Blasco Ibáñez, Sorolla y BenlliureRumores de fama, ecos de celebración

Zusammenfassung

This doctoral thesis approaches the structure of an artistic triad, consisting of Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, Joaquín Sorolla and Mariano Benlliure, as a cultural artefact rooted in the context of the turn of the century. Due to their artistic and literary successes abroad, their future careers and their increasing visibility found an important vehicle for dissemination within the press. At the start of the 1900s, the victories of three eminent Valencians were interpreted by the press media as a revitalising trend. A discursive counterpoint that challenged the hallmarks of an endemic decadence. As the creators of an emerging notoriety, they were considered as men that represented Valencian culture and even, with opportune touches, the Spanish culture. The national images they were associated with coexist with others as rivals. In this sense, they are also perceived as a counterargument. This reasoning will assemble their representations as distinguished emblems of the Mediterranean. Descendants of a fertile land, a cradle of the arts, their creative talents interpreted as a natural propensity that is typical of the men of the region. The recognition and honours obtained abroad support a discursive and symbolic appropriation of these achievements that inspires unprecedented eulogistic initiatives. At the present time, there are noticeable signs of transformation of the usual laudatory mechanisms granted by a supreme celebration of triumph. In this sense, the conception of a tribute has been analysed as a process of praise that supports the consolidation of fame and notoriety of such public figures. It is also a context in which cultural artefacts linked to these individuals are socialised. The effects, which feed the representation of the connection between these creators, become a safe passage through which to travel between the public and private spheres of celebrity. The association with the region for this successful artistic triad is related in terms of renovation. A rhetoric found in the combination of traditional and currently contemporary elements, a perspective of progress. Likewise, the ideal of a Spanish Athens guided the action of these men, as representative of the early 20th century. In order to develop this doctoral thesis, the line of research followed falls within the framework of Cultural History. These being understood in their entirety, as an intersection, where contributions from different disciplines and historical paradigms converge.