LLUIS GRANER ARRUFÍ (Barcelona, 1863 - 1929). "Character... Lot 16

LLUIS GRANER ARRUFÍ (Barcelona, 1863 - 1929). "Character in a trench coat". Oil on canvas. Signed in the lower right corner. Size: 52 x 35 cm; 72 x 54 cm (frame). As is evident in the characterisation of this middle-aged, sullen-looking man, Lluís Graner was a bold portraitist, with a special ability to depict familiar and close characters. Graner trained at the La Lonja School in Barcelona, where he was a pupil of Benito Mercadé and Antonio Caba, and in 1886 he moved to Paris thanks to a grant from the Diputació de Barcelona. During his five years in the French capital he won two third place medals at the Universal Exhibitions of Barcelona (1888) and Paris (1889). Settling back in Barcelona in 1891, he continued to take part in important international exhibitions, such as those of Berlin (1891), Munich (1892) and Düsseldorf (1904). He also submitted works to the National Fine Arts Exhibitions, winning third medals in 1895 and 1897, second in 1901 and a decoration in 1904. That same year Graner created the Sala Mercè, designed by Gaudí, where he organised his "musical visions", shows that combined poetry with music, scenography with cinema. Finally, ruined, he moved to America. He arrived in New York in 1910, and that same year held a solo exhibition at the Edward Brandus Gallery. The success of this exhibition brought Graner important commissions, among them a portrait of the tycoon Carlos B. Alexander. After spending five months in Barcelona, Graner left again for New York, his final destination being Havana. In 1911 he left Cuba for New Orleans, and shortly afterwards he was in San Francisco. There he opened an exhibition of seventy-six paintings, held at the California Club, which was the largest solo show ever held to date in the city. During the same period he produced several tapestries painted for the film director David W. Griffith. Before the end of the year he is back in New York, where he again has a successful solo exhibition. He continued to paint portraits of important national figures, and in 1912 he held another key exhibition, this time at The Ralston Galleries (New York). In the following years he continued his brilliant international career in Brazil and Chile, before finally returning to the United States, where he remained owing to the outbreak of the Great War, travelling to New York, New Orleans, Chicago and other cities, always exhibiting his painting with great success. In the 1920s he travelled to Argentina, Uruguay and Cuba, and finally in New Orleans he was struck down by a serious illness that irreparably damaged his mind and also transformed his work, which lost the force and transcendence of his earlier periods. In 1928 he held solo exhibitions at the Ritz Hotel and the Galerías Layetanas in Barcelona, and at the end of the year he held a major retrospective at the Sala Parés, before finally dying in May 1929 at the age of sixty-six. His work can be found in the Prado Museum, the MACBA in Barcelona, the National Art Museum of Catalonia, the Hispanic Society of New York and the Balaguer Museum in Vilanova i la Geltrú, among others, as well as in important private Catalan collections.