Gustavo Bacarisas

Who is Gustavo Bacarisas?

Gustavo Charles Bacarisas was born in Gibraltar on 23 September 1872 to Gabriel Bacarisas and Adela Podesta. Recognised early for his talent, he was granted a scholarship in 1892 to study art in Rome at the Academia Espanola de Bellas Artes at San Pietro in Montorio. He developed a richly coloured, figurative Impressionist style, depicting landscapes and scenes rooted in Gibraltar's Mediterranean setting and its historic ties to Andalusia. He travelled to Buenos Aires in 1910, was appointed professor at the city's Academia de Bellas Artes after a successful 1911 exhibition, and later exhibited in New York and Philadelphia. He eventually settled in Seville, participating in the Certamen Nacional de Bellas Artes in Madrid in 1915, and married the Swedish artist and designer Elsa Jernas. He received a gold medal and honorary professorship from the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de Santa Isabel de Hungria and became a member of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. On 15 June 1961 he was named Gibraltar's first-ever Honorary Freeman. He died in Seville on 7 January 1971, aged ninety-eight.

Sources: Ministry for Heritage, Gibraltar, "Gustavo Bacarisas: A Distinguished Gibraltarian Artist" (culture.gi) · Wikipedia, "Gustavo Bacarisas" · David Barnett Gallery, artist profile "Gustavo Bacarisas"