Victorio Macho


Victorio Macho was a renowned 20th century Spanish sculptor. He is considered to be one of the greats of modern Spanish sculpture. His style was influenced by art deco. His home and workshop in Toledo was converted into a museum dedicated to his work, the Victorio Macho Museum, after his death. He has been featured on a postage stamp of Spain.

Biography

Victorio Macho was born into a family of modest means in Palencia, Spain in 1887. His parents enrolled him in the school of Fine Arts and Crafts of Santander, where he learned to sculpt. In 1903, at the age of 16 he moved to Madrid continuing his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando. He first became famous with a monument to Galdós. It is a consecrated from his exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, 1921.
He left Spain during the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera and went to live in Hendaye, just over the border in the Basque region of France. He sculpted monuments for Unamuno and Ramón y Cajal. In 1936 he was elected into the Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando. The outcome of the Spanish Civil War pushed him to exile in France, Russia, and finally to America. After living six months in Colombia, he began an extended stay in Lima in Peru, where he married Zoila Barrós Conti. He finally returned to Spain in 1952.
He established his home and workshop in Toledo in central Spain. Since 1967 this same building houses the Victorio Macho museum, created from Zoila's generous donation to the Spanish State. The name of the house is Tarpeian Rock.
From first marriage, he married María Martínez de Romarate, widow of a marquis and sister-Guiomar, platonic love of Antonio Machado.
In 1964 he received the Grand Cross of the Order of Isabel la Católica.
He died in Toledo on July 13, 1966 and his remains were returned to Palencia, the city of his birth. He was buried at the foot of Cristo del Otero.

Works

Portraits