Francesc Serra Castellet

FRANCESC SERRA CASTELLET (Barcelona, 1912 - Tossa, Girona, 1976).
"Figure".
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the upper right corner.
Measurements: 41 x 33 cm; 58 x 50 cm (frame).
Painter and draftsman, Francesc Serra spent his youth in Granollers, Barcelona. Although he passed fleetingly through the School of La Lonja in Barcelona, he is basically a self-taught author. He had his first exhibition in 1932, at the Sala Parés in Barcelona, and participated in the Salones de Primavera between 1934 and 1936. In 1936 and 1937 he was a special guest of the Carnegie Institute of Pittsburgh, United States. He continued to hold individual exhibitions in Barcelona, mainly at the Sala Gaspar. A great admirer of Degas, he was especially influenced by his favorite theme, the feminine. Sporadically he also tackled other themes, such as the urban landscape, of which the Paris series presented in 1951 is worth mentioning. Likewise, with his portraits of the lead mine he approached the sensitive realism of Ingres. He won several awards, including the Sant Jordi of Barcelona (1953) and the first medals at the National Exhibitions of Madrid (1957) and Barcelona (1960). He collected several unpublished drawings under the title "Dibujos de Serra" (1973), with a prologue by Santos Torroella. Determined defender of realism in art and traditional figuration against the avant-garde, he published the essay "La aventura del arte contemporáneo" (1953), with a prologue by Rafael Benet. He is represented in the Museums of Modern Art of Madrid and Barcelona and in the Museums of Fine Arts of l'Empordà and Sabadell.