Josep Cardona

JOSEP CARDONA FURRÓ (Barcelona, 1878 – Moià, 1922).
"Male Figure."
Plaster.
Signed.
Measurements: 65 x 30 x 16 cm.

Josep Cardona was a Catalan sculptor and a student of the sculptor Manel Fuxà i Leal. He studied painting, sculpture, and printmaking at the School of Fine Arts at La Lonja, where he crossed paths with Pablo Picasso—whom he portrayed on more than one occasion—and with whom he shared a studio on Escudellers Blancs Street in Barcelona. He was a member of the Sant Lluc Artistic Circle, at least since 1897, and of the Royal Artistic Circle of Barcelona. He spent time in Paris, the artistic hub of the time that had become a must-visit destination to experience the prevailing modernism. He also worked in Argentina, where he created monumental statues, and in Madrid. Although he created works depicting Gypsy women, his greatest contribution was his full-length and small-format portraits of figures, executed with an Impressionist sensibility, possibly influenced by Pavel Trubetskoy, an Italian sculptor of Russian origin and a follower of Rodin. He held a solo exhibition in May–June 1909 at the Fayans Catalán Gallery in Barcelona. At the Rafael Masó Foundation in Girona, visitors can view the sculpture *La nodriza* (The Wet Nurse), dated around 1915.