José María Mallol

JOSÉ MARÍA MALLOL SUAZO (Barcelona, 1910 - 1986).
"Woman with nude bust".
Oil on canvas.
Attached certificate issued by Don Marçal Barrachina.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements. 65 x 54 cm; 82 x 72 cm (frame).
Born in the bosom of a very religious family, Mallol Suazo was formed in the School of La Lonja, in Barcelona, where he was a disciple of Félix Mestres and Ramón Calsina between 1929 and 1935. He was a cartoonist as well as a painter, and published humorous illustrations in "En Patufet", "Virolet" and "L'Esquitx", magazines with which he collaborated since his student years. A congenital deformity in his feet, which made him walk with difficulty, prevented him from developing the landscape theme, as he could not move to make the copy from life. That is why he opted for other themes, such as still life or portraits. The first exhibition of his work took place at the Salon of Contemporary Art in Barcelona in 1936, months before the outbreak of the Civil War. That same year he was awarded a prize at the Spring Exhibition in Barcelona. The war forced the dispersion of his family, but Mallol remained in Barcelona, where he devoted himself entirely to painting and obtained, in 1938, the Nonell Painting Prize, awarded by the Sala Tardor. In 1945 he became a member of the group of artists of the Sala Parés, a gallery where he met the collector Josep Omar Gelpi, who became his art dealer from then on. Considered one of the most promising young Catalan painters, in 1953 he participated in the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in Barcelona with a nude. Mallol Suazo is represented in the National Art Museum of Catalonia, the Museum of Valls, the Deu Font in El Vendrell, the Historical Archive of the City of Barcelona and the Abbey of Montserrat, as well as in important collections such as the Caixa Terrassa, the Caixa de Catalunya, the Marta Maria Millet or the Modest Rodriguez Cruells.