Gaspar Camps

GASPAR CAMPS JUNYENT (Igualada, Barcelona, 1874 - Barcelona, 1942).
Untitled, ca. 1900.
Printed. Urriza Bookstore.
Measurements: 27 x 34 cm.

Painter, draftsman and illustrator, Gaspar Camps began his training at the Ateneo de Igualada, to then complete his studies at the Escuela de La Lonja, in Barcelona, where he was a disciple of Antonio Caba. Between 1892 and 1895 he lived in Paris thanks to a scholarship from the Diputació de Barcelona. There he lived with Salvador Alarma, and was a disciple of A.W. Bourguereau, B. Constant and J.P. Laurens. Greatly influenced by them and by Alfons Mucha, becoming known as the "Catalan Mucha", his work as an illustrator is characterized by a marked modernist decorativism and exuberance of forms, as can be seen in the numerous drawings he published in the magazine "Album Salon" (1897-1904) and in the advertising posters of his Parisian period. After a period in Barcelona, where he came into contact with Catalan modernist circles, Camps returned to France, settling between Paris and Toulouse de Langedoc, where he was artistic director of the Sirvent publishing house, where Mucha had previously worked. During his last period he devoted himself mainly to poster design, a discipline in which he was greatly admired, practically abandoning painting. As a painter he cultivated a highly anecdotal realism, often close to "art pompier". An excellent draughtsman and colorist, Camps enjoyed success among a wide public, thanks to his attractive designs centered on women, always very feminine and seductive, typically Art Nouveau. Endowed with a great technical capacity, Camps is part of the great family of first professionals of graphic advertising. Gaspar Camps is represented in the Museum of Catalan Modernism, as well as in numerous private collections both in Spain and abroad.