Josep Amat

JOSEP AMAT PAGÈS (Barcelona, 1901 - 1991).
"Port view". 1931.
Oil on canvas.
Signed and dated.
Presents damages in the frame.
Measurements:57 x 69 cm; 73 x 84 cm (frame)

This port view has been captured by Josep Amat with his habitual display of activity, showing a lively scene in which cyclists, strollers, sailors, fishermen and merchants are mixed. He employs a synthetic and vivid brushstroke, rich in chromatic hallmarks.

Josep Amat was trained at La Llotja School in Barcelona, and was a favorite disciple of Joaquim Mir. He completed his artistic training in France and Italy. He held exhibitions in Barcelona, Madrid, Bilbao, San Sebastian, Paris, Brussels and Havana. He regularly exhibited his work in the famous Sala Parés in Barcelona, between 1943 and 1987. He was awarded prizes at the Spring Salon in Barcelona in 1932, 1933 and 1935, and in 1934 he won a medal at the National Exhibition in Barcelona. At the beginning of the Civil War he was forced to give up plein air painting, and began a period focused on figures and interiors. He won several medals at the National Exhibitions of Fine Arts in Madrid (1940) and Barcelona (1941, 1942 and 1944). He was awarded 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. His work is represented in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, the Museum of Montserrat and the National Art Museum of Catalonia.