Jesús Unturbe

Segovia, 1895-1983.

He came from a family with an artistic tradition, in which his father, the painter Tirso Unturbe, was his first maestro, and his maternal uncle, Lope Tablada Maeso, a well-known personality in nineteenth-century Segovian artistic circles. He would later transmit this legacy to his daughter Beta.

Jesús Unturbe is considered a self-taught artist, although like all local painters, he did attend the Fine Arts School in Segovia. In his youth he practised both photography and drawing, and his many awards include the medal of honour at the Valladolid Photographic Exhibition in 1929. At the time, he met the most outstanding and innovative personalities of the cultural scene, such as the poet Antonio Machado, of whom he painted a portrait in 1923, when the former was working as a professor at the Segovia Institute.

His interpretations of ambiences and characters inspired in Segovia earned him a place among the top Castilian painters. And it is in this line of interpretation in which his two involvements with the UEE collection fit, “Dos viejos amigos“ (Two Old Friends) in 1958 and En las eras (On the Threshing Floors) in 1961, in which he reproduced two scenes of day-to-day life in the countryside.

Having achieved adulthood, after the civil war, he devoted himself solely to painting, and produced most notably landscapes and still life studies, for which he won prizes such as the gold medal at the Salón de San Sebastián in 1947. This recognition of his painting over the years has somewhat eclipsed his work as a photographer.

Although he never presented his works at a National fine Arts Exhibition, his involvement in many other exhibitions took him to cities such as Barcelona, Madrid, Oviedo, Bilbao, Paris, etc.

1958 Jesús Unturbe Two old friends Offset glued to canvas 61 x 50 cm.	1961 Jesús Unturbe At the threasing floors Oil on canvas 82 x 66 cm.