Joan Serra

JOAN SERRA MELGOSA (Lérida, 1899 - Barcelona, 1970).
"Forest".
Oil on board.
It has slight damage to the frame.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 53 x 44 cm; 76,5 x 67 cm (frame).
Joan Serra Melgosa was formed in the School of the Fish market of Barcelona, where he was a disciple of Francesc Labarta. Member of the group Los Evolucionistas, he exhibited for the first time in 1918. He painted mainly intense self-portraits, still lifes and landscapes, in earthy tones and a nervous style dominated by a constructive rigor of Cézannian roots. In 1925 he traveled to Madrid, where he became especially interested in El Greco, and two years later he spent a few months in Paris. He was closely linked to the Sala Parés in Barcelona, where he exhibited regularly from 1927. Sick with tuberculosis, in 1930 he retired to several mountain sanatoriums, where he came even closer to the landscape. He exhibited at the Sala Parés as well as in Madrid, Bilbao, Valencia and San Sebastián, in addition to participating in exhibitions in Paris, London, Pittsburgh, Buenos Aires, Montevideo and Caracas. His awards include the Barcelona City Council in 1931 and the Jaume Morera gold medal in 1950. He is represented in the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona and in the Museum of Fine Arts of Lérida.