Lot 24120: ANSELMO MIGUEL NIETO (Spanish 1881-1964)

ANSELMO MIGUEL NIETO (Spanish 1881-1964)
Exotic beauty, c.1920
Oil on canvas
40in. x 32in. (sight size)
Signed lower left: A. Miguel Nieto

A bejeweled and exotic beauty enters into a trance-like state of meditation in a darkened room. Nieto uses a classical chiaroscuro painting technique to create this dramatic scene, showcasing a beautiful figure, with fully rounded forms, and adorned with lustrous, glittering jewelry.

A Spanish movement known as modernismo, 1880-1913, included poets, writers, dramatists, artists and intellectuals, talents such as Rubén Darío, Jacinto Benavente, Ramón Valle-Inclan, Julio Romero de Torres, Martinez Ruiz, Silverio Lanza, Ignacio Zuloago, Rafael de Penagos, Emilio Carrere, Santos Chocano, Enrique de Mesa, Ricardo Marín, Antonio Hoyos y Vinent, José "Pepe" Zamora, Pío Baroja, and Anselmo Miguel Nieto. The participants were avid patrons of the cafes, particularly, the Café Levante, 1904-1916. Likewise, they frequented the popular music halls, which in Madrid featured dancers, such as, Pastora Imperio, La Argentina, las Esmeraldas, la Bella Belén, la Monterde, Anita Delgado, and Mata Hari. Anselmo Miguel Nieto's paintings decorated the Casin de Madrid's Salon Real. This painting had restoration at the upper right portion of the canvas, where a tear in the canvas was mended.