RICARDO OPISSO I SALA (Tarragona, 1880 - Barcelona, 1966).
"Market, Barcelona".
Ink, watercolour and gouache on paper.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Size: 28 x 18 cm; 48 x 39 cm (frame).
In this agitated urban scene, some children try to feed a sheep under the amused gaze of their parents. They are in a Barcelona market, and part of the flock entertains other groups of passers-by at the back, next to a gallery of arcades. As was usual in this artist's compositions, the scene is brimming with narrative. Each character is individualised in attitudes, physiognomies and gestures.
Opisso was a painter, draughtsman and cartoonist. In his youth he participated in Barcelona's modernist environment, and in fact in 1894 he began to work as an apprentice with Antoni Gaudí on the Sagrada Família. Two years later, backed by the architect, he became a member of the Círculo Artístico de Sant Lluc, with whom he would later exhibit at the Sala Parés. He was linked to the group Els Quatre Gats, together with Ramon Casas, Manuel Hugué, Isidre Nonell and Pablo Picasso, among others. In 1901 he made a trip to Paris, where Picasso and Hugué were already there. He worked as an illustrator in publications such as "Cu-cut!" and "L'Esquella de la Torratxa", signing drawings aimed at political satire, in a style close to art nouveau. In 1907 he took part in the Fine Arts Exhibition in Barcelona and was awarded a third-class medal. Due to the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera, Opisso abandoned political satire and his drawings moved towards genre themes, specialising in popular scenes. His works from this period are characterised by the presentation of motley crowds of people in popular Barcelona settings. After exhibiting several times in succession at the Sala Parés, he held his first solo exhibition in 1935 at the Syra galleries in Barcelona. During the post-war period he continued to exhibit in various galleries in Barcelona, and reaped considerable success with both critics and the public. In 1953 he received recognition from his hometown at the 4th Tarragona Art Fair. Most of his work is kept in the Opisso Museum in Barcelona, but it is also present in the National Art Museum of Catalonia and the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Strasbourg. In terms of exhibitions, the one held at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in 2004 under the title "Catalan Painting, from Naturalism to Noucentisme", in which his work "Carnival" was exhibited, is particularly noteworthy. He has also had anthological exhibitions at the Saló del Tinell (1979), the Palau de la Virreina (1980), the Barcelona International Boat Show (1973), the Fundació La Caixa (1988, 2004, 2008) and the Caixa Tarragona (2003).