Josep Cusachs

JOSEP CUSACHS (Montpellier, France, 1851 - Barcelona, 1908).
"Military scene".
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 30 x 50 cm; 50 x 70 cm (frame).
The military theme undeniably occupied the summit of Cusachs' production, a theme from which he extracted infinite situations, but all of them linked to the dead times of the battle scenes, to the samples of friendship and companionship, to the antechambers of the war, in short, to the wait. This is beautifully captured in this painting, with two soldiers attentive to the silence of a forest. Autumn leaves carpet the mossy ground. The mastery of the drawing and the audacious use of light are translated into soft chromatic shifts that build the equine anatomies and exalt the nobility of their bearing. The satin qualities of the fur, together with the uniforms of the military, are placed in a landscape tarnished with melancholy.
José Cusachs was accidentally born in France, as his parents were traveling there, but his art and his life were always linked to two locations: Barcelona and Mataró. In 1865, after passing a competitive examination, he entered the Artillery Academy to pursue a military career. However, in 1882, after a brilliant career that led him to be Captain of the Army for war merits, he asked for retirement to devote himself to painting. Trained in Barcelona under the direction of Simón Gómez, he completed his artistic studies with a stay in Paris, in the studio of Édouard Détaille, one of the greatest experts in military themes, a genre that would become Cusachs' favorite. During these years he would make his work known through individual exhibitions, such as the ones he held regularly from 1884 at the Sala Parés in Barcelona, always obtaining great success in sales and critics. In 1890 he was already a regular exhibitor at the gallery, where he showed new works every week. The bond between Cusachs and the Sala Parés was so deep, in fact, that after the painter's death the gallery fell into a period of absolute decadence. Cusachs also participated in official competitions; in 1887 he obtained notable recognition at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in Madrid with three paintings, one of which was acquired by the regent María Cristina ("En el campo de maniobras"). In 1891 he participated in the Berlin Exhibition and won the Gold Medal for his work "Maneuvers of division". Cusachs also stood out as a famous military portraitist, and painted, among others, General Prim, King Alfonso XIII in military uniform and Mexican President Profirio Díaz. The bulk of his work is collected in the Museum of Modern Art in Madrid and in the National Art Museum of Catalonia.