José Navarro Llorens

JOSÉ NAVARRO LLORENS (Valencia, 1867 - 1923).
"Arab souk".
Oil on panel.
Signed and dedicated in the upper right corner.
Measurements: 40 x 70 cm; 57 x 87 cm (frame).

"Arabian Souk" is inscribed within the orientalist luminist slope that attracted several Spanish painters of the end of the XIX century and beginning of the XX. However, Navarro Llorens avoids an exoticizing or fanciful look to approach the Arab world from an empathetic, almost documentary perspective, without losing his aesthetic sensibility. The painting is a vibrant symphony of light and chromatic warmth, a fragment of the daily hustle and bustle of a North African village that combines the costumbrista look with an atmospheric sensitivity inherited from Valencian luminism. In the foreground, the sandy and dusty street unfolds in a fugitive line that leads the eye towards some arcades in the distance. On both sides of this main road, the stores open to the outside are lined up, improvised on the adobe facades. Special prominence is given to the ceramic sellers: male figures, seated in the immediate shade of their houses, surrounded by earthenware jars and pitchers, glazed or unglazed, of different formats and colors. The shadows, brief and defined, contrast with the open luminosity of the street, generating a tension that adds vitality to the whole. Children run through the central space, small whirlwinds of movement that energize the composition. The naturalness of their gestures and their vitality underline the living condition of the souk, moving away from the exotic postcard. In "Zoco árabe", José Navarro Llorens manages to combine the scorching light of the Maghreb midday with the silent dignity of the traditional trades.

José Navarro Llorens was very early on his way to painting, and studied at the San Carlos School of Fine Arts in his hometown. After his student period we lose track of him, and we will not find him again until 1895 when, according to Pantorba, he participated for the first and only time in the National Exhibition of Fine Arts, obtaining an honorary mention. That same year was the year of the consecration of Joaquín Sorolla, who unanimously won the first medal in that contest. Although they were lifelong friends, it is possible that Navarro, given his bohemian and humble character, did not aspire, like Sorolla, to make a brilliant career of official laurels and courtly prestige. It seems that he never intended to project his work beyond a limited local scope, as can be deduced from the fact that, in his early years, he devoted himself to painting costumbrista and gallant scenes for fans. Nevertheless, his early works show a certain influence of the style of Mariano Fortuny, whom Navarro admired, and from whose example he may have been inspired to travel to Morocco in a second stage. This trip must have taken place shortly after finishing his studies, and he devoted himself to painting local, North African and Orientalist themes. At the beginning of the 20th century he was hired to decorate a palace in Buenos Aires, although Navarro never arrived in Argentina. He embarked with such a destination, but during a stopover in Rio de Janeiro the painter decided to stay there indefinitely. In the Brazilian city he continued to work and held an exhibition that was widely celebrated. However, nostalgia for his homeland, the absolute protagonist of his pictorial language, led him to return to Valencia, settling permanently in Godella. There he lived the rest of his life in a simple and humble way, giving painting classes at the town's Academy and painting tirelessly. His style draws from various influences, such as Fortuny, Domingo Marqués or Levantine luminism, but always manifested itself deeply personal, linked to Navarro's own way of understanding the world. His painting refers to Mediterranean clarity through beautiful transparencies, a corporeal luminosity and nervous and vibrant brushstrokes. His is an energetic, robust and vital realism, which turns light into a plastic and even tactile value, rather than a chromatic one. José Navarro is represented in the Fine Arts Museums of Valencia and Asturias, the Carmen Thyssen Museum in Malaga and in the Gerstenmaier collection, among other public and private collections.