The costumbrismo It is an artistic trend that is characterized by showing the customs, folklore and customs of specific countries or regions. This trend was reflected in all types of art, from painting to theater, although it was in literature and newspaper articles where it gained greater importance..
Although the theme of manners goes back almost to the origin of art, it is considered that this movement was born in Spain at the beginning of the 19th century. The immediate antecedent was Romanticism, a movement that the costumbristas left behind by representing reality in a more objective way..
The historical context in Europe was that of the changes produced by the Industrial Revolution and by the French Revolution. Meanwhile, Latin America was immersed in the struggles for independence or in the first years as independent republics..
The costumbristas tried to record the reality of their countries. In this sense, they paid special attention to rural life at a time when migration to the cities was being very important. However, their attempt to show their own customs and their desire to maintain them was not exempt from criticism when they considered it necessary..
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The pictorial or literary representation of the customs of the population is, practically, inherent to art. Thus, many works from the Middle Ages or even Ancient Greece contain traditional elements. Another clear antecedent is the Spanish picaresque novel, which reflected part of the social reality of the time.
However, it is considered that this artistic movement began at the beginning of the 19th century, in a context of social, political and economic changes..
Costumbrismo as an artistic current appeared in response to classicism and Romanticism. Although they collected some elements of the latter, the manners moved away from the subjective and opted for simplicity.
The costumbrista movement grew in a period of social and political changes, without neglecting the consequences of the Industrial Revolution..
On the other hand, Latin America was experiencing a stage of construction of new nations that emerged in the Spanish dominions..
The rise of journalism also played an important role in the costumbristas. Newspapers allowed everyone to read stories and stories.
Painting was one of the first genres in which examples of manners are found. Thus, in the Netherlands and in the rest of Central Europe, painters abandoned realism to offer more colorful scenes. Francisco de Goya in the most important precedent of this pictorial trend in Spain.
Despite the antecedents described, most experts maintain that customs was born in Spain during the 1820s. Its main exponent was Mariano José de Larra, who wrote numerous articles on customs..
That Spanish origin is discussed precisely by Larra himself. For this writer, modern literary manners had appeared in England at the end of the 18th century. The author pointed to The Spectator magazine, edited by Richard and Addison Steele, as the first example of this movement..
Another aspect that contributed to the appearance and expansion of costumbrismo was the increasing possibility of traveling. Romantic writers traveled the continent and began to describe what they saw in their stories, although focusing on the topics of each place.
As has been pointed out, costumbrismo appeared in Latin America in the process of formation of the independent republics of Spain. This caused that a good part of the artistic production represented the nationalism and regionalism of the educated Creoles..
In the field of literature, Latin American manners reflected the transition from the colonial situation to independence.
Costumbrismo was an artistic trend that was applied to all kinds of art, from painting to literature. Although its beginning has been established at the beginning of the XIX century, its characteristics and its theme appeared in many previous works..
Faced with the idealization of Romanticism, the manners tried to reflect the reality of society. In addition, at a time when travel stories were frequent, manners set out to provide a more authentic vision than that reported by those foreign travelers..
This attempt to get closer to reality meant that customary authors criticized the negative aspects of the societies they described. For this they used a satirical style that, in addition to making the reading more entertaining, served to reflect the social practices that they considered negative.
This criticism contained in the works, especially in literature, has caused some experts to affirm that manners had some characteristics of political literature.
In a changing social and political context, the costumbristas tried to leave testimony of the traditions and use of each region. His final intention was to preserve those customs so that they did not disappear completely..
In the case of Latin America, the costumbristas also intended that the societies that emerged from the independence processes had knowledge of the colonial culture and could maintain the positive part.
The language used by the costumbristas was quite simple and, at times, colloquial. In addition, they used to use humor and mockery as tools to facilitate reading..
On the other hand, in its literary aspect it was characterized by the presence of an omniscient narrator, almost always under a pseudonym or a false name. Thus, the writers made the reader feel identified.
Works of this type used to begin with the telling of an anecdote, whether it was real or invented. Finally, the authors ended their work with a moral or moral lesson.
Literature was possibly the genre most used by manners. Experts affirm that this trend began at the beginning of the 19th century, although there were already works that shared many of its characteristics before..
Newspaper articles gained great importance within literary manners at the beginning of the 19th century. At that time the so-called articles of customs were born, in which they tried to reflect social reality.
These articles, also called pictures of customs, were short stories in which the customs, habits or representative uses of society were described. Some of them only had a playful purpose, while others sought to leave a moral message.
The novels of manners were also very numerous throughout the nineteenth century. Some of the most relevant authors were Juan Valera (Pepita Jimenez), Fernán Caballero ( Seagull) or part of the production of Benito Pérez Galdós.
Along with this type of literary work appeared a subgenre that was very successful with the public: the usual comedy. In this case, humor and irony were used to describe the daily life of some social sector, especially the bourgeoisie..
