Alexandre de Riquer

ALEXANDRE DE RIQUER INGLADA (Calaf, Barcelona, 1856 - Palma de Mallorca, 1920).
"Original project for the poster: Spanish shotguns brand Jabalí", ca. 1896.
Ink and watercolor drawing on paper.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Lot consists of the final drawing of the poster in color and a pencil and ink sketch measuring 26.5 x 20.3 cm.
Measurements: 19,5 x 12,1 cm; 39 x 32 cm (frame).

Original drawing by Alexandre de Riquer for the Spanish Shotguns poster. Boar brand by Eduardo Schilling. The poster is divided into three levels. In the central scene we observe a woman in the field holding a shotgun of the Jabalí brand and at her feet is a rabbit that has just been shot by the shotgun. In the upper part there is the representation of a wild boar in motif of the name of the advertising brand. In the central drawing there are some annotations handwritten by Alexandre de Riquer in which it is indicated "S. Martín de Prov, Barcelona" referring to the address of the advertising company located in Sant Martí de Provençals. The back of the sketch was used as a color palette for the realization of the main piece.

So far, no printed poster of this design, of which very few units must have been made, has survived to the present day. This set formed by the final drawing and the sketch together with the color palette form one of the few preserved projects of Alexandre de Riquer for the realization of his illustrated posters.

Drawer, painter and poet, de Riquer began his studies in Manresa and Languedoc, France. Back in Barcelona, he completed his training with Tomás Padró and Antoni Caba, at La Lonja. He then travels to Paris and London, being of special importance his contact in England with Japonism, Pre-Raphaelism and the Arts & Crafts movement. Influenced by figures such as William Morris, he embodied the Pre-Raphaelite ideal: artist, craftsman and poet united in the same man. He founded a furniture workshop, made designs for decorative arts and collaborated as a draftsman and poet with the most prominent publications of Catalan modernism. He also introduced the art of ex-libris in Catalonia, a discipline in which he achieved worldwide fame. He participated in numerous exhibitions and expositions, obtaining first medals in the Universal of Barcelona (1888), the National of Madrid (1906) and the Universal of Chicago (1893). Riquer is represented in the Prado Museum, the National Art Museum of Catalonia, the Ateneo of Barcelona, the Cau Ferrat and the Diocesan Museum of Barcelona, among many others.