Pilar de Zubiaurre facts for kids

Pilar de Zubiaurre (born in Garai, Basque Country, Spain, in 1884 – died in Mexico City, Mexico, in 1970) was a talented Basque writer, pianist, and art manager. She was also a very smart and active person in her time.

Pilar lived in Mexico for over thirty years. This happened because she had to leave Spain during the Spanish Civil War. She came from a wealthy family. Her father, Valentín María de Zubiaurre, was the leader of the Spanish royal choir. Her brothers, Ramón and Valentín de Zubiaurre [es], were famous painters. Their art was shown in exhibitions all over the world. Pilar was married to Ricardo Gutiérrez Abascal, a well-known art critic. He used the pen name "Juan de la Encina."

Pilar's Life and Cultural Work

Pilar de Zubiaurre was very involved in Spanish culture from the 1910s to the 1930s. A person who studied her work, Iker González-Allende, called her a "woman of the Generation of '98" and a "modern woman." This shows how important she was.

Promoting Arts and Ideas

Pilar helped start a magazine called Hermes: Revista del País Vasco. This magazine was published from 1917 to 1922. In the 1910s, she hosted special gatherings at her brothers' painting studio in Madrid. These events were known as "the Saturdays of the Zubiaurres." Many important thinkers and artists came to these meetings. Some famous guests included Manuel de Falla, José Ortega y Gasset, Diego Rivera, and Juan Ramón Jiménez.

Pilar also managed her two brothers, who were deaf. She helped them sell and promote their paintings. She organized art shows for them around the world.

Supporting Women in Culture

Pilar was also a key person in starting the Lyceum Club Femenino [es]. This was the first cultural group for women in Spain. María de Maeztu was its president. Pilar was the director of the Literature Section of the Lyceum from 1928 to 1932. She arranged public talks by Spanish and international thinkers. At the Lyceum, she became good friends with writers like Ernestina de Champourcín and Concha Méndez. She was also friends with Federico García Lorca, a famous poet. He even wrote a poem called "Tres ciudades" ("Three Cities") for her.

Life During the Spanish Civil War

During the Spanish Civil War, Pilar and her husband supported the democratic Republican Government. They moved to Valencia and stayed at the Casa de la Cultura (The Culture House). Many other writers and thinkers who shared their views were there too.

Pilar left Spain with help from Lázaro Cárdenas, the president of Mexico. He offered her husband and other Spanish thinkers jobs at a cultural center. This center was first called La Casa de España and later El Colegio de México.

On her way to Mexico, Pilar spent nine days in New York. She visited interesting places like the Hispanic Society of America and Columbia University. Zenobia Camprubí and Juan Ramón Jiménez joined her on this trip.

Pilar returned to Spain in 1951. In 1955, she traveled to Spain again with her husband. From 1964, she visited Spain once a year. She passed away in Mexico on June 24, 1970.

Pilar's Writings

Pilar de Zubiaurre wrote many articles for magazines and newspapers. In 1909, she wrote articles about the importance of art. These were published in the Basque newspaper Bizkaitarra. She used the pen name "Hulda de Garay."

Articles from Exile

Between 1944 and 1958, she published 16 articles in the magazine Euzko Deya: La voz de los vascos en México. For these, she used the name "Landabarrenako Damia." This means "The Lady of Landabarrena," which was the name of her family's country home. Her section in Euzko Deya was called "Evocación," meaning "Recalling." In these articles, she wrote about her memories of the Basque Country. She remembered the beautiful scenery, old traditions, and people she had left behind.

Her Diary and Letters

Pilar also kept a diary from 1913 to 1943. In her diary, she wrote about her busy cultural life. She also shared her support for the Spanish Second Republic. She wrote about her political views during the Spanish Civil War. Her diary also shows the sadness she felt during her time in exile. Iker González-Allende collected Pilar's articles and diary in a book. It is called Evocaciones: Artículos y diario (1909–1958).

Pilar wrote many letters throughout her life. Most of these letters are kept at the Archive of the Museum of Fine Arts in Bilbao, Spain. These letters have been published in a book called Epistolario de Pilar de Zubiaurre (1906–1970). This book contains 188 letters she wrote or received. Many were from famous writers and artists. Some of these included Azorín, Gabriel Miró, José de Togores, and Concha Méndez.

These letters show how active Spanish cultural life was in the 1920s and 1930s. Letters written during the Spanish Civil War show how thinkers tried to share their ideas. They worked against the forces of Franco. The letters also show how hard daily life was during the war. Letters from female friends like Zenobia Camprubí and María Martos de Baeza show something special. They show how women in exile kept the memory of the Spanish Second Republic alive. They also built connections between Spain and the Spanish communities living in America.

See also

In Spanish: Pilar de Zubiaurre para niños

• Ricardo Gutiérrez Abascal

Sources

• Iker González-Allende: "Pilar de Zubiaurre: entre el cometa y la sombra". In Non zeuden emakumeak? La mujer vasca en el exilio de 1936. Ed. José Ramón Zabala. Donostia: Saturraran, 2007, pages 409–437.
• Iker González-Allende: "El adiós del exiliado: Las rutas de la memoria en Pilar de Zubiaurre." In El exilio republicano de 1939 y la segunda generación. Ed. Manuel Aznar Soler and José Ramón López García. Sevilla: Renacimiento, 2012, pages 1052–1058.
• Iker González-Allende: “Women’s Exile and Transatlantic Epistolary Ties in the Work of Pilar de Zubiaurre." In Hispania: A Journal devoted to the teaching of Spanish and Portuguese 95.2 (2012), pages 211–26.