Origins can be seen as prefiguring
costumbrismo, especially as practiced in
Madrid. Here, the
Fight with Cudgels, one of Goya's
Black Paintings. Antecedents to
costumbrismo can be found as early as the 17th century (for example in the work of playwright
Juan de Zabaleta) and the current becomes clearer in the 18th century (
Diego de Torres Villarroel,
José Clavijo y Fajardo,
José Cadalso,
Ramón de la Cruz,
Juan Ignacio González del Castillo). All of these writers have, in at least some of their work, an attention to specific, local detail, an exaltation of the "typical" that would feed into both
costumbrismo and Romanticism. In the 19th century
costumbrismo bursts out as a clear genre in its own right, addressing a broad audience: stories and illustrations often made their first or most important appearance in cheap periodicals for the general public. It is not easy to draw lines around the genre:
Evaristo Correa Calderón spoke of its "extraordinary elasticity and variety". Some of it is almost reportorial and documentary, some simply folkloric; what it has in common is the effort to capture a particular place (whether rural or urban) at a particular time. his collaborator
Santos López Pelegrín (1801–46), "Abenámar"; many early contributors to Madrid's
Semanario Pintoresco Español (1836-57), Spain's first illustrated magazine; and such lesser lights as
Antonio Neira de Mosquera (1818–53), "El Doctor Malatesta" (
Las ferias de Madrid, 1845);
Clemente Díaz, with whom
costumbrismo took a turn toward the rural;
Vicente de la Fuente (1817–89), portraying the lives of bookish students (in between writing serious histories);
José Giménez Serrano, portraying a romantic
Andalusia;
Enrique Gil y Carrasco, from
Villafranca del Bierzo, friend of
Alexander von Humboldt, and contributor to the
Semanario Pintoresco Español; and many other regionalists around Spain. A collective and hence, necessarily, uneven anthology of "types",
Los españoles… was a mixture of verse and prose, and of writers and artists from various generations. Illustrators included
Leonardo Alenza (1807–45),
Fernando Miranda y Casellas,
Francisco Lameyer (1825–1877),
Vicente Urrabieta y Ortiz, and
Calixto Ortega. The writers included Mesonero and Estébanez as well as various less
costumbrista writers and many not usually associated with the genre, such as
Gabriel García Tassara (1817–75) or the conservative politician
Francisco Navarro Villoslada (1818–95). Andrés Soria remarks that, except for the Andalusian "types", everything was from the point of view of Madrid. Unlike later
costumbrismo, the focus remained firmly on the present day. In some ways, the omissions are as interesting as the inclusions: no direct representation of the aristocracy, of prominent businessmen, of the high clergy, or of the army, and except for the "popular" classes, the writing is a bit circumspect and cautious. Still, the material is strong on ethnological, folkloric, and linguistic detail. and
El libro Verde de Barcelona ("The Green Book of Barcelona", 1848) by "José y Juan" (
José de Majarrés and
Juan Cortada y Sala. The very title of
Los valencianos pintados por sí mismos (
Valencia 1859) gave a nod of the hat to the earlier work, Also from this time was the satiric
Madrid por dentro y por fuera ("Madrid from inside and outside, 1873) by Manuel del Palacio (1831–1906).
Carlos Frontaura carried on
costumbrismo in Madrid with
Las tiendas ("Shops", 1886) and "Tipos madrileños" ("Madrid types", 1888).
Ramón de Navarrete (1822–1897) writing variously as or "Asmodeo" (after
Asmodeus, king of the demons), broke with the history of the genre by writing of the upper classes in Madrid during the
Restoration, as in his
Sueños y realidades ("Dreams and realities, 1878).
