Pere Pruna

PERE PRUNA OCERANS (Barcelona, 1904 - 1977).
"Harlequin".1923.
Oil on canvas.
Signed and dated in the lower margin.
Measurements: 73 x 60 cm; 90 x 77 cm (frame).

In this painting, Pere Pruna presents us with the figure of a young harlequin, almost adolescent, motionless in a pose that exudes restrained theatricality and melancholy. Dressed in the classic diamond-shaped costume, in this case in black and emerald green, the character appears erect, with one hand on his hip, while in the other he holds his mask. The harlequin wears a bicorn hat with two peaks, a traditional element of the character.

Faithful to Pruna's characteristic style, heir to the Catalan noucentista tradition, but also influenced by his time in Picasso's circle in Paris, the figure is constructed with a clean, refined, almost sculptural stroke. The face of the harlequin, reduced to its essential lines, is nevertheless intensely expressive: a look withdrawn into itself, of a silent melancholy. His almond-shaped eyes, the straight nose, the defined facial oval, form a harmonious and balanced whole, reminiscent of the search for the classical ideal (filtered by the avant-garde) that runs through all of Pruna's work.

The palette, of sober and elegant tones, enhances the contrast between the decorative richness of the costume and the sobriety of the surroundings, letting silence and pause dominate the scene. Pure poetry contained. This painting is part of his usual universe of timeless, solitary figures, suspended between reality and evocation.

Mainly self-taught artist, Pere Pruna completed his training at the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona. After beginning to exhibit in Barcelona when he was still very young, he traveled to Paris in 1921, where he was helped and guided by Picasso. In the French capital he held a successful solo exhibition at the Galerie Percier, and came into contact with intellectuals such as Cocteau, Drieu la Rochelle, Max Jacob and others, with whom he founded the magazine "Philosophie" in 1924. Serge Diaghilev, who visited one of his exhibitions, also proposed him to create the sets and costumes for the ballet "Les matelots" in 1925. Since then he also worked on other musical works, such as "La vie de Polichinele" (1934) and "Oriane" (1938), among others. In 1928 he obtained the second absolute prize in the exhibition of the Carnegie Institute of Pittsburg and later, on his return to Barcelona, he obtained other awards such as the competition "Montserrat seen by the Catalan artists" (1931) or the Nonell Prize (1936). The latter was surrounded by controversy, because Pruna obtained it for his oil painting "El vi de Chios", for which he used as a model a photograph published in a Parisian pornographic magazine. In view of the commotion caused, Pruna renounced the prize, but the jury ratified its decision. After the outbreak of the Civil War, Pruna settled in Paris and continued with his international exhibition activity, with an outstanding exhibition organized in London in 1937. At the same time he worked for Ridruejo's propaganda services, with works such as the poster commemorating the promulgation of the Labor Force, and Eugenio d'Ors, National Head of Fine Arts, introduced him to the Spanish representation at the Venice Biennale in 1938. After the war, he combined easel painting exhibitions with mural painting, a genre in which his work in the Monastery of Montserrat was especially celebrated. In 1965 he won the City of Barcelona award, and three years later he was named academician of the Far de Sant Cristòfor. Pere Pruna is currently represented in the Museum of Montserrat, where there is a space with his name, the MACBA in Barcelona and the Maricel Museum in Sitges, among others.