Ramon Casas

RAMÓN CASAS CARBÓ (Barcelona, 1866 - 1932).
"Chaplain".
Oil on canvas.
Signed
Published in Isabel Coll's book, pg 315.
Measurements: 91 x 42,5 cm; 114,5 x 66,5 cm (frame).

Portrait of a priest by one of the great representatives of Catalan modernism, Ramon Casas. Painted full-length, the vertical framing welcomes his figure in the foreground, occupying a large part of the canvas. This is a representation characteristic of his ability to combine a realistic and vivid portrait with a modern treatment of color and line. The intense red contrasts with other ochre tones in the background and with the white of the blouse, attracting all the viewer's attention. The chaplain looks at us from the front while holding his stole with his right hand in a gesture that seems to emphasize his status, his belonging to a religious order. The face conveys a hint of self-consciousness, hidden behind a slightly haughty attitude. Casas was a great portraitist, capable of capturing the imperceptible nuances of mood.

An outstanding painter and draftsman, Casas began painting as a disciple of Joan Vicens. In 1881 he made his first trip to Paris, where he completed his training at the Carolus Duran and Gervex academies. The following year he participated for the first time in an exhibition at the Sala Parés in Barcelona, and in 1883 he presented a self-portrait at the Salon des Champs Elysées in Paris, which earned him an invitation to become a member of the Salon de la Societé d'Artistes Françaises. He spent the following years traveling and painting between Paris, Barcelona, Madrid and Granada. In 1886, suffering from tuberculosis, he settled in Barcelona to recover. There he came into contact with Santiago Rusiñol, Eugène Carrière and Ignacio Zuloaga. After a trip through Catalonia with Rusiñol in 1889, Casas returned to Paris with his friend. The following year he took part in a group exhibition at the Sala Parés, together with Rusiñol and Clarasó, and in fact the three of them continued to hold joint exhibitions there until Rusiñol's death in 1931. His works at this time are halfway between academicism and French impressionism, in a sort of germ of what would later become Catalan modernism. His fame continued to spread throughout Europe, and he held successful exhibitions in Madrid and Berlin, as well as participating in the Chicago World's Fair of 1893. Casas settled permanently in Barcelona, immersed in the modernist environment, although he continued to travel to Paris for the annual salons. He financed the premises that would become a point of reference for the modernists, the café Els Quatre Gats, inaugurated in 1897. Two years later he organized his first individual exhibition at the Sala Parés. While his fame as a painter grew, Casas began to work as a graphic designer, adopting the Art Nouveau style that came to define Catalan Modernisme. In the following years his successes followed: he presented two works at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1900, won a prize in Munich in 1901, several of his works were included in the permanent exhibition of the Círculo del Liceo, had several international exhibitions and, in 1904, won first prize at the General Exhibition in Madrid. He is represented in the Prado Museum, the National Museum of Art of Catalonia, the Reina Sofia National Museum, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, the Museum of Montserrat, the Cau Ferrat in Sitges, the Camón Aznar Museum in Zaragoza and the Contemporary Art Museums of Barcelona and Seville, among many others.