Rafael Durancamps

RAFAEL DURANCAMPS I FOLGUERA (Sabadell, 1891 - Barcelona, 1979).
"Coffee".
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower margin.
Purchase invoice of the year 1984 is attached.
Measurements: 80 x 100 cm; 102 x 120 cm (frame).

Durancamps captures with sobriety and lyricism a scene of daily life, endowing the anecdotal with poetic density. The interior of the café, with its high ceilings and rustic low arched vaults, welcomes a regular clientele, mostly older men wearing berets, who converse, smoke pipes and play cards at tables covered with green rugs, a color that provides a chromatic rhythm in contrast to the dominant earthy tones.

At a nearby table, a family sips a soft drink, while three black cats (a mother and her litter) keep an eye out for whatever might fall. The wooden bar, in the background, hosts the figure of the waiter, absorbed in the preparation of drinks. Another waiter, in movement, carries a tray with a fluid gesture.

The atmosphere is built with a subtle use of filtered light, which penetrates laterally through the windows, organizing the space through a play of soft shadows and luminous zones, without stridency, with a tonal harmony that refers to the silent interiors of modern costumbrismo. The coat rack next to a green curtain, which insinuates the access to the toilets, and the simple lamps hanging from the ceiling, are details that Durancamps picks up with an observant look. True to his style, the artist uses a synthetic and measured brushstroke, detailed but without falling into preciosity.

Rafael Duran i Camps, better known as Durancamps, was a disciple of Vila Cinca at the Industrial School of Arts and Crafts in Sabadell. Later he met Joaquín Mir, with whom he established a close relationship, and whose style influenced the colorful language of Durancamps' first period. He exhibited for the first time in 1917, in the Layetanas Galleries of Barcelona, reaping a success that encouraged him to continue painting despite the opposition of his family. He spent several seasons in Madrid, where he studied the masters of the Prado Museum, and then traveled to Italy. He returned to Barcelona and took part in various competitions, obtaining important prizes such as the Masriera medal, as well as holding several exhibitions in the Sala Parés. In 1921 he travels for the first time to Paris, and five years later he returns to France, settling in the city of Passy until 1939. During these years he meets Picasso, who encourages him to hold exhibitions at the Zak gallery, shows in which he obtained considerable success, which was increasing in his successive exhibitions. He returned to Spain and settled in San Sebastian, but continued to work closely with the Sala Parés, where he continued to hold exhibitions until his death. He also held various exhibitions in Madrid, Sabadell, Bilbao, Valencia, London and Philadelphia. He is represented in the Museums of Contemporary Art in Barcelona, Madrid, San Sebastian and Buenos Aires, as well as in a large number of Spanish and foreign collections.