Hermenegildo Anglada Camarasa

HERMENEGILDO ANGLADA CAMARASA (Barcelona, 1871 - Pollença, Mallorca, 1959).
"Landscape with the Puig de Pollensa".
Oil on panel.
Measurements: 21 x 24 cm; 42 x 45 cm (frame).
Attached certificate of authenticity of Francesc Fontbona of November 19, 2019, num. D143.
Anglada Camarasa is one of the leading names in modern Catalan art, and undoubtedly the one who has had the most international transcendence of Spanish Post-Impressionism. He was the youngest painter of the second modernist generation, and is considered an outstanding representative of post-impressionism. This is an interesting work by Anglada Camarasa, as can be seen in the compositional boldness and freedom of the stroke, based on material touches and a special ability to capture an atmosphere with minimal elements.
Anlada Camarasa began his training with Tomás Moragas, and later continued at the Escuela de La Lonja in Barcelona as a disciple of Modesto Urgell, whom he always proclaimed as his great master, even though his mature style is very different from Urgell's. During this period of training, Anlada Camarasa's work is very different from that of Urgell. In this formative period, Anglada Camarasa's work shows a clear interest in landscape and the human figure. After a brief contact with the group of "Els Quatre Gats", in 1894 he moved to Paris, where his style was influenced by Degas, Toulouse Lautrec, Fauvism and Orientalism. In the French capital he continued his training in the academies of Julian and Colarossi, where he received classes from Laurens, Constant and Girardot. France was for Anglada Camarasa the platform for his international launching. His work was compared to that of the great names of the time, such as Klimt or Zorn. He also influenced personalities such as the young Kandinsky or Meyerhold, and figures such as Gorky or Diaghilev admired his painting. In Paris, he held his first exhibition in 1898, showing paintings of artificial color and form, of exuberant arabesque, based mainly on the themes of the glittering nocturnal Paris. On the other hand, his individual exhibition at the Sala Parés in Barcelona in May 1900, and his time at "Els Quatre Gats", gave Catalan modernism a direct knowledge of the most modern painting in Paris, a circumstance that was decisive in the young Picasso's turn towards plastic modernity. Still in Paris, Anglada Camarasa joined the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1904, of which he would be a very active member, participating assiduously in its exhibitions. That same year he participated in an exhibition with artists of the Viennese Secession. During these years he settled in Montmartre, where he opened a painting academy attended, among others, by Maria Blanchard and Tito Cittadini. In this period his international activity multiplies and he participates in the Biennials of Venice of 1903, 1905 and 1907, receiving this last year the Gold Medal, prize that he also obtained in the Biennial of Buenos Aires of 1910. In 1914 he returned to Spain and settled permanently in Pollença, fully dedicated to landscape painting. However, he did not lose sight of the international circuit and participated in the Carnegie Institute exhibition of 1924. That same year he was a guest of honor at the Pittsburgh International Exposition. He also had a solo exhibition at the 1929 Barcelona International Exhibition. He was named Honorary Academician of the Royal Academy of San Fernando in 1954, and three years later he was awarded the art prize of the March Foundation. Anglada Camarasa was the protagonist of some of the most important moments in the history of art.