Urbici Soler y Manonelles
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Urbici Soler (Urbici José Francisco Soler y Manonelles) (1890-1953) was born in Ferran (Lleida), Spain, and died in Anapra, New Mexico at the foot of Mount Cristo Rey1. Soler is remembered chiefly for a monumental statue of Christ atop Mount Cristo Rey, completed in 1939.
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[edit] Nineteenth Centennial
The statue was inspired by a Papal call for momentos of the nineteenth centennial of Christ. The project was begun at the behest of Father Lourdes Costa, pastor of the Smeltertown parish, which covered both the New Mexico and the Texas sides of the Rio Grande. Costa got funding from the Diocese of El Paso to purchase 200 acres from the New Mexico Public Land Office for Cristo Rey, and to build a cross. Costa first erected a wood cross, then a steel cross built by the efforts of the Smeltertown parish, on Mt. Cristo Rey. Both Soler and Costa were Catalán.
[edit] Soler
Urbici Soler was born on June 21, 1890. He was a student of Pere Carbonell i Huguet. Soler also studied at night at the Casa Lonja in Barcelona, (Spain). In 1913, Soler became a student of Adolph von Hildebrand in Munich. He completed his first monumental sculpture, Princess María de la Paz in 1918, and also studied with Emile Antoine Bourdelle in Paris before returning to Spain, when he was called to South America. Soler's most important collection, The World, is a study of the native peoples of Mexico, Central America, and South America. The Spanish Civil War prevented his return to Spain. In 1937 he was called to work on Cristo Rey, where he stayed with Costa in El Paso.
[edit] Cristo Rey
The statue is 33.5 feet tall on a 9 foot base and is composed of concrete, steel and Cordovan cream limestone which was quarried near Austin, Texas. The blocks were chosen by Soler and winched up the mountain. Soler carved it onsite with an air chisel. The head of the statue is elongated so that the figure appears of natural proportions when viewed from below. The statue is not technically a crucifix, as the palms of Christ face downward in a gesture of blessing. The statue was completed in 1939 and dedicated in 1940. The diocese ran short of money, but Soler completed the front of Cristo Rey with his own funds2.
Soler was twice-married, including a brief marriage in 1940 to Bettie Binkley of Santa Fe, New Mexico. He then moved to New Orleans, California, New York, and South America in 1943, returning to El Paso in 1945 to attempt to finish Cristo Rey. He joined the faculty of what is now called the University of Texas at El Paso (the images are the view from the university campus). He became a US citizen in 1949. Soler built a house at the foot of Cristo Rey in Anapra, New Mexico (now called Sunland Park) and lived there until his death on January 15, 1953. The Texas Historical Commission put a marker at his gravesite in Evergreen Cemetery in El Paso, Texas.
[edit] Some works by Soler
- Cabeza de Estudio (1907)
- Princess María de la Paz (1918)
- The World, 1920s - 1940s, a collection of studies of native peoples
- Charlotte Dahmen Chao (1925)
- Diego Rivera (1931) sandstone
- Abelardo Rodríguez (1932)
- Enrique González Martínez (1934)
- Cristo Rey (1939) limestone
- Tom Lea (1946) bronze
- Fresia (1946) hardwood
- Mater Dolorosa (1950) modernist
[edit] Notes
- Note 1: Celebratory masses on the Feast of Christ the King and a pilgrimage to the top of the mountain are held annually in October. The Stations of the Cross line the trail up the mountainside. By tradition, the mass ends with the shout Long live Christ the King.
- Note 2: p.54 Tom Lea: an Oral History ISBN 0-87404-234-8
- Note 3: After the success of the project, the extinct volcano, Mule Driver's Mountain (Cerro de Muleros) was then renamed Mount Cristo Rey. In 1991, a lightning strike damaged the statue and dislodged several limestone blocks, which were retrieved from down the mountainside.
