Biography
He was born in Granada on 10 August 1875. In addition to "Tovar", he also signed with the pseudonym "Don Hermógenes". Tovar was described by Mariano Sánchez de Palacios as «one of the most representative figures of the journalistic Madrid of the first quarter-century». The newspaper La Libertad tagged him as "the most popular cartoonist in Madrid".
Manuel Tovar stated in an interview that he was self-taught, and that one of the artists that most influenced him was Ramón Cilla. Despite of some early collaborations for magazines in Valencia and Barcelona, he soon moved to Madrid. Tovar drew caricature portraits, political satire and costumbrismo, and also worked in oil and watercolour painting, though he was less well known in those techniques. His illustrations were published in periodicals like Madrid Cómico, Gedeón, La Correspondencia de Españan, El Liberal, ABC, El Sol, La Voz, La Esfera, Blanco y Negro, Nuevo Mundo, Mundo Gráfico, Buen Humor, El Imparcial, La Hoja de Parra, Gutiérrez, La Risa, ¡Oiga usted...!, Heraldo de Madrid, España Nueva, La Bandera Federal and Don Quijote, .
He was married to Concepción Rodríguez and had two children, Manuel and Conchita. After his death on 10 April 1935, Tovar was buried in the cemetery of La Almudena.
