Joan Cardona

JOAN CARDONA I LLADÓS (Barcelona, 1877-1957).
"At the café".
Colored pencils on paper.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 31 x 24 cm.; 54 x 47 cm.(frame).

This is one of the artist's favorite themes, centered on the elegant life of cafés and salons. This is directly related to Cardona's activity as an illustrator in the Paris of the Belle Époque, where he collaborated with satirical and society magazines. In works such as this one, the influence of modernism and the Parisian graphic environment can be appreciated, combining compositional elegance, narrative sense and an aesthetic close to the world of illustration.

Trained at the School of Fine Arts of La Lonja and the Baixeras Academy in Barcelona, Cardona furthered his studies in Paris, where he lived for several years and worked with prominent illustrators such as Cappiello, Sem, Steinlen and Roubille. He developed an important activity as an illustrator collaborating in magazines such as "El Gato Negro", "Hispania", "Le Rire", "Simplicissimus" and the modernist "Jugend".

He exhibited in Paris in the Salons d'Automne and of the Société Nationale, being named sociétaire, and participated in the International Exhibitions of Fine Arts of Barcelona in 1907 and 1929. His work is conserved in the Museum of Luxembourg in Paris.