Joan Abelló

JOAN ABELLÓ PRAT (Mollet del Vallés, Barcelona, 1922 - Barcelona, 2008).
"The astrologer". "Época Negra", 1957.
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Signed, dated and titled on the back.
Measurements: 115 x 81 cm; 132 x 97 cm (frame).

Painter and engraver, Joan Abelló begins his formation in a self-taught way, having in his first paintings a great influence the works that Joaquín Mir realized in Mollet. He then studied at the Baixas Academy and at the Royal Artistic Circle of Barcelona (1941), and later became a disciple of Pere Pruna, working for two years in his studio (1944-46). Pruna taught him mural and engraving techniques, and he also learned restoration in Miracle's studio. In 1945 he exhibited his work in Barcelona for the first time, and the following year he began working in the studio of Carlos Pellicer, with whom he worked for fourteen years. He completed his studies with trips to London, Belgium, Paris and the Isle of Man, among other places. In the sixties he returned to his native town, where he again became interested in the landscapes of the Vallés and the Mediterranean, although he did not abandon his extensive travels through Europe, Africa, the Ivory Coast, Morocco and Brazil. An outstanding collector, in 1996 he donated his art collection to the City Council of Mollet, which created the Joan Abelló Municipal Museum three years later. Attached to the museum is the artist's birthplace, which since 2002 has housed a restoration workshop and center for artistic studies. Abelló began his career developing a certain impressionist tendency, to start in the late forties in post-impressionism without losing links with his initial language, always with an explosion of colors applied with violent brushstrokes. Years later his style will evolve, practicing a more material painting under the influence of informalism, and accentuating his expressionism without ever leaving figuration. From 1940, the year in which he held his first exhibition in his hometown, even before moving to Barcelona to study, Abelló held exhibitions in Spain, London, Paris, New York and Moscow. In 2002 he was appointed member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Sant Jordi. He is represented in the Museum that bears his name, as well as in the MACBA in Barcelona, the Courtauld Collection in London, the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, the Vatican Museum, the Poldersmuseum in Belgium and the Francesc Galí Legacy.