19th Century European Paintings Including German, Austrian and Central European

Paintings, The Orientalist Sale, Spanish Painting and the Scandinavian Sale
London | 2 Jun 2010, 2:30 PM | L10101

LOT 189

PROPERTY FROM THE URIARTE Y PIÑEIRO COLLECTION

JULIO ROMERO DE TORRES

SPANISH 1874 - 1930
ESCLAVA (THE SLAVE)

signed JULIO ROMERO / DE TORRES lower right; signed on the reverse

oil and tempera on canvas

83.8 by 62.2cm., 33 by 24.5in.

ESTIMATE 30,000 - 40,000 GBP

PROVENANCE
Arturo Uriarte y Piñeiro (purchased directly from the artist in 1930)
Museo Nacional de Belles Artes, Buenos Aires (bequeathed by the above, 1941)
Returned to the descendants of the Uriarte y Piñeiro family, 1991; thence by descent to the present owner

EXHIBITION
Seville, Pabellón de Córdoba, Exposición Iberamericana, 1930

LITERATURE
Pedro Massa, Julio Romero de Torres, Buenos Aires, 1947 Mercedes Valverde Candil &Ana María Piriz Salgado,
Catálogo del museo Julio Romero de Torres, Córdoba, 1989, p. 48, illustrated

CATALOGUE NOTE
Painted circa 1925-29, the sitter for the present work was the actress Elena Pardo. A regular performer at the
Romea theatre in Madrid, Elena was Romero de Torres' preferred model during the 1920s. Other paintings for
which she sat included Cordobesa, Humo y Azar, La niña de los limones, En el patio, Pensativa, La Guitarra and La
Niña Torera, all of which are in private collections. Works in the Museo Romero de Torres in which she appears
include Mary Luz, En la Ribera, Marta and Nocturno.

Elena Pardo's figure embodied to perfection the archetype that Coco Chanel promoted internationally - the classic
image of the modern 1920s pin-up with a greased bob hairstyle 'comme les garçons'. Accordingly Romero de
Torres transformed Elena Pardo into the muse of the Deco style, promoted within Spain by such magazines as
Blanco y Negro and La Esfera.

Esclava was one of twenty-seven works selected by the artist for his retrospective exhibition celebrating his life's
work mounted in the Córdoba Pavilion at the Ibéromerican Exhibition, Seville in 1930.

AUTHENTICATION
We are grateful to Sra. Dña. Mercedes Valverde for her assistance in the cataloguing of this work.