Santiago Rusiñol

SANTIAGO RUSIÑOL I PRATS (Barcelona, 1861 - Aranjuez, Madrid, 1931).
"Landscape with bridge and child".
Pencil drawing on paper.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 22 x 16 cm; 37 x 31 cm (frame).

Painter, writer and playwright in Catalan language, Rusiñol was one of the main ideologists of the Catalan modernist movement. He trained as a disciple of Tomás Moragas and frequented the Center of Watercolorists, of which he was one of the founders. He made his debut in 1884 at the Sala Parés in Barcelona, together with his friends Ramón Casas and Enric Clarasó. During those years he made a carriage trip through Catalonia with Casas, taking notes of types and landscapes. The year 1888 marks a turning point in his career, since he begins with three new activities: he publishes some writings in "La Vanguardia", participates in the Paris Salon and holds his first individual exhibition at the Sala Parés. The following year, 1889, Rusiñol settles in Paris, in the Montmartre district, with Utrillo, Clarasó and Canudas. He attended the academy of the painter Henri Gervex, and completed his training with Puvis de Chavannes and Carrière. The ruralism he had adopted in Barcelona disappeared, and his style evolved towards naturalism. He also approaches the thematic, but not technical, approaches of the impressionists, as well as their desire to capture a fleeting snapshot. In 1890 he established a relationship with Sitges, where he painted some of his first patios and gardens, a theme that would define his later style. That same year he held his first exhibition at the Sala Parés, together with Casas and Clarasó. In 1890 he returns to Paris with Casas and Utrillo. The following year he travels to Italy with Zuloaga, visiting Pisa, Florence and other places, which allows him to know closely the primitives. On his return he exhibits the paintings made during this trip in what will be his first personal exhibition in the Sala Parés. That same year he inaugurates the Cau Ferrat in Sitges, the seed of the current museum. Around this time, he exhibited in Paris at the Salon des Indépendants, at the Exposition Nationale and at the gallery of Samuel Bing, the main promoter of Art Nouveau in France. In 1908 he received the medal of the National Exhibition of Fine Arts. He is represented in the Prado Museum, the National Museum of Art of Catalonia, the Camón Aznar of Zaragoza and the Thyssen-Bornemisza, among others.