Antonio Barbero Núñez
Artwork: Las Alondras, La Farsa cover, 1927
Antonio Barbero Núñez (1889–1962) was born in Guadalajara and became one of the defining illustrators of Madrid's popular press. He was on staff at ABC and Blanco y Negro, worked as an illustrator and an early film critic, founded the cinema weekly La Pantalla in 1928 and the magazine Ellas, and produced nearly all the covers for La Novela Mundial. The collector record names him as one of La Farsa's principal early illustrators.
His cover for Las Alondras (nº 15, 1927) draws rhythm itself: a chorus line of Parisian midinettes in red, black, and grey-green, knees lifted and heads turned at the same angle. The comedieta lírica by Federico Romero and Guillermo Fernández Shaw, with music by Jacinto Guerrero, premiered at the Teatro Apolo on November 16, 1927.
The works
Read the story: Las Alondras: Antonio Barbero's 1927 Zarzuela Cover for La Farsa