Matilde Ras

Matilde Ras Fernández (Tarragona, 1 September 1881–Madrid, 15 April 1969) was one of the pioneers in scientific graphology in Spain. She was a great connoisseur of the classics and a specialist in the analysis of Don Quixote, as well as a translator, columnist, essayist, novelist, playwright, and screenwriter.

Biography Matilde Ras was born in Tarragona in 1881 into a family that was part of the intellectual circles of the time.

Her only brother, Aurelio, was a year younger than her. When Matilde was two years old, the family moved to Cuba, leaving the brother in Spain with a nursemaid. After her father's death in Cuba, Matilde and her mother returned to Spain, where they settled in Tarragona, Barcelona, Zaragoza, and Soria, and finally in Madrid, where Matilde finished her high school studies.

The friendship between Fortún and Ras began in the 1920s when they both collaborated with magazine Blanco y Negro. They kept their romantic relationship private. They were separated when Fortún decided to follow her husband into exile after the end of the Spanish Civil War. Ras remained in Spain. While there, she wrote her Diario, in which she recounted the sufferings of the civil war and her stay in Portugal, a haven of peace while Europe was immersed in World War II.

She returned to Madrid, where she died in 1969.

Graphology From an early age, she became interested in graphology, following the discovery of the book Méthode pratique de graphologie by Jean-Hippolyte Michon. She soon became acquainted with L'écriture et le caractère by Jules Crépieux-Jamin, the father of French graphology, which was later translated and published in 1933. Around 1910, she approached literary magazine Por esos mundos to offer her services as a graphology consultant. After analyzing the handwriting of several members of the editorial staff, they accepted her proposal. In mid-1923, the Board for the Extension of Studies and Scientific Research (JAE) granted her a scholarship. She moved to Paris to further her studies at the Société Technique des Experts en Ecritures (STEE) and later obtained a diploma in forensic graphology. Thanks to her work to spread awareness in the media, she introduced classical French graphology in Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. Her work in graphology, apart from appearing in various specific volumes, was published in numerous collaborations with magazines and newspapers in Madrid, such as: Por esos mundos, Heraldo de Madrid, Blanco y Negro, and Estampa, among others.

In July 2018, the Herstóricas. Historia, Mujeres y Género association and the Autoras de Cómic collective created a cultural and educational project, consisting of a card game, to raise awareness about the historical contribution of women in society and reflect on their absence. One of these cards is dedicated to Ras.

In the play Elena Fortún, produced by the Centro Dramático Nacional in 2020, Matilde Ras appears as a secondary character. She was played by actress Irene Martín Guillén.

Works On graphology Grafología. Estudio del carácter por la escritura (1917) Grafología: las grandes revelaciones de la escritura (1929) Grafología (1933) La inteligencia y la cultura en el grafismo (1945), Editorial Labor El retrato grafológico (1947), Ediciones Plus Ultra Historia de la escritura y grafología (1951), Ediciones Plus Ultra Los artistas escriben (1953), Ediciones Alhambra Lo que sabemos de Grafopatología (1963) Other works Donde se bifurca el sendero (1913) Cuentos de la Guerra (1916), short story anthology Quimerania (1918), short story anthology Charito y sus hermanas (1946) Diario (1946), dedicated to Elena Fortún, written during Ras's exile in Lisbon Heroísmos oscuros (1968) El amo and El taller de Pierrot (1934), theatre plays collected by Cristóbal de Castro for the book Teatro de mujeres. Tres autoras españolas. La hermosa hilandera y los siete pretendientes, children's play adapted by Fortún from a short story by Ras