‘Realisme(s) a Catalunya (1917-1936). Del Picasso clàssic al Dalí surrealista’

5 July 2019 to 13 October 2019

Exhibition REALISM (S) IN CATALONIA 1017-1936). FROM THE CLASSICAL PICASSO TO SURREALIST DALÍ
Dates : From July 5 to October 13, 2019
Place : Maricel Museum (Carrer de Fonollar s / núm, Sitges)
Price : € 10 (€ 5, reduced). Access to visit the museums of Cau Ferrat and Maricel
Guided tours : Every Tuesday: 15h (in English), 16h (in Spanish) and 17h (in Catalan). Price: € 5

The Maricel Museum is dressed up again to host a first-level exhibition, which shows to what extent the European context of wars marked the Catalan artists and their work. The exhibition Realism in Catalonia (1917-1936), From classical Picasso to surrealist Dalí presents paintings by Picasso and Dalí, along with other pieces by artists such as Joaquim Sunyer, Alfred Sisquella, Josep de Togores, Ángeles Santos or Joan Miró. It is an initiative of the Museums of Sitges, the Museum of Valls and the Museum of La Garrotxa (Olot), promoted through the Network of Art Museums of Catalonia, and is curated by the historian of art Mariona Seguranyes.

The exhibition Realism in Catalonia (1917-1936). From classical Picasso to Surrealist Dalí it is a prospection and analysis of one of the most fascinating and complex moments in contemporary history, the period between the two world wars, from a Catalan perspective. The exhibition narrates the meetings and divergences of Catalan artists between the end of the First World War and the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, shaken by the great social and political transformations of the moment (the Great War, the Russian Revolution, the death of the President of the Commonwealth and promoter of Noucentisme, Enric Prat de la Riba, the Dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, social and labor conflicts ...).

The exhibition shows the return to realism and classicism, which marked the artistic and European context, and reflects how it was manifested in Catalan artists. The exhibition includes how the Catalan artists called the Rappel a l'ordre of Jean Cocteau, as well as the influence of the New German Objectivity, the Italian Novecento or the Magic Realism, baptized by Franz Roh. These are the new realisms(s) of Catalan painting, which go from the outside to the interior with some European referents. Some time of research, melancholy and evasion.

Realism(s) in Catalonia (1917-1936). From Classical Picasso to Surrealist Dalí is structured in four areas: Background of a modern classicism (1905-1914); In search of new figurations (1917-1936); Catalan painters under the influence of Picasso ; and Metaphysics, Surrealism and logicofobisme.

Picasso as a referent
The figure and the work of Picasso as aesthetic reference is one of the central axes of the exhibition. His works of classical and ingressian line coexist with his late-Cubist paintings, some of which produced throughout his stay in the Barcelona of 1917. On the occasion of the exhibition, the correspondence of a series of artists who attended the Malagan artist was analyzed, which helped them offer contacts from the Paris dealers. Francesc Domingo, Pere Pruna, Mariano Andreu, Manuel Humbert, Joan Miró and Salvador Dalí, among others.

From here comes a relationship of aesthetic complicities that allow us to understand to what extent iconic works such as the Picasso's Harlequin will mark the path to painters such as Josep de Togores, Francesc Domingo and in a very precise moment in very different ways. to Joan Miró. All of them at one time or another accepted the guidance of Picasso, by their harlequins, by the Mediterranean women running through the beach and by a universe that was so sweet that it was bad.

Works from different public and private collections
The exhibition includes works and documentation from the Picasso Museum in Barcelona, National Art Museum of Catalonia, Montserrat Museum - Montserrat Abbey, Vilanova i la Geltrú Museum Library, Jaume Morera Museum of Art, Lleida Museum, Art of Sabadell, Abelló Foundation of Mollet del Vallès, Palau de Caldes d'Estrac Foundation, Museum of Valls, Museum of La Garrotxa, Olot, Girona History Museum, Alfolí de la Sal - Museu de l'Escala, also including several private collections.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog with texts by the historians of art Francesc Fontbona, Ricard Mas and the commissioner of the exhibition, Mariona Seguranyes. The edition catalogs about 80 works in addition to containing the reproduction of various letters and documents from the Biblioteca de Catalunya, Museé National Picasso, Barcelona City Historical Archive, Jaume Morera Art Museum, Lleida, City Hall of Girona and private archives, among others.

Realism in Catalonia (1917-1936). From Classical Picasso to Surrealist Dalí is exhibited at the Maricel Museum until October 13th. Later, the exhibition will travel to the Museums of Valls and La Garrotxa (Olot).

