José Manuel Chico Prats

JOSÉ MANUEL CHICO PRATS (Barcelona, 1916 - 2006).
"Still life of hunting".
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 100 x 60 cm; 116 x 74 cm (frame).
Painter and engraver, José Manuel Chico Prats began his training at the School of La Lonja in Barcelona, then went on to the School of Fine Arts of San Carlos in Valencia. After completing his studies, he traveled to Paris, Italy and London, the latter city where he discovered the work of Turner, with whom he felt identified. He was also influenced by impressionism, and deeply admired Monet and Degas. He also made engravings, being awarded for those he made for the work of Cervantes "Rinconete and Cortadillo" at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts held in Barcelona in 1944. Throughout his career he held exhibitions in various galleries in Palma de Mallorca, Madrid, Barcelona, Castellón and Bilbao, and in 2011 an anthological exhibition was dedicated to him at the S'Alamera cultural center in Ibiza, the city where he spent much of his life, and where he was buried. In fact, many of his works reflect village festivals and landscapes of the coast and countryside of Ibiza, although he also captured places that fascinated him such as Venice and Florence. In fact, the carnival and the canals of the former, and the Renaissance architecture of the latter, are very present in the work of this painter, in which views of Paris are also frequent. His work can be organized in two stages; the first, in which the stroke is more classical and realistic, and the second, the longest and most prolific, in which the brushstroke becomes impressionistic to reflect a more personal style. Chico Prats is currently represented in various collections, including the Ibiza Town Hall and those of Margarita Ribes, Francisco Guasch Noguera, the Cardona family and Pepita Colomar Ferrer.