The manners literature was dedicated to describing in detail the activities and daily life of the place and the historical moment. It was not about making metaphors or making the reader think with ambiguous or elusive meanings, but rather offering a concrete, direct, entertaining and easy reading that could be understood by all.
Journalism gained strength at this time with the emergence of the periodic press that allowed access to information to the people.
The theater also became relevant at this time, but it was a very different theater from the one that already existed, both in its content and in the audience it was aimed at. It could be said that manners allowed a democratization of these arts.
Latin American folkloric literature was divided into two major trends: anti-Christianity and Creoleism..
As in Spain, customs paintings were one of the most widely used genres. These articles achieved great popularity and diffusion. In general, they were very local, both in the topics covered and in the language used to write them..
Costumbrista painting, also known as genre painting, shares its main theme with literature. Thus, artists reflect typical scenes of their society and culture in their works..
In this case, the theme is imposed on aspects such as composition and style when framing the work within manners..
The representation of everyday scenes through painting comes from the same prehistory. Likewise, they were also frequent in cultures such as Egyptian, Greek or Roman.
However, during the Middle Ages pictorial art focused on religion, with which costumbrist scenes were relegated. Only in some genres, such as agricultural calendars, were these representations maintained.
For a long time, costumbrista painting was considered a minor genre. This began to change in the 17th century, during the Baroque. Authors such as Caravaggio or Velázquez began to reflect traditional scenes, which gave greater importance to this theme.
In the Netherlands, with painters such as Pieter de Hooch or Vermeer, costumbrismo had an even more relevant role, since the religion of that area was very iconoclastic.
Spanish manners painting during Romanticism was divided into two great schools. The first, the Andalusian, with representatives such as Bécquer or Manuel Cabral, which was characterized by representing scenes that seemed to be taken from the stories of foreign travelers.
The second group followed Goya's inspiration, with fewer outside influences. According to experts, the work of this group was related to the traditional journalism that was then developed in Madrid.
The theater was, along with journalism, one of the genres that best took advantage of the popularization of traditional works. Some of the most important authors were Larra, Zorrilla or Patricio de la Escosura.
The most important characteristic of the costumbrista theater was that it was intended for a remote audience at the beginning of the cult works. Modalities such as theater by hours or zarzuela, in Spain, became very popular genres among all social classes.
As in the rest of traditional art, the central theme of these works was the reality of each region. The capital of Spain, for example, was the scene of works such as The verbena de la Paloma, while The farmhouse was based on the culture of the Basque Country.
Later, in the 20th century, authors such as the Quinteros brothers or the Machado brothers continued to write works with a marked manners character..
Experts consider that, in the field of customs paintings, the most prominent Spanish authors were Serafín Estébanez Calderón, Ramón de Mesoneros Romanos and Mariano José de Larra. These three are called major costumbristas.
After these names, appear those considered minor costumbristas, that is, all those authors who wrote their articles within this current.
Mariano José de Larra from Madrid started in literature for political reasons, as he sought to defend his liberal ideology. In the newspapers, Larra hid under the pseudonym Figaro in order to avoid political reprisals.
Larra's style was very critical, with large doses of satire. For the author, who had lived in France, Spain was far behind Europe, something that was reflected in his work.
Among his best-known articles they highlighted “Marry soon and badly","The old Castilian", In which he criticized the traditionalists, and"Come back tomorrow”, A critique of the functioning of the public administration.
Born in Bogotá, Colombia, in 1800, Groot is one of the most important representatives of costumbrismo in his country.
His work is divided between his newspaper articles, his stories and his poems and essays. He stood out for his Catholic beliefs and for his defense of religion.
Mesoneros was one of the great representatives of the costumbrista school in Spain. In his work, written in a fairly simple and entertaining style, he tried to reflect what life was like in Madrid at the time.
The first pictures of customs published by Roman Innkeepers were My lost moments Y Light forest of Madrid. In them, as in the rest of his production, one can guess the effect that the liberal atmosphere of the period called the Liberal Triennium had on the author..
His collaboration with the Spanish newspapers was very fruitful. In 1836 he founded his own publication, Semanario Pintoresco Español. It was in this that he published most of his traditional articles, which would later be collected in compilation books such as Matritenses scenes or Types and characters.
Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi, known as the Mexican Thinker, is considered the first American novelist for having published his work in 1816 The Sarniento periquillo.
The author was born in what was then New Spain and was a witness and chronicler of the struggle for independence that would conclude with the creation of independent Mexico..
His work was characterized by the accurate description of the customs of New Spain in that period of change. With a certain moralizing desire, Fernández de Lizardi used different modes of language depending on the social class, origin or profession of each character. Likewise, it stood out for reflecting the folklore and legends of the time.
