Ricardo Opisso

RICARDO OPISSO I SALA (Tarragona, 1880 - Barcelona, 1966).
"Circus characters".
Watercolour on paper.
Signed in the lower left corner.
Size: 36 x 26 cm; 64 x 54 cm (frame).
Opisso was a painter, draughtsman and cartoonist. In his youth he took part in the modernist environment of Barcelona, and in fact in 1894 he began to work as an apprentice with Antoni Gaudí in the works of the Sagrada Familia. Two years later, backed by the architect, he became a member of the Círculo Artístico de Sant Lluc, with whom he would later exhibit at the Sala Parés. He was linked to the group Els Quatre Gats, together with Ramon Casas, Manuel Hugué, Isidre Nonell and Pablo Picasso, among others. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century he made a trip to Paris, where Picasso and Hugué were already there. Throughout his career Opisso worked as an illustrator in publications such as "Cu-cut!" and "L'Esquella de la Torratxa", signing drawings aimed at political satire, in a style close to Art Nouveau. In 1907 he took part in the Fine Arts Exhibition in Barcelona and was awarded a third-class medal. Due to the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera, Opisso abandoned political satire and his drawings moved towards genre themes, specialising in popular scenes. His works from this period are characterised by the presentation of motley crowds of people in popular Barcelona settings. After exhibiting several times in succession at the Sala Parés, he held his first solo exhibition in 1935 at the Syra galleries in Barcelona. During the post-war period he continued to exhibit in various galleries in Barcelona, and reaped considerable success with both critics and the public. In 1953 he received recognition from his hometown at the 4th Tarragona Art Fair. Most of his work is kept in the Opisso Museum in Barcelona, but it is also present in the National Art Museum of Catalonia and the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Strasbourg. In terms of exhibitions, the one held at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in 2004 under the title "Catalan Painting, from Naturalism to Noucentisme", in which his work "Carnival" was exhibited, is particularly noteworthy.