109 - ALFREDO OPISSO CARDONA (Barcelona, 1907 – Mataró, Barcelona, 1980).

ALFREDO OPISSO CARDONA (Barcelona, 1907 – Mataró, Barcelona, 1980). “Café Interior.” Pastel on paper. Signed in the lower right corner. Measurements: 49 x 61 cm; 75 x 86 cm (frame). A painter and draftsman, Alfredo Opisso was the son of Ricardo Opisso and the nephew of Joan Cardona, who gave him his first painting lessons. He completed his training at the Escuela de La Lonja in Barcelona, and in 1921 he held his first exhibition in his hometown, thanks to the support of the art critic Joan Merli, who was also his main patron. Among his solo exhibitions, the one held at the Galerías Syra in Barcelona in 1935 stands out. In 1944, he won the National Drawing Prize at the Barcelona Biennial, and in 1958, he received the first Ynglada-Guillot Drawing Prize. He also participated in the National Fine Arts Exhibitions, presenting two circus scenes at the 1960 exhibition. In 1947, he settled permanently in Mataró, where he exhibited at the Tot Art Gallery. He held numerous exhibitions until 1956, and after a ten-year hiatus, he began showing his work again in 1967. He cultivated a meticulous and refined figurative style, evocative of the Catalan Modernist atmosphere. As a draftsman, his pencil portraits stand out in particular, as do his numerous book illustrations. Likewise, in his paintings, he addressed genre themes, scenes of everyday life, and those evocative of Barcelona at the time. Alfredo Opisso’s work is currently represented in the Prado Museum, the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, the Empordà Museum in Figueras, and the Valls Museum, among others.