Dr Kirsty Hooper. University of Liverpool

SPAIN’S WOMEN INTELLECTUALS, 1880-1920

Dr Kirsty Hooper, University of Liverpool

Eulalia de Abaitua Allende-Salazar (Bilbao, 1853 – Bilbao, 1943)

The pioneering Basque photographer Eulalia de Abaitua has come to public attention in recent years, thanks to exhibitions organized by the Museo Arqueológico, Etnográfico e Historia Vasco during the 1990s. Abaitua was the daughter of Luis de Abaitua; on the outbreak of the Carlist Wars in the late 1860s, the family moved from their native Bilbao to Liverpool (UK), where they took a residence in the then well-to-do area of Shaw St in Everton, located on a hill overlooking the city. The wealthy ship-owning De Olano family, also from Bilbao, were living in the same street, and in 1871, Eulalia married Juan Narciso de Olano in Liverpool. During her time in Liverpool, Eulalia took up photography as a hobby, taking lessons and acquiring photographic equipment. On the family’s return to Bilbao in about 1873, she set up a studio in the basement of the family house. Abaitua is remembered especially for her thousands of photographs of Basque traditional and family life.

Bibliography

Books

Senitartea [La familia]: exposición [texto impreso]. Euskal Arkeologia, Etnografia eta Kondaira Museoa = Museo Arqueológico, Etnográfico e Histórico Vasco, 1995. BN
Lehenagokoen begiratuak [Miradas del pasado]: exposición [texto impreso]. Euskal Arkeologia, Etnografia eta Kondaira Museoa = Museo Arqueológico, Etnográfico e Histórico Vasco, 1998. BN

Secondary sources:

“Eulalia Abaitua: la primera fotógrafa vasca.” Bilbaomujeres 2005.1. PDF
Brief biography of Abaitua in English. Nabarralde.com.
“Vistas de hace un siglo. El Museo Vasco muestra las fotografías tomadas en el barrio de Begoña por Eulalia Abaitua en torno a 1900.” El País. 1 June 2005.

Eulalia de Abaitua as a young woman. Source: Bilbaomujeres

Last updated by Kirsty Hooper on Tuesday, 16 June 2009