Zuloaga

In the middle of the yellow arena, with a blue arch of sky above, dressed in black and scarlet, stood a slim ama- teur matador. The bull charged. That matador took a single deliberate step aside. The bull hammered past. Into his path again stepped the matador. He danced, he mocked, he swung his scarlet cloak. But this bull was a thief, as they say; he "knew Latin." Drumming hoofs, a broken shout, a thud. "Maria. He is dead!" gasped the onlookers. So ended the last bullfight of Ignacio Zuloaga*, famed Spanish painter.

But he was not dead; and when that bull--his 18th--gored him, he left the sport, which was his casual pastime, to devote himself to painting, which was his vocation. Last week, he set foot in the U. S. bringing with him 45 can vases which he is to exhibit in this country.

America's first view of him--hitherto his fear of seasickness kept him in Europe--was of a hearty man, with great gusto and joy of life, keen enough to dodge political questions about Ibanez, "I don't paint that kind of a portrait" King Alfonso, Primo Rivera. No, indeed; he would talk about the popularity of Belmonte, Spain's great bull fighter now in Peru and coming soon to the U. S., Belmonte whom he has painted three times. He would say tactful things about U. S. art, such as: "Your artists have more talent than you think." Again, he exhibited a shrewd appreciation of the international Babbittry--although he does not know the word--saying :

"I may do a few portraits. That is, when I find those who know that a portrait is a painting. Sometimes it is hard to make them understand. They think there must be the kind of a mouth they have, or that the eyes must be exactly of such and such an expression. Then the whole family must get together and be glad about it. I don't paint that kind of a portrait."

Having successfully matched his wits against the gentry of the press, in their own tongue, he slipped away into the artistic group which was awaiting him, less appreciative perhaps of the deliberate moving, mellow-voiced, robust man than of the greatness of his works.

Like Goya, he is an artist close to the bull ring. He loves lean people whom adventure has brightened and blooded, who wear a jewel in their eyes. Gypsies from the hills, Gitano dancers, wild wandering singers, toreadors. These are his friends, But Zuloaga's conception of his art is less dramatic in spirit, less passionate and more pictorial. Much of his work is portraiture but of a type that, allowing for differences of technique, is more like that of Velasquez than of Goya in vividness. The U. S., during the ensuing weeks, will have the opportunity of analyzing the Zuloaga genius in detail.

*Pronounced Ig-nah-thi-o Thoo-low-ah-ga.