Scopes

SCOPE 1: BACKGROUND OF A MODERN CLASSICISM, 1905-1914

The new realism in Catalonia have their references in the first Cubism and the concepts of primitivism and Mediterraneanism of the early twentieth century, which became the defining axes of Noucentisme.

Artists such as Joaquim Torres-García, Aristides Maillol or Joaquim Sunyer marked the return to the roots of the Mediterranean and classical culture. At the same time, the presence of Cubism in Catalonia with the exhibition in the Galeries Dalmau in 1912 is understood as a plastic renovation of that initial Mediterranean classicism.

Thus, Mediterranean esthetics and the formal speculation of Cubism were part of the essence of this renewed classicism.

SCOPE 2: A LA RECERCA DE NOVES FIGURACIONS, 1917-1936

In 1917 there are several events that mark the end of an era: at the international level, advance of World War I and outbreak of the Russian Revolution, as well as of a major crisis of the Spanish government.

In Catalonia, the death of Enric Prat de la Riba is a severe blow as he was the main driver of the Noucentisme cultural program. The social conflicts are aggravated and strikes become widespread- This is also the year of the great French Art Exhibition , from Pablo Picasso's visit twith russian Ballets on the occasion of the premiere of Parade in Barcelona and the publication of the Torres-García manifesto, Art-Evolution. On the other hand, because of the First World War, Barcelona is full of foreign refugee artists, many of which are prominent avant-garde.

All these factors provoke that the idealism of the agave and the Noucentisme swallow vanish from scene, and a series of new creators articulate in new groups, such as The Evolutionists or The courbets, in search of a new reality .

In addition, the works of Feliu Elias want to catch the "pure reality" and reveal the strange and sinister expression of the unrest of the 20th century.

SCOPE 3: CATALAN PAINTERS UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF PICASSO

The work that Pablo Picasso created during his stay in Barcelona in 1917 was between two axes: classicism and late Cubism . Some of these compositions became a lighthouse for a group of painters, including Josep de Togores, Joan Miró and Francesc Domingo.

Picasso chose between his works to donate to the Art Museums of Barcelona, one that is representative of classicism, the Harlequin, which became a symbol of the new path.

The other great scene of realism is Paris, the Montparnasse neighborhood, frequented by a series of Catalan painters. They all visit Picasso, which helps them to make their way. We refer, among others, to Manuel Humbert, Pere Pruna and Francesc Domingo.

Finally, Salvador Dalí visits Picasso with reverence in 1926 and Picasso women and a touch of Freudian transgression emerge in his work.

SCOPE 4: METAPHYSICS, SURREALISM AND LOGICOFOBISME

Giorgio de Chirico and the artists of the Italian magazine Valori Plastici, the creators of metaphysical painting and the disturbing reality, left a clear mark on painters of Catalonia such as Salvador Dalí, the pioneer in receiving this legacy.

Dalí became one of the great promoters of De Chirico's work, along with the Parisian Surrealists, who reinterpreted him to show the inner reality. Àngel Planells and Joan Massanet received the influence of metaphysical painting through Dalí.

In these same years, several painters produce work with the aesthetics of metaphysics, magical realism or fantasy reality, such as Antoni Garcia Lamolla, Ángeles Santos Torroella or Ramon Calsina.

The Logicofobista Exhibition of 1936 is the swan song of a whole generation of artists who work with the new languages of magical realism, metaphysics and surrealism(s). But the Civil War will cruelly break its various trajectories.

The artworks

Joaquim Torres-García (Montevideo, 1874 – 1949)

Composició al·legòrica (La Catalunya grega), 1915

Oli sobre tela

Col·lecció Fundació Palau, Caldes d'Estrac

 

 

Joaquim Sunyer i de Miró (Sitges, 1874–1956)

Retrat de Tototte. Ceret, 1912

Oli sobre tela

MNAC - Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona

 

 

Joaquim Sunyer i de Miró (Sitges, 1874 – 1956)

Elvira amb el gat, 1918

Oli sobre tela

Col·lecció particular

 

 

Jaume Mercadé Queralt (Valls, 1889 – Barcelona, 1967)

Torrent de Farigola, 1923

Oli sobre tela

Museu de Valls

 

 

Josep Berga i Boada (Olot, 1872 – Sant Feliu de Guíxols, 1923)

El cercle, 1918

Oli sobre tela

Museu de Valls. Donació Obra Social “la Caixa”

 

Francesc Vayreda Casabó (Olot, 1888-1929)

Palco d'envelat, 1921

Oli sobre tela

Col·lecció particular. En dipòsit al Museu de la Garrotxa, Olot

 

Joan Miró Ferrà (Barcelona, 1893 - Palma de Mallorca, 1983)

Nu 1, 1917

Llapis sobre paper

Ajuntament de Girona. Fons Maite i Rafael Santos Torroella

 

Joan Miró Ferrà (Barcelona, 1893 - Palma de Mallorca, 1983)

Nu masculí, 1917

Llapis sobre paper

Ajuntament de Girona. Fons Maite i Rafael Santos Torroella

 

Enric Cristòfol Ricart i Nin (Vilanova I la Geltrú, 1893-1960)

Retrat d'un advocat (Antoni Torrents Rosell), 1921

Oli sobre tela

Biblioteca Museu Víctor Balaguer, Vilanova i la Geltrú

 

Joan Serra Melgosa (Lleida, 1899 – Barcelona, 1970)

Autoretrat, 1917

Dedicatòria: «Al amic Cortés»

Oli i aquarel·la sobre cartó

Col·lecció Francesc Fontbona

 

Alfred Sisquella i Oriol (Barcelona, 1900 – Sitges, 1964)

Nen, cap a 1929

Oli sobre tela

MNAC - Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona

 

Ramon de Capmany i de Montaner (Canet de Mar, 1899 – Barcelona, 1992)

Tenista, 1920

Oli sobre tela

Museu de Valls. Fons d’Art de la Generalitat de Catalunya

 

Feliu Elias i Bracons (Barcelona, 1878-1948)

Retrat de Lluís Elias Bracons, cap a 1907

Oli sobre tela

Museu d'Art de Sabadell

 

Feliu Elias i Bracons (Barcelona, 1878-1948)

Fent neteja, 1936

Oli sobre tela

Col·lecció particular

 

Salvador Dalí i Domènech (Figueres, 1904 – 1989)

Estudi per a "Berceuse locale",  1923

Llapis grafit sobre paper

Museu de Montserrat. Abadia de Montserrat

Donació de Josefina Cusí, 2005

 

Salvador Dalí i Domènech (Figueres, 1904 – 1989)

Retrat del pare de l'artista, cap a 1925-1926

Llapis carbó i pastel sobre paper

Museu de Montserrat. Abadia de Montserrat

Donació de Josefina Cusí, 2005

 

Manuel Humbert Esteve (Barcelona, 1890-1975)

Els tres amics, cap a 1920

Oli sobre tela

Col·lecció particular

 

Manuel Humbert Esteve (Barcelona, 1890-1975)

Sònia, 1924

Oli sobre tela

Col·lecció particular

 

Josep de Togores i Llach (Cerdanyola del Vallès, 1893 – Barcelona, 1970)

Retrat de les senyoretes Godon. París, 1921

Oli sobre tela

Col·lecció particular

 

Josep de Togores i Llach (Cerdanyola del Vallès, 1893 – Barcelona, 1970)

Nu aux bras levés (Nu amb els braços aixecats). París, 1920

Oli sobre tela

Col·lecció Casacuberta Marsans

 

Josep de Togores i Llach (Cerdanyola del Vallès, 1893 – Barcelona, 1970)

Tors de dona. París, 1923

Oli sobre tela

MNAC - Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona

 

Francesc Domingo Segura (Barcelona, 1893 – Sao Paulo, Brasil, 1974)

Retrat de Jean Cocteau. París, 1928

Dedicatòria: «A Jean / Souvenir / Francesc Domingo / 1928»

Llapis sobre paper

Col·lecció Ramon Córdoba

 

Francesc Domingo Segura (Barcelona, 1893 – Sao Paulo, Brasil, 1974)

Retrat de Rosita Termes. Caldes de Montbui, 1928

Oli sobre tela

Col·lecció particular

 

Apel·les Fenosa i Florensa (Barcelona, 1899 – París, 1988)

Cap femení, cap a 1925

Terracota

Museu de Maricel, Sitges. Col·lecció Dr. Jesús Pérez-Rosales

 

Pere Pruna i Ocerans (Barcelona, 1904 – 1977)

Henriette Schacher Lefèvre, 1924

Oli sobre tela

Col·lecció particular

 

Pere Pruna i Ocerans (Barcelona, 1904 – 1977)

Amistat, 1923

Tinta i guaix sobre paper

Museu Abelló, Mollet del Vallès

 

