19th-20th Century Spanish

Born on 1 June 1881 in Valladolid, the city in whose School of Fine Arts he began his art training and where he met the painter Aurelio Arteta (1879-1940), who would be one of his most loyal friends throughout his life.

In 1901 the incipient artist moved to Madrid to study at the San Fernando School of Fine Arts, which he alternated with lessons at the Círculo de Bellas Artes. In 1903 he was awarded a scholarship by Diputación de Valladolid to study in Rome and Paris. In the French capital he perfected his technique and was greatly influenced by Hermen Anglada Camarasa (1871-1959) and his depictions of scenes of everyday life in Paris.

He returned to Spain in 1905, settling in Madrid, where he began his career as a portrait painter specializing in women, whom he charged with an air of sensuousness and symbolism. One year later he won a Third Medal at the for his piece Salida de un music-hall en París.

Nieto’s prestige was further consolidated when he won the First Medal at the 6th International Exhibition of Barcelona in 1910 for his portrait La dama de la rosa, a seminal piece in his career. He became friends with the author Ramón del Valle-Inclán and the painter Ricardo Baroja (1871-1953), and was a regular at the celebrated gatherings held at Nuevo Café de Levante. In that period, he took part in several competitions abroad, winning a Gold Medal in the international exhibitions of Buenos Aires (1910) and Munich (1913).

In 1922 in the company of Julio Romero de Torres (1874-1930) he travelled to Argentina, where all the shows they held met with an excellent response. He returned to Madrid the following year, and in 1937 he travelled again to Argentina and from there to Chile, remaining ten years in America where he had a very successful career. He returned to Spain in 1947 and settled definitively in Madrid.

In 1952 he was appointed a member of the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts, although he never occupied his seat. During his final period his work did not find a place in the new art scene, and he gradually abandoned his practice. Anselmo Miguel Nieto died in Madrid on 4 November 1964.