ISIDRE NONELL I MONTURIOL (Barcelona, 1873 - 1911).... Lot n° 47

ISIDRE NONELL I MONTURIOL (Barcelona, 1873 - 1911). "Male character", 1908. Pencils on paper. Signed and dated in the lower left corner. Measurements: 24 x 31 cm; 52 x 59 cm (frame). At a formal level, this is a good example of Nonell as a draftsman, of his energetic, expressive and free stroke, clearly modern, as well as the color and his treatment of lights and shadows. We see the expressive power of the silhouette of the old man, worked with energetic pencil strokes, tangled and free, highlighted on a background with other characters, building space and volume by itself. Painter and draftsman, Nonell trained with Josep Mirabent, Luis Graner and at the Martínez Altés academy. In 1892 he presented his work at the Sala Parés, and the following year, as part of the Academia Libre group, he took part in a group exhibition headed by Rusiñol. In 1894 he participated in the Second Exhibition of Fine Arts in Barcelona, and published drawings in "La Vanguardia". During these years he was a student at the La Lonja School in Barcelona, and between 1895 and 1896 he coincided with Joaquín Mir, Gosé, Sunyer and Torres-García. In 1895 he took part for the first time in the National Exhibition of Madrid, an exhibition in which he participated several times until 1910. In 1896 he exhibited with the Colla del Safrà at the Third Exhibition of Fine Arts in Barcelona, where he was awarded an honorary mention. In the summer of the same year he moved to Boí (Lleida) together with Ricard Canals and Julio Vallmitjana, where he made numerous drawings on cretinism, then endemic in the area due to inbreeding practices. In autumn, Nonell exhibited these works in the salon of "La Vanguardia", and at the beginning of the following year he published his drawings in "Barcelona Cómica". Shortly after, he showed an oil painting also by Boí at the XIV Exhibition of the Sala Parés. That same year he went to Paris, again with Canals. In April 1897 he took part in the Salon du Champ de Mars in the French capital, and towards the end of the year he took part in the XV Exhibition of Impressionist and Symbolist Painters, also in Paris. At the beginning of 1898 he organized a joint exhibition with Canals at Le Barc de Boutteville. He returns months later and shows his sketches of Paris at Els Quatre Gats, but soon returns to the French capital. There, "La Vie Moderne" had published several of his works, and he exhibits individually in the outstanding gallery of Ambroise Vollard (1899). After rejecting the proposal of the art dealer Durand Ruel to paint "españoladas", he hurriedly returned to Barcelona, apparently for personal reasons. During 1902 and 1903 he exhibited regularly at the Sala Parés and the Ateneo in Barcelona, while sending works to the Parisian salons. He also published drawings in "Papitu", "L'Esquella de la Torratxa", "La Campana de Gràcia", "Quatre Gats", etc. Respected by restless young people, Nonell became the flag of a whole new generation of painters who sought realism and sincerity. Nonell is currently represented in the Reina Sofia Museum, the Thyssen-Bornemisza, the National Art Museum of Catalonia in Barcelona, the MAPFRE Foundation and the Museum of Empordà, among others.