Celso Lagar

"Les Musiciens", 20th Century Oil on Canvas by Spanish Artist Celso Lagar

1928

EMILIO GRAU SALA Spanish, 1911 - 1975 INTERIEUR AUX FLEURS JAUNES signed "Grau Sala" (lower left) signed again, located, dated and titled "Grau Sala, Paris 61, Interieur aux fleurs jaunes" (on the reverse) oil on canvas 15 x 18-1/4 inches (38 x 46 cm.) framed: 23-1/2 x 26-1/2 (59.5 x 67 cm.) PROVENANCE Private Parisian Collection Interieur aux fleurs jaunes This interior with two female figures where also the plans made in different colors are drawing the composition. The abundant pictorial material distributed in geometric portions, gives life to the tablecloth and mother and daughter figures, in black and white colors of the jacket, while the black line takes care of the environments so as not to separate them. The fruit bowl and flowers give a cheerful touch with their pastel tones. Emilio Grau Sala came from a family of artists. He was born in Barcelona in 1911 and his father, a good cartoonist, had been one of the promoters of the "Salon des Humanistes" and made his exhibitions normally in "Sala Parés", Barcelona. His first works were exhibited at the Salon des Independents. In the years 1930-33 he had painted under the influence of Cubism, especially that of Torres García. It is from that time a painting of the port of Barcelona, ​​geometric and structural, which completely anticipated what would later be his work. His personality began fully painting watercolors and oils with a certain fantasy character, with a point of decorative instinct and themes full of naivety and grace. Romantic interiors, paddocks, port scenes, sailors, etc. Grau Sala was essentially a Mediterranean painter, son of post-impressionism and enriched with French painting of the last fifty years. Mediterranean because his work has the color and light of that land. He understood and assimilated impressionist painting very well, and for that reason he was never subject to the modules of a formulist realism, nor the sexigencias of the forms. In Paris he found the best environment to give us a fruitful and intense work, because he could use the expressive potential of French art to enrich it. All this made him a very esteemed artist everywhere where his work was known. He was also very often required to illustrate books and publications in Paris. Also his posters were very successful. He painted a large number of subjects, but perhaps the theme of horse racing is where you can see in a very clear way the joyful and optimistic life that was lived at that time. In this fabric there is an explosion of juicy and vivid colors full of ingenuity and simplicity in its composition. Only a teacher could turn the complicated into something simple and beautiful. Before this work we feel a deep emotion, the emotion of before starting a horse race. Joy and nervousness at the same time. Especially since it is a direct emotion. There are no intermediaries between our eyes and what the work intends to tell us. This is precisely what seduces and catches us of this painting. His works can be found in the Museums of the Villa de Paris, L'Ile de France Museum, at the Château de Sceaux, Honfleur Museum, La Rochelle Museum, Barcelona Museum...

SALVADOR SÁNCHEZ BARBUDO Spanish, 1857 - 1917 THE CARDINAL'S VISIT signed, located and dated "Barbudo / ROMA 1902" (lower right) oil on canvas 22 x 33-2/3 inches (55.5 x 85.5 cm.) framed: 36-1/2 x 48-1/4 inches (92.5 x 122.5 cm.) PROVENANCE Private Collection, Munich LITERATURE Visita con el cardenal combines the two most salient characteristics of Sánchez-Barbudo's work: the search for novelty of theme and narrative content, and the use of minutely detailed brushwork and luminosity. Sánchez-Barbudo specialised in elaborate 'costume pictures', delighting the viewer with impressive details finely rendered with dazzling technical virtuosity. Here, Sánchez-Barbudo depicts a well-to-do bourgeois family receiving a cardinal in their home. The interior, sumptuously furnished in the rococo style, along with the rich costumes and fabrics, are beautifully observed. Yet beyond the high technique lavished upon the composition, the treatment is comic and full of character and suffused with a gently satirising anti-clericalism. The cardinal, far from getting the attention he expects, is, literally, sidelined, his expression and body language showing his pique. There is no doubt that contemporary collectors and spectators took pleasure in the sight of noble self-respecting figureheads of the church being brought back down to earth. The comedy was appealing, and the message suited the prevailing political mood of an increasingly secular middle-class buying public. Salvador Sánchez Barbudo was born on March 14, 1857 in Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz). He was one of the most important Spanish artists of the "casacón" genre, who followed the Fortuny tradition in Rome. During his childhood he was under the protection of the Marquis del Castillo and in 1875 he moved to Seville where he attended the School of Fine Arts, becoming a disciple of José Villegas...

Oil on canvas

The third work of the triptych “What about stereotypes? ” Female silhouette combined with flowers - a decorative subject - but with a deep concept, a series of paintings were prese...