Ricardo Opisso i Sala

RICARDO OPISSO I SALA (Tarragona, 1880 - Barcelona, 1966).
"Circus scene".
Watercolor on paper.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 27 x 35 cm; 38 x 46 cm (frame).
The circus was one of the recurring themes in the work of Ricardo Opisso i Sala). Through these scenes, the artist showed his interest in popular spectacles and in environments full of movement and public, which allowed him to display his characteristic detailed and dynamic drawing.
Opisso was a painter, draftsman and cartoonist. In his youth he participated in the modernist environment of Barcelona, and in fact in 1894 he began to work as an apprentice with Antoni Gaudí in the works of the Sagrada Familia. Two years later, backed by the architect, he became a member of the Círculo Artístico de Sant Lluc, with whom he would later exhibit in the Sala Parés. He was linked to the group Els Quatre Gats, together with Ramón 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 oriented to political satire, in a style close to art nouveau. In 1907 he took part in the Fine Arts Exhibition in Barcelona, and received a third class medal. Due to the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera, Opisso abandoned political satire and his drawings approached the costumbrista theme, specializing in popular scenes. His works of this period are characterized by presenting motley crowds in popular Barcelona scenes. After having exhibited several times in succession at the Sala Parés, he held his first individual 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 great success with both critics and the public. In 1953 he received the recognition of his hometown in the IV Art Fair of Tarragona. 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, stands out.