1047 - Attributed to Isidre Nonell Monturiol (1872-1911)

Attributed to Isidre Nonell Monturiol (1872-1911) Oil on canvas, canvas dimensions: 29 x 29 cm, total dimensions with frame: 55 x 55 cm. Isidre Nonell Monturiol (Barcelona, November 30, 1872 - Barcelona, February 21, 1911) was a Spanish painter and draftsman, a member of the Modernist movement. Born in Barcelona on November 30, 1872, he came from a relatively wealthy family. He trained at various academies, including that of Luis Graner in 1889. He was part of the Els Quatre Gats group with Picasso, Rusiñol, and others. He lived on the fringes of bourgeois society, which he criticized in his paintings. Around 1891, he formed a small group of landscape painters, cultivating this genre in small formats. In 1893, he studied at the Escuela de la Lonja in Barcelona and held his first exhibition. In 1894, he began drawing small paintings of Cretins, especially when he went to Caldas de Bohí with Ricard Canals two years later. He dedicated this time in Caldas to painting landscapes and Cretins. In February 1897, he went to Paris with Canals. There he exhibited, shared a studio with Picasso, and painted his paintings of the lower social classes. He returned to Barcelona in 1900. From 1901, he painted paintings of female figures, such as gypsies, and still lifes. He maintained a relationship with the gypsy model Consuelo, who became his muse. After Consuelo's early death, Nonell continued painting some gypsy women. Marked by Impressionism, he is associated with Modernism. He has also been considered, in a way, a continuator of the vision of the so-called Black Spain with Regoyos and Solana. His portraits of Cretins and Gypsies, showing the lower classes of society in their misery and pain, are from that chapter. Reference bibliography: Escala i Romeu, Glòria (2015). "The influence of Isidre Nonell on the young Picasso". Locus Amoenus 13:169-185. ISSN 2014-8798. Provenance: property of an important Catalan private collection.