Xavier Gosé

XAVIER GOSÉ (Alcalá de Henares, 1876 – Lleida, 1915).
“Modernist Lady.”
Pencil on paper.
Signed. Measurements: 25 x 20 cm; 45 x 41 cm (frame).

Gosé was a voyeur of human passions, and his work constitutes a documentary archive of early 20th-century bourgeois society. Francisco Javier Gosé was a key illustrator and painter in the worlds of graphic design and fashion during the transition from the 19th to the 20th century. He studied in Barcelona, where he was an assistant to the illustrator José Luis Pellicer. From a very early age, he contributed to Barcelona publications, ranging from “La Esquella de la Torratxa,” “La saeta”—in which his affiliation with Modernism is evident—to “Mundial Magazine” and “Fémina,” where a pre-Cubist style begins to emerge. His first exhibition was held at Els Quatre Gats. During his time in Barcelona, he portrayed the working class, although in 1900 he traveled to Paris, where he contributed to “La vie Illustrée” and “Le frou-frou,” among others. He exhibited at the Parés and Dalmau galleries in Barcelona, the Vilches Gallery (Madrid), and the Georges Petit and Ritlinger galleries (both in Paris). Up to this point, his works offered a satirical and realistic view of the bourgeoisie, snobs, and prostitutes, though this perspective changed in 1907, when he began a more stylized, less realistic, and less ironic phase, largely due to his entry into the world of fashion, where Gosé sought to set trends among women. His time in Paris marked a turning point in his life and artistic career, as the French capital was where he broadened his horizons, becoming a successful artist who secured prestigious commissions, such as illustrations for the finest satirical magazines. In 1910, he began collaborating with German magazines such as *Ulk*. In 1914, World War I broke out; this event, combined with the serious health problems he was suffering from, forced him to leave the elegant Parisian scene, and he moved to the city of Vichy, famous for its spas. Shortly thereafter, Gosé settled back in Barcelona, spending the final days of his life in Lleida. Notable posthumous exhibitions include the one at the Círculo Artístico in the same year of his death, the retrospective at the Rovira Gallery (1970), and the exhibition at the La Caixa Foundation (1984). His work is represented in the Museums of Modern Art in Barcelona and Madrid, among others. Javier Gosé’s style oscillates between Modernism and French Art Deco, reflecting the life of Parisian society. Inspired by the social life of café-concerts, prostitutes, horse races, athletes, and the famous Montmartre, his style reflects the refinement and delicacy of French society at the time, though it is not without a certain roguish charm characteristic of carefree Paris.