Null LAUREANO BARRAU BUÑOL (Barcelona, 1864 - Santa Eulàlia des Riu, Ibiza, 1957…
Description

LAUREANO BARRAU BUÑOL (Barcelona, 1864 - Santa Eulàlia des Riu, Ibiza, 1957). "Lady". Oil on canvas. Unsigned. Attached is a photocopy of the certificate issued by Marçal Barrachina in 1989. Missing from the frame. Measurements: 45 x 33 cm; 80 x 67 cm. Laureano Barrau was born into a bourgeois family, son of an industrial engineer and businessman. He began his training at the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona, where he was a disciple of Antonio Caba. Shortly afterwards he travelled to Madrid to broaden his training by studying the great masters of the Prado Museum. In 1884 the Barcelona City Council granted him the Fortuny Pension to extend his studies in Rome for three years. However, with the money from the travel grant Barrau moved to Paris, where he entered the Academy of Fine Arts, with Jean-Léon Gérôme as his tutor. In 1885, already in Rome, he studied the Italian masters and began to send to Barcelona the works that corresponded to him as a boarder. From 1887 he exhibited regularly at the Sala Parés in Barcelona, one of the most important Spanish galleries of the time, and the most prominent in Catalonia. That year his painting "The Surrender of Gerona" was a great success with critics and the public, as it represented a totally personal treatment of the genre of history painting, more vibrant and emotive. At the same time, Barrau frequently took part in official exhibitions both nationally and internationally. In 1888 he was awarded a second medal at the International Exhibition in Barcelona and a second prize at the Universal Exhibition in Brussels. Three years later, in 1891, he was awarded the title of member of the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and the following year he was awarded a third medal at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in Madrid for his work "Escardadora". In 1904 he won a second medal at the same exhibition for "Taponeras del Ampurdán". Barrau also held numerous individual exhibitions and took part in group exhibitions in Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, New York and Rome. In 1909 he settled in Buenos Aires, where his work enjoyed the same success and recognition as it had in Spain and Europe, and after returning he settled permanently in Ibiza in 1911. From there he continued to show his work both in Spain and abroad, and in 1929 he was appointed "Societarie" of the Paris Salons. Barrau's work is based on an initial language linked to his neoclassical training, and evolves to reach a new concept characterised by luminosity and chromatic transparencies. To this day, the work he produced in Santa Eulària des Riu (Ibiza) at the end of his life is considered to be the best of his output. Laureano Barrau is currently represented in the Prado Museum, the Getty Museum in California, the Museums of Contemporary Art in Madrid and Barcelona, his house-museum in Santa Eulària des Riu and in various museums in Paris, Buenos Aires, Montevideo and Rio de Janeiro, as well as in important national and international private collections.

102 

LAUREANO BARRAU BUÑOL (Barcelona, 1864 - Santa Eulàlia des Riu, Ibiza, 1957). "Lady". Oil on canvas. Unsigned. Attached is a photocopy of the certificate issued by Marçal Barrachina in 1989. Missing from the frame. Measurements: 45 x 33 cm; 80 x 67 cm. Laureano Barrau was born into a bourgeois family, son of an industrial engineer and businessman. He began his training at the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona, where he was a disciple of Antonio Caba. Shortly afterwards he travelled to Madrid to broaden his training by studying the great masters of the Prado Museum. In 1884 the Barcelona City Council granted him the Fortuny Pension to extend his studies in Rome for three years. However, with the money from the travel grant Barrau moved to Paris, where he entered the Academy of Fine Arts, with Jean-Léon Gérôme as his tutor. In 1885, already in Rome, he studied the Italian masters and began to send to Barcelona the works that corresponded to him as a boarder. From 1887 he exhibited regularly at the Sala Parés in Barcelona, one of the most important Spanish galleries of the time, and the most prominent in Catalonia. That year his painting "The Surrender of Gerona" was a great success with critics and the public, as it represented a totally personal treatment of the genre of history painting, more vibrant and emotive. At the same time, Barrau frequently took part in official exhibitions both nationally and internationally. In 1888 he was awarded a second medal at the International Exhibition in Barcelona and a second prize at the Universal Exhibition in Brussels. Three years later, in 1891, he was awarded the title of member of the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and the following year he was awarded a third medal at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in Madrid for his work "Escardadora". In 1904 he won a second medal at the same exhibition for "Taponeras del Ampurdán". Barrau also held numerous individual exhibitions and took part in group exhibitions in Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, New York and Rome. In 1909 he settled in Buenos Aires, where his work enjoyed the same success and recognition as it had in Spain and Europe, and after returning he settled permanently in Ibiza in 1911. From there he continued to show his work both in Spain and abroad, and in 1929 he was appointed "Societarie" of the Paris Salons. Barrau's work is based on an initial language linked to his neoclassical training, and evolves to reach a new concept characterised by luminosity and chromatic transparencies. To this day, the work he produced in Santa Eulària des Riu (Ibiza) at the end of his life is considered to be the best of his output. Laureano Barrau is currently represented in the Prado Museum, the Getty Museum in California, the Museums of Contemporary Art in Madrid and Barcelona, his house-museum in Santa Eulària des Riu and in various museums in Paris, Buenos Aires, Montevideo and Rio de Janeiro, as well as in important national and international private collections.

Auction is over for this lot. See the results

You may also like

EULALIA FÁBREGAS DE SENTMENAT (Barcelona, 1900 - 1992). "Female nude". White marble. Stand in green marble. Signed on the right side. Presents marks of use and wear; stains of having been exposed outdoors. Slight chipping on the pedestal. Measurements: 110 x 75 x 63 cm. Eulalia Fábregas de Sentmenat developed a genuinely Mediterranean sculpture, and this is notably expressed in this seated figure: a female nude of essential lines, almost apollonian and idealized, but that at the same time transmits a naturalistic character, without any pomposity, thanks to the natural gesture that the young woman adopts when sitting with her legs folded and tilted, one hand on the slab and the other on the lower part of the right leg. The young woman assumes the aura of a Greek goddess, but also of a carnal woman. She exudes both dignity and grace. The modeling is perfect and gives the anatomy a warm carnality. Eulàlia Fàbregas Jacas, better known by her married name as Eulàlia Fàbregas de Sentmenat was a Catalan sculptor. She started sculpting at the age of 50, following the death of her son in a car accident. She trained then with the sculptor Rosa Martínez Brau, and in 1964 she exhibited for the first time in the Sala Parés in Barcelona. With a figurative tendency, she devoted herself especially to the female nude, generally in large format pieces - massive but elegant, harmonious and serene figures - and also made religious images. Most of his works are in Barcelona, among them: "Mediterrània", in the Royal Palace of Pedralbes (1962); Serenity, in Cervantes Park (1964); Female Nude, in the Gardens of Joan Maragall (1965); To Francesc Matheu, in Avenida Diagonal 696, in front of the University School of Business Studies (1968); and Women in the Cascade, in the Gardens of Joan Maragall (1970). He also has several works in Esplugues de Llobregat, especially in Can Sentmenat: Despertar, Eva, Juventud, Diana, Maternidad -in Can Vidalet Park-, Alba -in Carretera de Cornellà-, Bailarinas, Sin nombre I y II and Diosa mediterránea; as well as La Mujer del Parque -in Pou d'en Fèlix Park- or Alegoría a las víctimas de las guerras -in Ca n'Hospital Park.