By Emilio Grau Sala
Located in Madrid, ES
EMILIO GRAU SALA
Spanish, 1911 - 1975
BOULEVARD OF PARIS
signed “Grau Sala” (lower right)
oil on canvas
25-1/2 x 32 inches (65 x 81 cm.)
framed: 36-1/4 x 42-1/2 inches (92 x 108 cm.)
Emilio Grau Sala (Barcelona, 1911 - Barcelona, 1975) was a painter of the School of Paris who never abandoned figurative and landscape subjects. He studied at the Escuela de Bellas Artes in his hometown. He began his public career in 1929, participating in the Exposición de Arte Abstracto and the Exposición de Arte Moderno Nacional y Extranjero, both held at the Galerías Dalmau in Barcelona. He traveled to Paris in 1932 and exhibited at the “Salon du Printemps”. His lively and elegant street scenes, circus rings, and interiors resonated with the prevailing sensibilities in the Parisian art scene, and Grau Sala quickly gained an international reputation. In January 1936, he married Ángeles Santos Torroella, and in the same year, with the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, he moved to Paris, where he would live for 25 years. In 1936, he was awarded a Carnegie Prize in Pittsburgh, and his regular exhibitions in the United States made him as sought after abroad as he was in Europe. In addition to his work as a painter, Grau Sala was also recognized as a significant illustrator, decorator, and pastel painter, illustrating numerous fine editions of works by authors such as Flaubert, Baudelaire, and Maupassant.
Leisure, entertainment, and elegant domestic life are the most frequent themes in Grau Sala's work: people conversing at the racetrack or the circus, lavish parties, or domestic scenes in well-appointed interiors. He depicted his pleasant scenes with intense, vibrant colors and a glossy, impassive surface that enhances the cheerful quality so typical of his work.
From 1963 onward, he reconnected with Spain and especially with his hometown. His death in 1975 coincided with Spain's transition to democracy. From this moment on, his work was recovered, with numerous posthumous exhibitions taking place in Barcelona and Madrid.
His works can be found in the Château de Sceaux, Muséum de La Rochelle, Museo de Tossa de Mar...
Category
1950s Post-Impressionist Madrid - Art