Joan Cardona

JOAN CARDONA I LLADÓS (Barcelona, 1877 - 1957).
"Lady and boulevard".
Mixed media on paper.
Signed in the lower left corner.
Attached to the back label of the gallery David Cervelló.
Measurements: 30 x 24 cm; 62 x 57 cm (frame).

This drawing denotes the graphic personality of Joan Cardona, who was one of the great portraitists of the Parisian ambiences of boulevards and carriages. Joan Cardona was an indispensable figure of the Belle Époque aesthetics, contributing to define the glamorous environments of the elegant Paris of the declining 19th century. Critics even spoke of the "Cardona style" to refer to the exclusivity of his style. From 1900, when he settled in Paris, until 1914, when the First World War sent him back to Barcelona, he was one of the most renowned illustrators in the French capital.

Trained at the Escuela de Bellas Artes de la Lonja and at the Academia Baixeras in Barcelona, he furthered his studies in Paris, where he settled for several years. In the French capital he formed a group with the best illustrators of the time, such as Cappiello, Sem, Steinlen and Roubille. Painter and draftsman, he developed an important activity in the field of illustration, collaborating with Spanish magazines such as "El Gato Negro" and "Hispania", and in the French magazines "Le Rire" and "Simplicissimus". His collaboration with "Jugend", the flagship magazine of Viennese modernism, the Jugendstil, stands out. In his Parisian period Cardona achieved international fame thanks to his pen drawings, characterized by the sharpness of the stroke and strong expressive values. On the contrary, in his painting he subordinates line to color, with warm tones in his early years and cold ranges in his maturity. His paintings, of great expressive force and dense impasto, define the protagonism of the woman, who is outlined on vibrant, almost abstract backgrounds, in a style that brings him close to Anglada Camarasa. In 1897 he was awarded a prize in the competition organized by the Mariana Academy of Lleida. He exhibited in Paris in the Salons d'Automne and of the Societé Nationale, obtaining in both the title of "societaire". He participated in the International Exhibitions of Fine Arts of Barcelona in 1907 and 1929. He is represented in the Museum of Luxembourg, in Paris.