Joan Cardona

JOAN CARDONA I LLADÓS (Barcelona, 1877 - 1957).
"Entrance to the bulls".
Mixed media on cardboard adhered to cardboard.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 35 x 26 cm.
Entrada a los toros is a representative work of the career of Joan Cardona i Lladós, Catalan artist linked to social realism and the documentation of urban and cultural life in Spain in the early twentieth century. The painting vividly captures the bustle and theatricality of the entrance of the bulls to the bullring.
The work reflects a clear influence of the poster art of the time, especially the posters and advertisements that became popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The dynamic composition, sharp contours and narrative clarity recall the graphic aesthetics of Belle Époque and Catalan modernist posters, where communicative effectiveness and visual impact were paramount. Cardona incorporates these elements into the painting, combining the rigor of the drawing with a sense of color and the arrangement of the figures designed to capture the viewer's attention, as if it were an animated poster announcing the bullfighting festival.
Joan Cardona i Lladós, trained at the Escuela de Bellas Artes de la Lonja and the Academia Baixeras in Barcelona, furthered his studies in Paris, where he interacted with prominent illustrators such as Cappiello, Sem, Steinlen and Roubille. An outstanding illustrator, he collaborated with Spanish magazines such as El Gato Negro and Hispania, and French magazines such as Le Rire and Simplicissimus, as well as Jugend, a benchmark of Viennese modernism. His international fame came thanks to his pen drawings, with sharp lines and great expressiveness, while in painting he prioritized color over line, with warm tones in his youth and cold tones in his maturity, emphasizing the prominence of women on vibrant backgrounds. He exhibited in Parisian salons and in the International Exhibitions of Fine Arts in Barcelona, and is represented in the Luxembourg Museum in Paris.