Manuel Ortiz de Zárate

Manuel Ortiz de Zárate Pinto (October 9, 1887 – October 28, 1946) was a Chilean painter, born in Italy and raised in Chile.^[1] He was active from 1902 to 1945, in Paris and in Italy.

Amedeo Modigliani: portrait of Manuel Ortiz de Zárate

Biography

Born as Manuel Revuelta Ortiz de Zárate Pinto in Como, Italy. He came from an old Castilian family from Province of Ávila,^[1] the son of composer, Eleodoro Ortiz de Zárate and of Matilde Pinto Benavente. He was the younger brother of painter, Julio Ortiz de Zárate.^[2] He was four years old when the family moved back to Chile. He went on to study painting with Pedro Lira, before entering the Escuela de Bellas Artes (Academy of Fine Arts) in Santiago.

At age 15, he fled home and stowed away on a ship to Italy.^[1] He studied painting in Rome, before being drawn to the burgeoning art scene in France, he made his way to Paris. There, he became part of the growing gathering of artists in the Montparnasse Quarter, making friends with Amedeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso, Léonard Foujita, and some of the other future greats of the art world.^[3][4]

Manuel Ortiz de Zárate studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, developing his modernist skills in the painting of still lifes and landscapes. In 1916, he became Picasso's art assistant.^[4] Between 1920 until 1940, Ortiz de Zárate showed his work at the Salon d’Automne, an annual art exhibition in Paris, France.^[5] Together with Camilo Mori and other artists from Chile, Manuel Ortiz de Zárate helped found the Grupo Montparnasse.^[4] During World War II, he remained in France despite the German occupation. After the war, he went to the United States where he died in 1946 in Los Angeles, California.

His daughter Laure Ortiz de Zárate was a costume designer and her first husband was the American abstract painter, John Ferren from 1932 until 1938;^[6] her second husband was the Russian-born production designer Eugène Lourié from 1941 until 1991.^[7]

References

1. Klüver, Billy (1999). A Day with Picasso. MIT Press. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-262-61147-3.
2. Subercaseaux, Bernardo (1997). Historia de las ideas y de la cultura en Chile (in Spanish). Editorial Universitaria. p. 19. ISBN 978-956-11-1707-5.
3. "Back in favour: Japanese master who outshone Picasso in 1920s Paris". the Guardian. 2018-04-15. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
4. Rodríguez, Juan (February 12, 2017). "Los chilenos que frecuentaron el círculo de Pablo Picasso" [The Chileans who frequented Pablo Picasso's circle]. Economia y Negocios online (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-11-11.
5. Greet, Michele (2017-06-06). "An International Proving Ground : Latin American Artists at the Paris Salons". Nuevo Mundo Mundos Nuevos. Nouveaux Mondes Mondes Nouveaux - Novo Mundo Mundos Novos - New World New Worlds. doi:10.4000/nuevomundo.70847. ISSN 1626-0252.
6. "John Ferren papers, 1927-1969, Overview". Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
7. "Laure de Zarate Lourié". Le Monde.fr (in French). 2001-02-10. Retrieved 2020-11-11.