Ángel Zárraga

In 1909, Zárraga sent two paintings to the exhibit in Rome: La Alegría del Otoño (which resides today in Mexico City’s Museum of Modern Art), and La Bailarina Desnuda, which was purchased then and there by the Museum of Oran, and is now part of the Blaisten Collection. Italian critic Rodolfo Panichi described the painting as truly notable for the sobriety of the color, its general tone, and the vigor in the modelling. He described it as follows: “A young girl, covered solely by a Spanish veil over her head, moves on a terrace with a hint of a dance, maintaining a hieratic composure, giving the figure a sense of chastity despite the nudity;… she almost gives the impression of an impervious, Byzantine priestly figure. Her clothes and the shawl are placed with harmonious tones on the parapet wall onto an open field; to the right, an old woman half-angry, half-indifferent, waits while seated, nevertheless scrutinizing with a mocking air the effect produced on the spectacle’s public” Panichi also described the execution of the work as “voluntarily punished and cold”. The setting, an open and luminous landscape, with contrasting figures (clothed/ nude, young/old figures) and the ritualistic character they confer on the paintings are a trademark for Zárraga’s work during this period. It is highly probable this work and La Femme et Le Pantin are related.