One of his most important contributions was made in 1812, when he founded the most prominent publication of the period of the struggle for independence: the Mexican Thinker. In this newspaper, he denounced the unjust policies of the viceroyalty.
Costumbrismo in Peru had an eminently literary character. Among the most prominent authors is Manuel Ascencio Segura, known as the father of Peruvian theater.
His characters reflect the way of life of the Creoles and the popular classes. The author's popularity stems in large part from his mocking and picaresque style. With this way of writing, Ascencio tried to point out the habits that he considered negative.
One of the first costumbrist authors in Colombia was Juan Rodríguez Freyle, author of the work The RAM. Along with this writer, José Manuel Groot, José Manuel Marroquín and Jorge Isaac also stood out..
This artistic trend appeared in Colombia in the 30s of the 19th century. The authors were, for the most part, landowners who had received an advanced education. According to experts, these were not literary professionals, but occasional writers.
In this way, they took advantage of their free time to write chronicles, novels and articles in which they collected their observations on society in the rural world..
The rural world was the protagonist of the pictures of customs published in Colombia. In them, the authors reflected everyday scenes from the life of the peasants. After independence, the countryside was beginning to lose importance in front of the cities and these costumbristas tried to record the habits that were being lost.
At a time when the country was shaping itself as an independent republic, the costumbristas endowed the peasants with great patriotic enthusiasm. On the other hand, these stories had a great moralizing charge, to which was added the intention of promoting nationalist sentiment.
Costumbrismo developed in Mexico at the same time as in Spain. Despite agreeing on some of its characteristics, the Mexican authors contributed some features of their own, such as a sense of humor and the representation of peculiar characters.
Although Romanticism was part of the influences of Mexican manners, the most important factor in its theme was to establish the national identity.
This current appeared in the country in a very intense period: Spain, the colonial power, had been invaded by the French and the first important independence movements were beginning to appear..
In this context, authors such as Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi portrayed the society of the time. His paintings of customs reflected the picaresque so that the reader could draw his own conclusions about the wrong and the right.
In addition to this pedagogical factor, Fernández de Lizardi did not hesitate to criticize all the aspects that he considered improvable in the society of the time.
As in Spain or in the rest of the American continent, the press played a fundamental role in the dissemination of manners. As indicated, a good part of the customs tables sought to establish national identity, both during the war of independence and in the first years as an independent nation..
The newspapers opened their pages to numerous national authors. One of the consequences was that the identification of the Creoles with independent Mexico was reinforced.
Although Mexican folkloric literature was very important, another type of artistic representation emerged in this country that achieved great relevance when it came to showing society: mural painting..
Artists used their murals to promote Mexican culture and values. Starting in the 19th century, with the Mexican Revolution, they incorporated a recovery of indigenous culture into their theme..
According to many scholars, the first writer to use the term costumbrismo was Roman Innkeepers. Its definition, included in the prologue of his work Matritense panorama: table of customs of the capital observed and described by a curious speaker (1835), was the following: "philosophical or festive and satirical painting of popular customs".
The appearance and success of this current in Spain was a response to the ideas of the Enlightenment and the so-called Frenchified, a group of intellectuals who supported that philosophy. Many costumbristas reacted with writings that sought to recover traditional values.
The gatherings between the intellectuals were quite frequent in the Madrid of the time. It would be in them where the traditional authors stood out, especially Mesoneros Romanos, Mariano José de Larra and the Andalusian Serafín Estébanez Calderón.
The editors realized the potential that these authors had and began to publish their traditional articles. Over time, compilations of the best articles by the most relevant writers were also published.
Other genres in which costumbrismo was firmly established were painting, with the Goyesque and Andalusian schools, and theater..
In this last field, the costumbristas evolved the entremés, a type of theatrical representation, to develop the so-called theater by hours. Later, the typical Spanish zarzuela was one of the most used genres to reflect the traditions and festivals of each region..
As in the rest of Latin America, manners came to Peru from Spain. Experts affirm that this artistic trend was born during the first stage of the Peruvian republic, in a particularly turbulent period.
One of the aspects that manners writers reflected was the discontent of the middle class, then on the rise, and the upper class, which was in decline..
Many scholars distinguish Peruvian literary manners from that manifested in the rest of Latin America. The main difference, according to this thesis, is that its development in Peru had nothing to do with the romantic movement, something that did happen in other countries of the continent..
On the other hand, manners in Peru shared most of its theme with that of other countries. Thus, one of the aspects that the authors sought was to build a national identity after independence. The Creoles identified with this new national reality, confronting the escutcheons.
Despite the above, there was also a sector of authors who positioned themselves against the Creoles and in favor of colonialism. The main exponent of this current was Felipe Pardo y Aliaga, whose main work was Fruits of education (1829). In front of these authors were the criollistas, with Manuel Ascencio Segura as the most important member.
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