Manolo was born in Barcelona in 1872, the son of a general who soon abandoned his child to go fight in the
Ten Years' War, He was one of Picasso’s closest friends at the
Bateau Lavoir, together with people like
Guillaume Apollinaire and
Max Jacob. In Paris, Manolo mostly worked on small sculptures and on jewellery to make a living. Some of his jewelry was retailed by A. Arnould. He was married to Jeanne de Rochette, known as Totote, Both Rosita and Totote were drawn in pencil by Picasso in 1954. In 1910, together with
Frank Burty Haviland and
Déodat de Séverac he went to
Céret, soon followed for short or long periods by most of the Cubist artists, including Picasso,
Georges Braque, Max Jacob and
Juan Gris. He installed himself in the cloister bought by Burty Haviland, where Picasso took over the first floor. He was supported by
Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler from 1912 until 1933, and participated in the 1913
Armory Show. Many group and individual exhibitions followed. He was made a member of the
Reial Acadèmia Catalana de Belles Arts de Sant Jordi. In 1932, he had a large solo exhibition at the
Grand Palais in Paris. Manolo died in the spa town of
Caldes de Montbui, on 17 November 1945. After his death, his widow Totote stayed for a while with the Comte and Comtesse de Lazerme, rich art patrons from
Perpignan, and lived otherwise at the Manolo house in Caldes, until her death in 1971. Manolo’s house in Caldes has been turned into the Museu
Thermalia, housing the Manolo Fund, which includes apart from works by and information on Manolo, also about 100 works by Picasso. The personal papers of Manolo Hugué are preserved in the
Biblioteca de Catalunya. ==In popular fiction==