Josep Amat

JOSEP AMAT PAGÈS (Barcelona, 1901 - 1991).
"Maritime promenade".
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 50 x 65 cm.; 68 x 83 cm.(frame).
Josep Amat privileged, between his urban subjects, the views of Paris, place of viasitas and frequent trips from the first time in 1933 and especially from 1949. Paris impressed him and he painted intensely in this city. The work presented here is a view of the Seine River and its bridges worked with great detail and attention to the narrative aspect, a vivid snapshot of urban life with a totally personal sensitivity to color and light.
Josep Amat was trained at the Llotja School in Barcelona, and was a favorite disciple of Joaquim Mir. In 1922 he participated for the first time in a group exhibition, and sold his first landscape. Six years later, in 1928, Amat made his individual debut with an exhibition of twenty-eight works held in the Dalmau room. From then on he exhibited individually in the most important galleries of Barcelona. In 1933 he participates in the Spring Salon, being awarded in that edition and also in those of the following two years. That same year he travels for the first time to Paris, where he will be known in 1936 in a collective exhibition. In 1940 he exhibited for the first time at the Sala Parés, where from then on he would frequently repeat his exhibitions until 1987. During these years he participates in the Spring Salon of Barcelona, being awarded in 1932, 1933 and 1935. He also took part in the National Exhibitions, being distinguished in Madrid with a third medal in 1941, and in Barcelona with a medal in 1934, diploma in 1942 and Diputación prize in 1944. In 1943 he exhibited for the first time in Madrid, in the Sala Vilches, and in 1949 he settled for a time in Paris, where he developed an intense pictorial work. Already fully consolidated, Amat held exhibitions in Spain, Paris, Brussels and Havana. At the beginning of the Civil War, he was forced to abandon plein air painting and began a period focused on figures and interiors. In addition to his awards in national competitions, he received the José Ramón Ciervo prize at the Second Hispano-American Art Biennial in Havana in 1953. Other mentions he received were the Gran Premio Sant Jordi (1955), the Ynglada Guillot Drawing Prize (1963) and the Gold Medal of the International Painting Fund of Barcelona (1981). Between 1942 and 1970 he taught landscape painting at the Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes de Barcelona. He entered the Royal Catalan Academy of Fine Arts of Sant Jordi in 1981, with a speech entitled "History of Landscape". This painter is remembered as the main exponent of 20th century Catalan impressionism, and has been honored with several exhibitions, among them the one organized by the Barcelona City Council in the Espai Pruna in 2001, on the occasion of the centenary of his birth, as well as with the Cross of Sant Jordi (1988). His work is represented in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, the Museum of Montserrat and the National Art Museum of Catalonia.