Joan Cardona

JOAN CARDONA I LLADÓS (Barcelona, 1877 - 1957).
"Au Palais de Glace, Paris, 1909.
Mixed media on paper.
Signed and dated in the lower left corner. Signed and titled in the lower left corner.
One of the most awarded and exhibited works of Joan Cardona's Parisian period. It presents labels of three exhibitions: one of the Societé des Beaux-Arts de Nice (Salon des Humoristes), another of the Pastel Society of London of 1909 and another of an exhibition in Nice in which it appears with the number 370. In an exhibition of Paris it appears with the number 3 of the exhibition.
Measurements: 34 x 28 cm; 50 x 44 cm (frame).

The piece now being auctioned is a real jewel of the artist's Parisian period, completely 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' during 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. On this occasion Cardona captures an elegant, naturalistic and spontaneous image, a faithful reflection of the social life of the time: a lady skates on the ice of the Palais de Glace, one of the most fashionable activities in the high bourgeois society of 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.