Enrique Sepúlveda wrote about
Galicia was represented by the collective work
El álbum de Galicia. Tipos, costumbres y leyendas ("The album of Galicia. Types, customs and legends", 1897). ("Twelve Spaniards with a broad brush, who not being able to portray themselves have put me, Antonio Flores, in charge of their portraits"), subtitled a "novel of popular customs" (
"novela de costumbres populares"). Published in 1846 and reissued several times, the book merged the hitherto more essayistic
costumbrista form with aspects of the
novel (although not a particularly tightly plotted novel). Somewhat more novelistic was his
Fe, Esperanza y Caridad ("Faith Hope and Charity"), published serially in
La Nación in 1850–1851 and also much reprinted. Flores had been
Eugène Sue's translator into Spanish, and Sue's influence is strong in this work. Flores turned to again to
custumbrismo, of a sort, in 1853 with
Ayer, hoy y mañana o la fe, el vapor y la electricidad (cuadros sociales de 1800, 1850 y 1899) ("Yesterday, today and tomorrow or faith, steam and electricity (social pictures of 1800, 1850, and 1899)") going Mesonero's "types lost" and "types found" one better by projecting a vision of the future influenced by the work of
Émile Souvestre. His newspaper
El Laberinto continued publishing his
costumbrista work even posthumously, such as
Tipos y costumbres españolas (1877). and moving often between Spain and France, his 1860 book
Museo de las familias. París, Londres y Madrid ("Museum of families. Paris, London, Madrid") created a sort of cosmopolitan
costumbrismo.
Pedro Antonio de Alarcón (1833–1891) issued a collection
Cosas que fueron, bringing together 16
costumbrista articles. wrote
costumbrista scenes of
Granada. Elements of
costumbrismo, or even entire works in the genre, can be found among major Spanish writers of the 20th century, though to a lesser extent.
Miguel de Unamuno (1864–1936) worked in the genre for
De mi país ("Of my country", 1903) and some stories such as "Solitaña" in of
El espejo de la muerte ("The Mirror of Death", 1913), as did
Pío Baroja with
Vitrina pintoresca ("Picturesque showcase", 1935) and in passages of his novels set in the Basque Country.
Azorín (José Augusto Trinidad Martínez Ruíz, 1873–1967) often wrote in this genre; one could comb the works of
Ramón Gómez de la Serna (1888–1963) and
Camilo José Cela (1916–2002) and find many passages that could come straight from a work of
costumbrismo. Although taken as a whole these writers are clearly not
costumbristas, they use the
costumbrista style to evoke surviving remnants of Spain's past.
20th century literary costumbrismo in Spain The tradition of
costumbrismo in Spain by no means ended at the turn of the century, but it simply did not play as important a role in 20th-century Spanish literature as it did in the century before. As noted
above, several of the most important 20th-century Spanish writers at least dabbled in, or were influenced by, the genre. When we go beyond the first string of writers, we see more of a continuation of
costumbrismo. In the course of the century, more and more Spanish regions asserted their particularity, allowing this now established technique of writing to be given new scope. In other regions—Madrid, Andalusia—
costumbrismo itself had become part of the region's identity. The magazine
España, founded 1915, wrote about some new "types": the indolent
golfo; the lower class
señorito chulo with his airs and exaggerated fashions; the
albañil or construction worker, but with far less sympathy than
costumbristas in the previous century had portrayed their predecessors. Other "types" were those who were a caricature of times past:
el erudito, with his vast but pointless book-learning, or
El poeta de juegos florales ("the poet of floral games"). Andrés Soria describes 20th century regional
costumbrismo as more serious, less picturesque, and more poetic than in the 19th century. Among his many examples of the 20th century continuation of
costumbrismo are
Santiago Rusiñol (1861–1931), writing in
Catalan about
Catalonia and
Mallorca; numerous chroniclers of the Basque Country:
José María Salaverría (1873–1940),
Ricardo Baroja (1871–1953),
Dionisio de Azkue ("Dunixi"),
José María Iribarren (1906–1971), and, as mentioned above, Pío Baroja;
Vicente Blasco Ibáñez (1867–1928) writing about Valencia; and
Vicente Medina Tomás (1866–1937), writing about Murcia. A strong current of
costumbrismo continued in 20th-century Madrid, including in poetry (
Antonio Casero, 1874–1936) and theatre (
José López Silva, 1860–1925;
Carlos Arniches Barreda, 1866–1943). Other writers who continued the tradition were
Eusebio Blasco (1844–1903),
Pedro de Répide (1882–1947),
Emiliano Ramírez Ángel (1883–1928),
Luis Bello (1872–1935), and
Federico Carlos Sainz de Robles (1899–1983). Similarly, 20th century Andalusia saw work by
José Nogales (1860?–1908),
Salvador Rueda (1857–1933),
Arturo Reyes (1864–1913), José Mas y Laglera (1885–1940),
Ángel Cruz Rueda (1888–1961), and
Antonio Alcalá Venceslada (1883–1955). ==
Costumbrismo in the visual arts in Spain==