Manuel Cusí

MANUEL CUSÍ FERRET (Vilanova i La Geltrú, Barcelona, 1857 - Barcelona, 1919).
"Young woman with red mantilla".
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the upper margin.
Measurements: 37.5 x 26.5 cm. 54x 42 cm (frame).

Outstanding exponent of the Catalan realist school, Cusí was one of the most brilliant chroniclers of the daily life of the Catalonia of the 19th century. He studied at the Escuela de La Lonja in Barcelona and completed his training in Paris in the late seventies in the studio of Leon Bonnat. On his return to Spain he dedicated himself to painting in different genres, including still life, the figure, portraiture, genre painting and intimate scenes. As an official portrait painter he painted Alfonso XIII for the Diputación Provincial de Barcelona. In 1880 he exhibited for the first time in the Sala Parés in Barcelona, together with Santiago Rusiñol and the sculptor Font. From the time of his youth his style stood out for the correctness of his drawing, as well as for his search for chromatic harmony and the capture of light effects. Around 1881-82 his style began to show a preference for the realism that would mark his most personal work, rejecting all artifice, as a result of the influence of Ramón Martí Alsina. He participated in the main artistic events of Barcelona, such as the exhibitions of the Society of Watercolorists and the first Exhibition of Fine Arts of the city, and showed his work assiduously in the Casa Vidal and in the Sala Parés. He also presented his works at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in Madrid, and was awarded the third medal at the Universal Exhibition of Barcelona in 1888. Cusí is represented in the National Museum of Art of Catalonia, the City Council of Barcelona, the Victor Balaguer Museum, the Ateneo and the Circle of the Lyceum of Barcelona, as well as in outstanding private collections.