Description
JOSÉ VIVES-ATSARÀ (Vilafranca del Penedès, Barcelona, 1919 - San Antonio, USA, 2004). "La Sala de Vallformosa", Penedès, 1990-1991. Oil on canvas. Signed in the lower right corner. Size: 91 x 152 cm; 113 x 174 cm (frame). In this canvas, José Vives-Atsarà represents the landscape surrounding the Sala de Vallformosa, a reference winery in the Penedès with more than 150 years of history. To do so, he performs a magnificent plastic exercise, recreating the textures and the vibration of the masses of colour, reflected by means of a long, loose, dense and enormously expressive brushstroke, the absolute protagonist of the work. A painter of landscapes and flowers, José Vives-Atsarà began to paint as a child, and held his first individual exhibition when he was only fourteen years old. After the war, when he was taken prisoner, he married and moved to America. After eight years in Venezuela and Mexico, he settled permanently with his family in San Antonio, Texas, in 1956. There he combined art with teaching at Incarnate Word College and became widely known throughout the state both as a painter and for his role in local cultural life. He received commissions from important institutions such as the Frost Bank and the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, and exhibited individually and collectively in various American cities.
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JOSÉ VIVES-ATSARÀ (Vilafranca del Penedès, Barcelona, 1919 - San Antonio, USA, 2004). "La Sala de Vallformosa", Penedès, 1990-1991. Oil on canvas. Signed in the lower right corner. Size: 91 x 152 cm; 113 x 174 cm (frame). In this canvas, José Vives-Atsarà represents the landscape surrounding the Sala de Vallformosa, a reference winery in the Penedès with more than 150 years of history. To do so, he performs a magnificent plastic exercise, recreating the textures and the vibration of the masses of colour, reflected by means of a long, loose, dense and enormously expressive brushstroke, the absolute protagonist of the work. A painter of landscapes and flowers, José Vives-Atsarà began to paint as a child, and held his first individual exhibition when he was only fourteen years old. After the war, when he was taken prisoner, he married and moved to America. After eight years in Venezuela and Mexico, he settled permanently with his family in San Antonio, Texas, in 1956. There he combined art with teaching at Incarnate Word College and became widely known throughout the state both as a painter and for his role in local cultural life. He received commissions from important institutions such as the Frost Bank and the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, and exhibited individually and collectively in various American cities.
