Joan Cardona

JOAN CARDONA I LLADÓS (Barcelona, 1877 - 1957).
"Â Montmatre VI.
Mixed media on paper.
Signed.
Published in the magazine Le Frou Frou, nº 146, August 1, 1903.
Measurements: 44 x 33 cm; 66 x 52 cm (frame).

In this drawing, Joan Cardona presents a woman lying down, with a placid smile, wearing a dress with puffed sleeves and a floating skirt resolved in a light and fluid line. Behind, a wall decorated with floral motifs completes the refined and intimate atmosphere. The figure, delineated with elegance and precision, breathes a restrained sensuality: the body abandons itself to rest, but the line maintains the tension of suspended movement.

Cardona offers us in this drawing a radically modern image, representative of his style. Considered one of the most renowned and internationally famous artists, his Parisian illustrations, elegant and glamorous, gave name to the 'Cardona style' in the Belle Époque. From 1900, when he settled in Paris, until 1914, when the First World War sent him back to Barcelona, he was one of the most renowned illustrators in the French capital.

Trained at the Escuela de Bellas Artes de la Lonja and at the Academia Baixeras in Barcelona, he furthered his studies in Paris, where he settled for several years. In the French capital he formed a group with the best illustrators of the time, such as Cappiello, Sem, Steinlen and Roubille. Painter and draftsman, he developed an important activity in the field of illustration, collaborating with Spanish magazines such as "El Gato Negro" and "Hispania", and in the French magazines "Le Rire" and "Simplicissimus". His collaboration with "Jugend", the flagship magazine of Viennese modernism, the Jugendstil, stands out. In his Parisian period Cardona achieved international fame thanks to his pen drawings, characterized by the sharpness of the stroke and strong expressive values. On the contrary, in his painting he subordinates line to color, with warm tones in his early years and cold ranges in his maturity. His paintings, of great expressive force and dense impasto, define the protagonism of the woman, who is outlined on vibrant, almost abstract backgrounds, in a style that brings him close to Anglada Camarasa. In 1897 he was awarded a prize in the competition organized by the Mariana Academy of Lleida. He exhibited in Paris in the Salons d'Automne and of the Societé Nationale, obtaining in both the title of "societaire". He participated in the International Exhibitions of Fine Arts of Barcelona in 1907 and 1929. He is represented in the Museum of Luxembourg, in Paris.