Joan Soler Puig

JUAN SOLER PUIG (Barcelona, 1906 - 1984).
"Gypsy", 1945.
Red chalk on paper
Signed and dated.
On the back of the frame attached label of the National Exhibition of Fine Arts held in Barcelona in autumn 1944.
Measurements: 57 x 42 cm; 82 x 67,5 cm (frame).

Joan Soler worked in landscape and portrait, and painted prominent figures such as the Duchess of Alba, the Count of Barcelona or the Baron of Viver. For several years he taught at the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona, a position he left to settle in Paris almost permanently. Already in 1936 we find news of his participation in group exhibitions, such as the one organized that year in the Busquets room in Barcelona, sharing space with Miguel Gispert. In 1968 he held a solo exhibition in Paris, at the Maison de l'Amerique Latine, which was the definitive recognition of his career, and in 1978 he organized another one at the Sala Nonell in Barcelona. An admirer of Goya, El Greco, Velázquez and Watteau, he was especially applauded for the virtuosity of his drawing and the essential elegance of his compositions, but especially for the high degree of psychological depth he achieved in his portraits. His main concern was psychological depth, going beyond the surface and appearance of people and objects, as seen in this canvas.