Portraits of Women in the Works of Joaquín Dicenta

Abstract

The image of women is one of the recurring themes in the work of Joaquín Dicenta. The article examines some female models in chronicles published in The Liberal and in his books De la batalla, Mujeres, and Por Bretaña; the descriptive techniques employed and the images of sensuality in male-female relationships. A sharp observer of the female reality, Dicenta contrasts in his works several models –pure woman, orphan, working woman, bourgeois woman, mother– and her social role. Despite the criticism against bourgeois woman, especially who breaks her role as wife and as a mother, Dicenta proposes love and education as the best social improvement system.