Josep Maria Tamburini

JOSEP MARÍA TAMBURINI DALMAU (Barcelona, 1856 - 1932).
"Lady with fan", ca. 1900.
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 90 x 71 cm.

Tamburini remains in this work halfway between the contemporary portrait representation and the symbolist evocation, in a typically fin-de-siècle image that transcends the realistic portrait to enter a lyrical scenario, with poetic echoes both in the female figure and in the very way of capturing the landscape.

Painter and art critic, and a leading figure of Catalan modernism, Tamburini began his training at the Escuela de La Lonja in Barcelona, and later completed his studies in Paris, with L. Bonnat, and Rome. He collaborated as a cartoonist, art critic and poet with the magazine "L'Avenç", one of the most outstanding artistic publications of Catalonia at the turn of the century. He also wrote for "La Vanguardia". As a painter, he began his career in history painting and anecdotal realism, to later evolve along the lines of symbolism, strongly influenced by English pre-Raphaelism. Recognition came in 1888, when he won a silver medal at the Universal Exposition in Barcelona. He continued to participate in official exhibitions in Barcelona and Madrid, and was again awarded at the Barcelona Exhibition in 1898, where he received the Queen Regent's Extraordinary Prize. In 1911 he received the Prize of the King and Queen of Spain. Already as a mature painter, he worked on placidly fantastic, detailed and precious themes, as well as religious themes and some portraits. He was also a member of the Board of Museums of Barcelona, advisor to the Academy of Fine Arts, professor at the School of La Lonja and co-founder of the Artistic and Literary Society of Catalonia (1911). He is represented in the MACBA, the National Museum of Art and the Library of Catalonia, the Royal Academy of Sant Jordi, the Casa Lis Museum in Salamanca and the Fine Arts Museums of Valencia and Seville, as well as in numerous private collections.