This book offers a wide and varied set of studies that illuminate the singularity of the artist Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo (Granada, 1871 - Venice, 1949). His work, universally known and difficult to classify, includes paintings, sculptures, photographs, inventions and designs for stage structures, costumes and modern lighting systems, restoration, museography and cinema. Divided into three sections, this book offers general and contextualised reflections on the reception and subsequent critical and historiographical fortune of his work, especially in Spain, his links with certain artistic trends of the late 19th century and with Wagnerianism and its stagings; from his revolutionary contributions to the world of theatre to the role played in his production by his family memories of his early life and his later trips to Granada, with the last section devoted to his extraordinary contribution to the world of textiles and fashion. Throughout his life, Fortuny maintained an eclectic modernity that looked to oriental exoticism and the Greco-Roman world - with special attention to the archaic period - but he was an artist of his time even though the creative adventure he undertook, his vocabulary and syntax did not always coincide with those of the historical avant-garde. What the works of Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo achieved, like those of the great creators, is to be timeless because they continue to maintain their aesthetic effectiveness in the 21st century, especially some of his exquisite and simple costume designs, which continue to be worn on catwalks and red carpets; and what some of his lamps also achieve, which today decorate the most modern and sophisticated residences.

Publisher: University of Granada