JOSEP AMAT PAGÈS (Barcelona, 1901 - 1991). "View... Lot 44

JOSEP AMAT PAGÈS (Barcelona, 1901 - 1991). "View of Paris". Oil on canvas. Signed in the lower right corner. Measurements: 37 x 45 cm; 49 x 57 cm (frame). Josep Amat favoured, among his urban themes, the views of Paris, a place of frequent trips and journeys from the first time in 1933 and especially from 1949 onwards. Paris impressed him and he painted intensely in this city. The work presented here is a view of the Seine River and its bridges worked with great detail and attention to narrative, a vivid snapshot of urban life with a totally personal sensitivity for colour and light. Josep Amat trained at the Llotja School in Barcelona and was a favourite disciple of Joaquim Mir. In 1922 he took part for the first time in a group exhibition and sold his first landscape. Six years later, in 1928, Amat made his solo debut with an exhibition of twenty-eight works at the Dalmau gallery. From then on he exhibited individually in the most important galleries in Barcelona. In 1933 he took part in the Spring Salon, winning prizes in that edition and also in those of the following two years. That same year he travelled to Paris for the first time, where he became known in 1936 in a group exhibition. In 1940 he exhibited for the first time at the Sala Parés, where he exhibited frequently until 1987. During these years he took part in the Barcelona Spring Salon, winning prizes in 1932, 1933 and 1935. He also took part in the National Exhibitions, being distinguished in Madrid with a third medal in 1941, and in Barcelona with a medal in 1934, a diploma in 1942 and the Diputación prize in 1944. In 1943 he exhibited for the first time in Madrid, in the Sala Vilches, and in 1949 he settled for a time in Paris, where he developed an intense pictorial work. Now fully consolidated, Amat held exhibitions in Spain, Paris, Brussels and Havana. At the outbreak of the Civil War he was forced to give up plein air painting and began a period centred on figures and interiors. In addition to his awards in national competitions, he won the José Ramón Ciervo prize at the Second Havana Biennial of Hispano-American Art in Havana in 1953. Other mentions he received were the Gran Premi Sant Jordi (1955), the Ynglada Guillot drawing prize (1963) and the Gold Medal of the Barcelona International Painting Fund (1981). Between 1942 and 1970 he taught landscape painting at the Barcelona School of Fine Arts. He joined the Sant Jordi Royal Catalan Academy of Fine Arts in 1981, with a speech entitled "History of Landscape". This painter is remembered as the leading exponent of 20th-century Catalan Impressionism, and has been honoured with various exhibitions, including one organised by Barcelona City Council at the Espai Pruna in 2001 to mark the centenary of his birth, as well as the Cross of Sant Jordi (1988). His work is represented in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, the Museum of Montserrat and the National Art Museum of Catalonia.