Joaquin Sorolla

JOAQUÍN SOROLLA Y BASTIDA (Valencia, 1863 - Cercedilla, Madrid, 1923).
"Valencia Beach", ca.1900.
Pencil on glossy paper.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Attached certificate of Blanca Pons Sorolla.
It has several dedications on the back: the composer Felipe Pedrell (fragment of the work "Los Pirineos"), among others.
It comes from the autograph album of the La Vanguardia journalists Rafael del Castillo and Pablo Rada, who toured Europe and America at the beginning of the 20th century, traveling on a motorcycle with sidecar, sending their chronicles regularly to the newspaper. The idea was to collect signatures, dedications and autographs of prominent personalities of the culture and society of the different countries they visited in an album as a testimony of their adventure and their time.
Measurements: 15.3 x 20.4 cm; 40 x 49 cm (frame).

The drawing, of spontaneous and dynamic execution, represents a Valencian costumbrista scene set on the beach, one of the most characteristic themes of Sorolla's corpus. In the foreground is a bovine -probably a draft cow or tame bull- traditionally used to drag boats to the shore, a recurring element in the painter's seascapes. The animal, drawn with firm, synthetic lines, anchors the composition and establishes the spatial scale.

In the background, a group of female figures, barely sketched with agile and broken strokes, is arranged next to a boat stranded on the sand, from whose large unfurled sail emerges a diagonal that crosses the sky and organizes the compositional space. The summary gestures and the economy of lines eloquently suggest the details of the popular costumes - scarves, wide skirts, aprons - without resorting to detailed description, evidencing the artist's mastery in the instantaneous capture of movement and light.

The stroke, lively and nervous, reveals the direct observation of nature and the intention of capturing the atmosphere rather than the form, a characteristic feature of his mature drawing. The economy of means and structural clarity indicate that it could be a preparatory sketch for a larger painting, perhaps one of his numerous studies on maritime tasks and the daily life of Valencian fishermen.

Considered the great master of light, Sorolla evolved from his early costumbrista and social works to his iconic scenes bathed by the Mediterranean sun. Trained at the San Carlos School of Fine Arts in Valencia, he completed his education in Rome and Paris, absorbing the influence of the great masters and impressionism. His talent led him to conquer the international art scene, with exhibitions in Paris, New York and London. In 1909, his success at the Hispanic Society of America earned him a commission for his monumental "Vision of Spain," a cycle of canvases that captured the country's cultural diversity. His work, celebrated in museums such as the Prado, the Metropolitan and the Sorolla Museum, remains an absolute reference of luminism and the painting of emotion.