Manolete The man. The myth
A century later, Manolete is still alive
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Manuel Rodríguez, "Manolete", the Center for Bullfighting Affairs of the Community of Madrid organized a large exhibition in honor of this revolutionary bullfighter. It was difficult to unravel, in the spring of 2017, Manolete's personality. Almost all the men and women who knew him in life had already died; However, in the Las Ventas collection, a few interviews, many photographs and some videos were preserved that could shed some light on his figure. This was precisely the objective of the exhibition: to meet Manolete the man and the factors that made him a myth.
Who was Manolete?
From his Caliph, Roman and stately Cordoba, occupying the area of the countryside that saw him born, Manuel Rodríguez Sánchez, with a bullfighting and tragic ancestry impregnated in his genes, had reserved a place in the History of Bullfighting with the name of Pepete: his great uncle would die on the antlers of Jokinero, the first Miura of a long tragic legend; and he would do it that afternoon in Linares de 1947 because of another Miura, Islero.
But Manolete was much more. He was a man of his time and, perhaps, he wanted nothing more than to live with his people, mainly, his great loves, that is, his mother and his girlfriend, Angustias Sánchez and Lupe Sino. He made flesh, better than anyone, the impact of an apparition and a disappearance in a Spain that barely awoke after the bloody war, able to move to admire in the ring the figure of a bullfighter whose personality, from Belmonte, had not become Let's see.
The famous American film director Orson Welles acknowledged that, if he had been Spanish, he would have been proud to live in the same century as Manolete. "He had something of a saint and something of Don Quixote, because Don Quixote considered the mills as giants, and Manolete treated the bulls as if they were mills."
That impassion, that chivalry, that elegance of a caliph without a throne, that light that saw the wounded gods, turned him into a myth. Manolete offered every evening, in a stoic way, because his life was written plainly and simply.
Exhibition
During the fair of San Isidro of 2017, the Community of Madrid wanted to pay tribute to Manolete in the centenary of his birth with a large exhibition, held in the Antonio Bienvenida de Las Ventas, which offered a portrait of the right-hand man from Córdoba through photographs , posters, newspapers and personal items.
The opening
"With this great exhibition, we want to approach the man behind the bullfighting idol, the character and the myth that gave the bullfighting party the maximum range of emotion and category" (Ángel Garrido, counselor of the Presidency, Justice and Spokesman) of Government of the Community and president of the Council of Bullfighting Matters).
Show-windows of 1 laying
As a complement to the exhibition in the Antonio Bienvenida Room, the Center for Bullfighting Affairs of the Community of Madrid exhibited, throughout the year 2017, twelve panels with a hundred photographs that collected various moments in the life of “Manolete”, which could be seen in the interior showcases of line 1 of Las Ventas. These showcases were renovated this season, making them aesthetically consistent with the windows of the Antonio Bienvenida Room.
roundtables
Coinciding with the commemorative exhibition of the centenary of the birth of Manuel Rodríguez "Manolete", the Antonio Bienvenida Room was the setting chosen for the celebration of the first of the round tables to discuss in depth the professional career and personality of the Cordovan right-hander. On May 11 under the title "Manolete de primera mano", the bullfighter Manuel Navarro, the rancher Felipe Lafita, the also wild cattle breeder and rejoneador Álvaro Domecq, and the Cordovan journalist Pepe Toscano shared their experiences and anecdotes together to "Manolete" in this first round table moderated by the journalist Paco Aguado.
All of them highlighted from the bullfighter remembered some unknown details of his personality for many fans, such as, for example, that he was a pure, honest, honest and very affectionate man. Even some, such as the Albacete sword Manuel Navarro who fought with "Manolete" in San Sebastian 10 August 1947, days before Linares tragic mishap, stated categorically that the "IV Caliph of Bullfighting was a solemn and brave man inside of the ring and very friendly and fun outside him ", pointing, in addition, that" that day they met bullfighting in the square of San Sebastian 'Manolete' confessed that he wanted to retire at the end of the season. "
On May 18, the second round table of those scheduled to remember the Cordovan right-hander was held. Under the title "Manolete, the man and his time" participated in it the film director Agustín Díaz Llanes, the bullfighters José María Montilla and Agustín Parra "Parrita", the historian Fernando González Viñas and the journalist Paco Aguado who intervened as moderator. All of them spoke about different personality traits of "Manolete" and how his figure influenced a difficult time in the history of our country: the postwar period.
José María Montilla pointed out in his speech about the influence of the right-hander on the set of bullfighters from Cordoba and his nephew, Agustín Parra "Parrita", about the bullfighting education his father, a bullfighter of the same name, received to occupy for some years a prominent place in the ranks of bullfighters.
For his part, the filmmaker Agustín Díaz Llanes, pointed out some direct references he received from his father, the former figure of the banderilleros Agustín Díaz "Michelin", highlighting that the "Manolete" personality was unmatched and that trying to make a film about him it would be impossible ", while Fernando González Viñas analyzed Spanish society at the time of the Cordovan right-hander and how it influenced the lives of his contemporaries.
