Ramón Casas Carbó

RAMÓN CASAS CARBÓ (Barcelona, 1866 - 1932).
"Female portrait", 1911.
Pastel on paper.
Presents marks of humidity.
Signed and dated in the lower right area.
Measurements: 50 x 40 cm.
In this female portrait, Ramon Casas demonstrates his extraordinary ability to build an elegant and contemporary image from a simple and direct language. The use of pastel allows him to work with speed and precision, achieving a balance between definition and suggestion, and giving rise to a portrait of great naturalness, fully in keeping with the modernist aesthetic, a movement of which Casas was one of its leading figures, characterized by the synthesis between formal elegance, psychological modernity and intimate sensitivity.
From the stylistic point of view, the work is clearly related to the famous drawing that Ramón Casas made of the watercolorist Pepita Teixidor, currently in the collection of the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (MNAC). Both works show a similar conception of the female portrait.
The portrait stands out for the economy of means and the subtlety of the stroke: a refined composition, centered on the bust of the figure, where the artist gives special prominence to the face and the large hat. The chromatic range, dominated by ochre tones, blacks and soft powdered shades, contributes to create a serene and sophisticated atmosphere, very characteristic of Casas' mature production.
Ramón Casas is one of the key figures of Catalan Modernism and one of the most internationally renowned Spanish artists of his time. Initially trained in Barcelona, he completed his artistic education in Paris, at the academies of Carolus-Duran and Gervex, and soon became part of the most prestigious exhibition circuits of the French capital.
His early participation in the Sala Parés and, especially, his success in the Salon des Champs Elysées, which earned him membership in the Société d'Artistes Françaises, consolidated his reputation. Since then, he developed an intense activity between Paris, Barcelona and Madrid.
Today, the work of Ramón Casas is part of the main Spanish public collections, among them the Museo del Prado, the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, the Museo Reina Sofía and the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, confirming his position as an essential artist for the collecting of modern Spanish art.