Description
JOSÉ MARÍA SERT (Barcelona, 1874 - 1945). "Pueblo de libertad" and "Pueblo de comerciantes", 1932-1934. Sketch for the auditorium of the San Telmo Museum in San Sebastián. Oil on panel. The definitive panels published in "José María Sert. His life and work", Alberto del Castillo, pp. 215 and 218. Measurements: 74.5 x 53.5 cm. This canvas presents two scenes. On the one hand, "People of Freedom", which shows the Guernica Tree, symbol of the freedoms of Vasconia, which rises with its dry branches in front of the peristyle of the Casa de las Juntas. Alberto del Castillo states that "the figure of Liberty flies through the air, centring a sparkling aureole which the rays of glory furrow". At the foot of the old oak tree, a large open book symbolises the Charter of Bizkaia; on the other hand, "Pueblo de comerciantes" represents the scene dedicated to the Real Compañía Guipuzkoana de Caracas, an entity that gave the province an unusual economic boom throughout the 17th century. This work exalts the Basques as a people of merchants. Both compositions were painted for the decoration of the great hall of the Museum of the former convent of San Telmo in San Sebastián, one of the most colourful decorations of the painter's life. Trained with Benito Mercadé and Pere Borrell, Sert was a member of the Círculo Artístico de Sant Lluc. In 1908 he decorated the Sala dels Pasos Perdus at the Palace of Justice in Barcelona, and in 1910 he presented the mural decoration of the ballroom of the Marquis of Alella (Barcelona) at the Salon d'Automne in Paris and decorated the music room of the Princess of Polignac in Paris. In the following years he worked for Queen Victoria Eugenia (Santander) and for Robert Rotschild (Chantilly). He painted new murals for important houses in Park Lane (England), Buenos Aires, Palm Beach and Paris, and in 1926 he made, to great expectation, an exhibition of his works for the cathedral of Vic in the Jeu de Paume in Paris. In 1927, with the support of his friend and patron Francesc Cambó, he completed the main part of the cathedral's decoration, which was completed with the construction of the lunettes between 1928 and 1929. In 1930 he was made a member of the Academy of San Fernando, and in the following years he worked all over the world, creating important murals such as those at the Waldorf Astoria.
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