Tarrassó

CASIMIRO MARTÍNEZ TARRASSÓ (Barcelona, 1898 - 1980).
"Leap of the Equator", 1967.
Oil on canvas.
Signed, titled and dated on the back.
Measurements: 170 x 149 cm; 174 x 154,5 cm (frame).

In this colorful composition, furrowed of what seem to be sharp mountains and with a point of light that reminds us of a splendid sun peeping from the right margin, Tarrasó demonstrates his particular capacity to suggest abstract landscapes with a powerful chromatic symphony. With such an attractive title as "Salto del Ecuador", the author seems to allude to an instant of change or transformation. The title could insinuate a psychic journey, like a leap in perception or consciousness. In this sense, the abstract work could evoke the idea of a personal or psychological journey, an internal voyage.

Known simply as Tarrassó, he trained at the Escuela de La Lonja in Barcelona. He completed his studies in Paris, where he had first-hand knowledge of the Fauvist works that were shaking the Parisian art scene at the time. He was above all a brilliant landscape painter, with a style characterized by its violent and vivid colors, very luminous. He followed in the footsteps of the great Catalan landscape painters, especially Joaquín Mir, although with a clearly differentiated personality due in part to the impact that Fauvism had on his artistic thinking. He cultivated the still life and the Catalan and Majorcan landscapes. He held his first exhibition in 1928, in the Layetanas Galleries in Barcelona. Since then his exhibitions in Barcelona, Madrid, Palma de Mallorca and Bilbao followed one after the other. In 1935 he visited Mallorca for the first time, and from 1940 he had a studio there, specifically in Palma, where he lived for long periods and developed most of his artistic production. After the Civil War, during the forties, Tarrassó took part in several National Exhibitions of Fine Arts, in their editions of 1942, 1943 and 1950, and held many personal exhibitions in Barcelona, in galleries such as Augusta, Layetanas, Ars, etc., among them the one he held of Pyrenean landscapes in 1948, and the one of large canvases of Mallorcan landscapes that he presented in 1949. Although the landscape was always the center of his production, Tarrassó also made works such as the mural decoration of the church of Santa Maria de Badalona. In Mallorca he also carried out a singular undertaking, planting his easel in the Caves of Campanet to capture the stalactites and stalagmites of its stony cavities, developing a series of works that he presented at the Galerías Costa de Palma in October 1948. Throughout his career Tarrassó was awarded the Pollença Prize at the 1st International Painting Competition in 1962; the Santiago Rusiñol Prize in 1972; and the medals obtained in various editions of the Autumn Salons of Palma de Mallorca: first prize in 1967 and 1973, and honorary prize in 1970. Tarrassó's work is characterized by the great personality of his coloring. His obsession for chromatism determines a deeply sensorial, vitalist and intuitive painting. He is represented in various national and international private collections, as well as in the Museum and Artistic Fund of Porreras (Mallorca) and the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Palma.