By Alfredo Opisso
Located in Sitges, Barcelona
Spanish Flamenco Dancer Guitarist Scene Pastel Drawing Mid Century Barcelona
Artist: Alfredo Opisso Cardona (1907–1980)
Title: Jota
Medium: Pastel on paper
Date: circa 1965
Signature: Signed lower right
Condition: Very good condition
Frame: Framed
Dimensions (artwork): 46 × 36 cm (18.12 × 14.18 in)
Dimensions (frame): 65 × 55 cm (25.6 × 21.65 in)
DESCRIPTION
Elegant mid-century pastel composition depicting a traditional Spanish dance scene with guitarist and dancer in stylized folkloric costume, executed circa 1965 by Barcelona artist Alfredo Opisso Cardona. The work combines refined draftsmanship with soft chromatic transitions characteristic of the Opisso family’s contribution to twentieth-century Catalan figurative drawing. The balanced interaction between gesture and costume detail creates a lyrical interpretation of Spanish musical culture aligned with the decorative figurative tradition developed in Barcelona during the mid-century period. Its intimate scale and original frame make the piece especially suitable for collectors of Mediterranean figurative drawing and refined European interior compositions.
ARTIST BIO
Alfredo Opisso Cardona (Barcelona, 1907–1980) belonged to the well-known Opisso family of Catalan artists and developed a career centered on figurative drawing, illustration and pastel compositions inspired by everyday life and Spanish cultural themes. His work continues the Barcelona draftsmanship tradition associated with early twentieth-century modern Catalan illustration and refined social scene painting.
ARTISTIC CONTEXT / INSPIRATION
This composition reflects the Barcelona figurative drawing tradition developed around the legacy of Ricard Opisso and the broader Catalan illustration movement connected to early twentieth-century modernisme and noucentisme culture. The theatrical gesture and costume treatment resonate with Spanish dance imagery explored by artists such as Ignacio Zuloaga and Hermenegildo Anglada Camarasa, while the refined pastel handling connects with European salon drawing traditions associated with artists working between illustration, costume studies and decorative figurative composition across the School of Paris environment.
Spanish dancer painting...
Category
1960s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors