this reality remains the same as it was in the past century, for women to open paths in the world of arts, there will always be a social label that determines the iconographic and iconological inclination of the work. It can be said that, in some way, we are not only relegated to nature-inspired art or direct mimesis; we must also aspire to faithfully interpret social reality.
Bibliography
Puerta Féliz, N. (2022). Ladies, Goddesses and Muses: A Feminine Encounter with Art. Asimétricas Editions.
Illán Martín, M., & Velazco Mesa, C. (2018). Un verdadero pintor. María Luisa Puiggener en la escena artística sevillana de comienzos del siglo XX Revista de laboratorio de arte, 30, pp. 1-18.
Illán Martínez, M. (2022). From Gender Awareness to Feminist Discourses in Spanish Women Artists (1804-1890). In: C. Lomba Serrano, R. Gil Salinas, J. Brihuega Sierra, M. A. Pérez-Martín, E. Alba Pagán, A. Castán Chocarro, B. Torralba Gallego & I. Escudero Gruber (Eds.), Catalog of the Exhibition: Women Artists in Spain. Toward Poetics of Gender 1804-1939. Government of Aragon and Consortium of Museums of the Community of Valencia.
Salinas Gil, R & Lomba C. (2021). Forgotten and Silenced: Women Artists in Contemporary Spain. University of Valencia
Serrano Lomba, C. (2019). Under the Eclipse: Painters in Spain 1880-1939. CSIC.
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