Remedios Varo Uranga (Anglès, Girona, 1913 – Ciutat de Mèxic, 1963)

Circo,  1935

Tinta i aquarel·la sobre paper

Ajuntament de Girona. Fons Maite i Rafael Santos Torroella

 

Ángeles Santos Torroella (Portbou, 1911 – Madrid, 2013)

Retrat de Rosa Soler Torroella. Portbou, cap a 1928

Oli sobre tela

Col·lecció particular

 

Antoni Garcia Lamolla (Martorell, 1910 – Dreux, França, 1981)

L'espectre de les tres gràcies dins l'aura súbtil, 1935-1936

Oli sobre cartó

Museu d'Art Jaume Morera, Lleida

 

Joan Massanet i Juli (L’Armentera, Girona, 1899 – L’Escala, 1969)

Llunyania. Golf de Roses, clau de volta de la Costa Brava, no datat

Oli sobre tela

Alfolí de la Sal – Museu de l’Escala. Ajuntament de l'Escala

 

Leandre Cristòfol i Peralba (Os de Balaguer, Lleida, 1908 – Lleida, 1998)

Nit de lluna, 1935

Fusta de filar i ou de sargir sobre fusta i en una vitrina

Museu d'Art Jaume Morera, Lleida

 

Enric Cristòfol Ricart i Nin (Vilanova I la Geltrú, 1893-1960)

Porxo, 1918

Oli sobre tela

Biblioteca Museu Víctor Balaguer, Vilanova i la Geltrú

 

Alfred Sisquella i Oriol (Barcelona, 1900 – Sitges, 1964)

El nàufrag, 1918

Oli sobre cartó

Col·lecció particular

 

Francesc Domingo Segura (Barcelona, 1893 – Sao Paulo, Brasil, 1974)

Els jugadors, 1920

Oli sobre tela

MNAC - Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona

 

Feliu Elias i Bracons (Barcelona, 1878-1948)

La galeria, 1928

Oli sobre taula

MNAC - Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona

 

Pablo Ruiz Picasso (Màlaga, 1881 – Mougins, França, 1973)

Arlequí. Barcelona, juny-juliol de 1917

Oli sobre tela

Museu Picasso, Barcelona

Donació de l’artista als Museus d’Art de Barcelona, 1919

 

Pablo Ruiz Picasso (Màlaga, 1881 – Mougins, França, 1973)

Domènec Carles, 1919

Dedicatòria posterior: «A Carles / Picasso / 1921»

Llapis grafit sobre paper

Museu Picasso, Barcelona

Donació de Domènec Carles, 1961

 

Manuel Humbert Esteve (Barcelona, 1890-1975)

Un racó de París. París, 1922

Oli sobre tela

MNAC - Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona

 

Josep M. de Togores i Llach (Cerdanyola del Vallès, 1893 – Barcelona, 1970)

Les joueurs de billard (Els jugadors de billar). París, 1920

Oli sobre tela

Col·lecció Casacuberta Marsans

 

Francesc Domingo Segura (Barcelona, 1893 – Sao Paulo, Brasil, 1974)

Jove amb guants. Kemper, França, 1926

Oli sobre tela

Col·lecció particular

 

Pere Pruna i Ocerans (Barcelona, 1904 – 1977)

Retrat de Jean Cocteau, 1926

Oli sobre tela

Col·lecció particular

 

Mariano Andreu (Barcelona, 1888 – Biarritz, França, 1976)

Tres figures, 1923

Tècnica mixta sobre taula

Col·lecció particular

 

Salvador Dalí i Domènech (Figueres, 1904 – 1989)

Estudi per a "Figures ajagudes a la sorra", 1926

Llapis grafit i tinta sobre paper

Museu de Montserrat. Abadia de Montserrat

Donació de Josefina Cusí, 2005

 

Salvador Dalí i Domènech (Figueres, 1904 – 1989)

La mà tallada, cap a 1927

Tinta xinesa sobre paper

Col·lecció particular

 

Àngel Planells i Cruanyes (Cadaqués, 1901 – Blanes, 1989)

Crim perfecte, cap a 1929

Oli sobre taula

Col·lecció particular

 

Ramon Calsina Baró (Barcelona, 1901-1992)

Tragèdia, 1929

Llapis Paris, acolorit sobre paper

Museu Abelló, Mollet del Vallès

 

Artur Carbonell i Carbonell (Sitges, 1906 – 1973)

Natura morta amb fruites, 1934

Oli sobre tela

Museu de Maricel, Sitges. Fons Maricel