Jos� Moya del Pino: Two Lives of an Artist

José Moya del Pino's life was divided into two completely separate halves; the first one took place in Spain between 1890 and 1925; the second began in 1925 with his trip, without return, to America. This book includes many figures, photographs, illustrations, and details never published before about the life and works of this almost-forgotten artist. Moya del Pino's life was never dull. After at age 11, he received acclaim as a , then convinced to send him around the world on a , copying all of the in the Prado Museum of Madrid to bring them to the new world and promote the great art and culture of his home country. Stranded in California when the king's support faltered as Spain was on the brink of a civil war, he made inroads into the to become a sought-out . His mural in and many of those painted under the tutelage of the under the New Deal are still viewable in post offices throughout California; for some, such as those covering entire buildings for the of 1939, only sketches remain. The artist enjoyed friendships with and other prominent artists, and always lived his life fully and with exuberance. Those who knew the first part of Moya del Pino's life almost completely ignored what happened in the second, to the point that most biographical notes published in Spain end in 1925, as if the painter had disappeared from the universe without a trace. On the other hand, those who shared the second stage of his life, in the San Francisco Bay Area, only knew of his work in Spain that he copied the works of Velázquez and made portraits of Alfonso XIII and the Duke of Alba.