Agapito Casas Abarca

AGAPITO CASAS ABARCA (Barcelona, 1874–1964).
“Shepherd with Flock.”
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 35 x 34.5; 46.5 x 43.5 cm (frame).

Agapito Casas trained at the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona, and beginning in 1901 he specialized in landscape painting, although he also occasionally worked on still lifes and genre scenes. He exhibited for the first time in his hometown in 1896 and, since then, has held numerous exhibitions throughout Spain, both solo and group shows. He also participated in official competitions and contests in Paris, Dresden, London, Madrid, Barcelona, and Brussels. Around 1930, he held an exhibition, alongside Mir and Martí Garcés, at the famous Balzac Gallery in Paris. He also carried out significant cultural work in Barcelona. Together with Modesto Urgell and other artists, he founded the Artistic and Literary Society of Catalonia; he served as artistic director of the Barcelona magazine *Mercurio*; and he was the first president of the Friends of the Museums of Barcelona. He also served as president of the Artistic Circle, a position from which he carried out intense and effective work. His painting style was characterized—as we can see in this work—by intense color, free brushwork, and great expressive power. His works are represented in the MACBA in Barcelona, the Museum of Modern Art in Madrid, and in museums in Brussels, Buenos Aires, and Mexico City.