Joan Cardona

JOAN CARDONA I LLADÓS (Barcelona, 1877–1957).
"Gallant Scene."
Mixed media on paper.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 37 x 25 cm; 48 x 37 cm (frame).

This work is a version of the piece “La Sortie des Théâtres Élégants” published in La Rire Magazine in 1906.

Cardona renders this gallant scene through a fluid and concise drawing style, combined with soft touches of color that enhance the expressiveness of the faces and the dynamism of the figures. The color palette, dominated by yellows, ochres, and blacks, reinforces the decorative nature of the scene, in an aesthetic reminiscent of illustration and the elegant atmosphere of Belle Époque Paris.

Trained at the La Lonja School of Fine Arts and the Baixeras Academy in Barcelona, Cardona furthered his studies in Paris, where he lived for several years and associated with prominent illustrators such as Cappiello, Sem, Steinlen, and Roubille. He was highly active as an illustrator, contributing to magazines such as “El Gato Negro,” “Hispania,” “Le Rire,” “Simplicissimus,” and the Modernist publication “Jugend.”

He exhibited in Paris at the Salons d’Automne and the Société Nationale, where he was named a member, and participated in the International Fine Arts Exhibitions in Barcelona in 1907 and 1929. His work is preserved at the Musée du Luxembourg in Paris.