Ignacio Mallol

IGNACIO MALLOL CASANOVAS (Tarragona, 1892 - Bogotá, 1940).
"Interior of the Cathedral of Gerona", ca. 1910.
Mixed media on laid paper.
Signed.
Measurements: 48 x 60,5 cm; 66 x 83 cm (frame).

Mallol recreates with an intimate atmosphere the monumental interior of the cathedral. The work is constructed from a dark range, where the gothic architecture emerges between shadows, accentuated by small flashes of light that guide the gaze towards the altar.

Mallol captures in this drawing the silence and solemnity of the sacred space through an expressive and suggestive language, more interested in the emotional impression than in the descriptive detail.

Ignacio Mallol was a Catalan noucentista painter and prominent educator, with an important role in the protection of the artistic heritage of Tarragona during the Civil War. Trained in Barcelona and completed his education in Paris (1911), he returned in 1916 before settling in Olot, where he became one of the main exponents of the new local landscape school. In 1934 he co-directed the Tarragona Workshop-School together with the sculptor Joan Rebull. After continuing his teaching work during the war, he went into exile in 1939 and died the following year in Colombia.