Isidre Nonell

ISIDRE NONELL I MONTURIOL (Barcelona, 1873 - 1911).
"Seated gypsy woman".
Red chalk on paper.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 51 x 32 cm; 72,5 x 54,5 cm (frame).

Nonell never tired of delving into the feminine temperament in his portraits of gypsy women. What he captured time and again in paintings and drawings was, above all, the mystery that young and old gypsy women entail for all of us who contemplate them from the outside. In this sanguine, resolved with a quick and broken stroke that zigzags to enter into the folds of clothing and flesh, the old woman is imposing and robust, haughty and closed in her inner self despite her humility. Her back is turned to us, but her bony profile and the way she sits reveals aspects of her character. Nonell's gypsy women ooze melancholy and nobility, as well as a strong temperament that is not at odds with their poverty.

A 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). He returned to Barcelona, exhibiting regularly between 1902 and 1903 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. 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.