MANEL CAPDEVILA MASSANA (Barcelona, 1910 - 2006). "Vora... Lot 30

MANEL CAPDEVILA MASSANA (Barcelona, 1910 - 2006). "Vora Mar". Oil on canvas. Signed in the lower right corner. Signed and titled on the back. Measurements: 72 x 92 cm; 86 x 104 cm (frame). Painter and goldsmith, son and father of goldsmiths, Manel Capdevila began his training in 1925, in his father's workshop. At the same time he attended the classes of Francesc d'Assís Galí and Feliu Elias at the Ateneo Polytechnicum. A year later he travels to Paris for the first time, where he comes into contact with the avant-garde. He visited various museums in the city, and was strongly impressed by the Fauvist painting of Vlaminck and Rouault, which definitively revealed his pictorial vocation. On his return to Barcelona he continues to work as a jeweller, combining it with his passion for painting. He joins the FAD (Fomento de las Artes Decorativas) in 1926, becoming an active member. Between 1933 and 1936 he exhibited his first paintings at the Montjuic Salon, and in 1934 he made his individual debut at the Syra gallery in Barcelona. During the Civil War he lived in Paris, where he managed to exhibit his paintings at the Kleiman gallery in 1936 and 1938. He returned to Spain in 1939, and in 1947 he became a founding member of the Salón de Octubre in Barcelona, taking part in all the editions between then and 1957. Between 1949 and 1950 he was also a member of the Lais Group. In 1950 he is invited to the competition "The 1950 Pittsburgh International" at the Carnegie Institute (USA), where he presents the painting "The Priest". A year later the Museum of Modern Art in Panama acquired his work "Chrysanthemums". Since the seventies he has devoted himself exclusively to painting, and continues to make himself known through group and solo exhibitions, held in Barcelona and Madrid as well as in Paris. In 1986 he was awarded the Cross of Sant Jordi, and in 1993 the Generalitat, together with the Sala Parés, dedicated an anthological exhibition of painting and jewellery to him at the Palau Moja. The following year he was elected honorary academician of Sant Jordi, and in 1999 he was awarded the Gold Medal for Artistic Merit by Barcelona City Council. In 2000 the Museum of Montserrat dedicated a tribute exhibition to him, "Manuel Capdevila pintor-orfebre", and in 2006 he presented his latest exhibition, "Transfiguracions", at the Sala Parés. He is currently represented in the Museum of Montserrat, the National Museum of Art of Catalonia, the National Museum of Modern Art of Panama and in important private collections.