José Navarro Llorens

JOSÉ NAVARRO LLORENS, (Valencia, 1867 - 1923).
"Shipwreck Threat", 1894.
Oil on canvas.
Signed in lower left corner.
Measurements: 83 x 132 cm, 114 x 160 cm (frame).

This spectacular navy of Jose Navarro is a version with small variations of his homonymous canvas conserved in the Museum Carmen Thyssen of Malaga. This painting, larger than ours (175 x 270 cm), was probably the work presented by the Valencian painter at the National Exhibition of 1895, with which he received an honorable mention; in the same contest Joaquín Sorolla won a first medal with "They still say that fish is expensive!", also with a marine theme. In the 1890s, paintings with dramatic themes related to the sea became enormously popular in Spain, thanks to Valencian artists such as Salvador Abril, Javier Juste, José Monleón, the aforementioned Sorolla or Navarro himself; in this sense, the canvas preserved today in Malaga was a huge success, which explains why its author received, as a result of its popularity, several private commissions to replicate, in smaller dimensions, "Amenaza de Naufragio" (Shipwreck Threat). Our landscape is therefore a good example of the notoriety of José Navarro at that time, which illustrates with great technique, mastery of light and detail, the overwhelming atmosphere of the storm.

José Navarro Llorens was very early on his way to painting, and he studied at the School of Fine Arts of San Carlos, in his hometown. After his student period we lose track of him, and we will not find him again until 1895 when, according to Pantorba, he participated for the first and only time in the National Exhibition of Fine Arts, obtaining an honorary mention. That same year was the year of the consecration of Joaquín Sorolla, who unanimously won the first medal in that contest. Although they were lifelong friends, it is possible that Navarro, given his bohemian and humble character, did not aspire, like Sorolla, to make a brilliant career of official laurels and courtly prestige. It seems that he never intended to project his work beyond a limited local scope, as can be deduced from the fact that, in his early years, he devoted himself to painting costumbrista and gallant scenes for fans. Nevertheless, his early works show a certain influence of the style of Mariano Fortuny, whom Navarro admired, and from whose example he may have been inspired to travel to Morocco in a second stage. This trip must have taken place shortly after finishing his studies, and he devoted himself to painting local, North African and Orientalist themes. At the beginning of the 20th century he was hired to decorate a palace in Buenos Aires, although Navarro never arrived in Argentina. He embarked with such a destination, but during a stopover in Rio de Janeiro the painter decided to stay there indefinitely. In the Brazilian city he continued to work and held an exhibition that was widely celebrated. However, nostalgia for his homeland, the absolute protagonist of his pictorial language, led him to return to Valencia, settling permanently in Godella. There he lived the rest of his life in a simple and humble way, giving painting classes at the town's Academy and painting tirelessly. His style draws from various influences, such as Fortuny, Domingo Marqués or Levantine luminism, but it was always deeply personal, linked to Navarrete's own way of understanding the world. His painting refers to Mediterranean clarity through beautiful transparencies, a corporeal luminosity and nervous and vibrant brushstrokes. His is an energetic, robust and vital realism, which turns light into a plastic and even tactile value, rather than a chromatic one. José Navarro is represented in the Fine Arts Museums of Valencia and Asturias, as well as in the Gerstenmaier collection.