Josep de Togores

JOSEP DE TOGORES LLACH (Cerdanyola del Vallès, 1893 - Barcelona, 1970).
"Composition", 1926.
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower right corner.
With label of Galerie Simon and Sala Gaspar on the back.
Measurements: 38 x 61 cm; 40 x 63 cm (frame).

"Composition" takes on exceptional relevance as it belongs to Togores' Parisian period during the 1920s. During this period, under the exclusive contract of the famous art dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler (discoverer of Picasso and Juan Gris), the artist explored a language close to synthetic cubism with subtle surrealist nuances. The composition is characterized by a harmonious display of fluid forms that distance themselves from the marked figurative style that would define his later production.

The piece acquires an exceptional historical value as it retains the Galerie Simon label on the back. This label is not only a mark of provenance, but also the testimony of Togores' period of greatest international projection in the European avant-garde. Under the protection of this gallery, the artist was part of the pictorial elite of the time, exhibiting his work alongside masters such as Picasso, Juan Gris, Léger and Braque. This relationship was decisive for his language -a very personal Cubism- to obtain the support and recognition of international critics.

Born into a well-to-do and cultured family that frequented intellectual circles, his interest in painting began at the age of thirteen, when he lost his hearing due to meningitis. He traveled to France and Belgium, where he discovered the paintings of Rembrandt, and at the 1907 International Art Exhibition in Barcelona, he was fascinated by the work of Monet. At the age of eighteen he is already an important artist in Barcelona, and in 1913 he is commissioned to decorate the chapel of Anna Girona in Poblet. With a scholarship from the city council of Barcelona, he moved to Paris to study, where he became acquainted with the painting of Cézanne, who would be a decisive influence on his work from then on. In 1917 he meets Picasso, and comes into contact with cubist theories and circles. In the 1920s he began his relationship with the gallery owner Kahnweiler, who would later become Picasso's dealer. He worked exclusively with him between 1921 and 1931, when his painting went through its most experimental period, approaching automatism and surrealism. Under Kahnweiler's guidance he became an enormously successful artist. In 1932 his painting takes a new turn, a return to figuration. He moves to Barcelona and works with a new dealer, Francesc Cambó. During this period he painted many portraits of the most important people in Catalan society, and became one of the most sought-after painters of the time. During the Civil War he moved to France, but returned in 1939, where he continued to work, without having lost any of his prestige. His work is present in the Museo Patio Herreriano in Valladolid, the Museo Nacional Reina Sofía, the Museo Nacional del Arte de Cataluña, the Getty Museum (Los Angeles), the Museo de Arte de Sabadell, the Städtisches Gelsenkirchen Museum (Germany), the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum (Madrid), the Palacio Nacional de Montjuic and the Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris), among others.