Presentation on Pilar Montaner at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando de Madrid

• March 21, 6.30pm
• Sala Guitarte. Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando de Madrid
• Free entry activity and open to the public

The Mallorcan artist Pilar Montaner Maturana will be the subject of a presentation and analysis of her life and work at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando de Madrid.

During an open session by the director of Es Baluard, Nekane Aramburu and the granddaughter of the artist, Elvira Sureda, we will approach this little-known figure of art and culture, leading to a debate in which Mª José Magaña will also participate, president of MAV, Women in the Visual Arts. The session will be introduced by Jordi Teixidor, an academic from the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando de Madrid.

The Museu Es Baluard has in his permanent collection works by Montaner, such as Esperant els nuvis (c.1910) and La española (1920).

Pilar Montaner (Palma de Mallorca, 1876 – Valldemossa, 1961) was a woman advanced in her time linked to the intellectual bourgeoisie, fact that allowed her to do an independent work and interact with intellectuals of the time residents or visitors of Mallorca as Rubén Dario and Miguel de Unamuno Born into a noble and wealthy family, her father sent her to the boarding school of Our Lady of Loreto in Madrid, where she received her first lessons in drawing and painting. Back in Mallorca, Pilar married in 1896 with Juan Sureda Bimet, a young lawyer and intellectual who would end up becoming one of the most generous patrons of the country. He supported his wife in the artistic career and hired the services of two well-known painters in Mallorca: Antonio Ribas Oliver and Ricardo Anckerman. From that period are paintings such as Madò Calafata portrait (1899) and the Tramuntana landscape (1899). He would continue his training between 1901 and 1904 with Joaquín Sorolla in Madrid, where he studied with the Valencian teacher.

In 1906, Montaner had a long stay in Madrid accompanied by his friend, the painter Antoni Gelabert, in order to expand his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts, visit museums and participate in the Fine Arts Exhibition.

As of 1915, the painting of Pilar Montaner would give a new turn. At this stage (1913-1922) belongs the series of large oil paintings with Mallorcan olive trees as the central theme. Pilar Montaner held numerous exhibitions throughout her life, and received awards and recognition, but only occasionally decided to sell her paintings.

In 2012, the filmmaker Luis Ortas recollected the life of the artist in the documentary “The painter without face” (Cinètica).