FRANCESC LABARTA PLANAS (Barcelona, 1883 - 1963). "La... Lot 28

FRANCESC LABARTA PLANAS (Barcelona, 1883 - 1963). "La carretera", 1933. Oil on canvas. Signed and dated in the lower left corner. Size: 49.5 x 60 cm; 57 x 68 cm (frame). In this work we see a purely chromatic and luminous treatment of the landscape as the only protagonist of the composition, which leaves aside the meticulous description of the real model to capture an impression of nature, a purely visual and purely plastic image, in which the loose, impastoed and precise brushstroke configures forms and spaces based on the juxtaposition of colours. We can appreciate the forms that are blurred and nature acquires a new atmospheric dimension, which goes beyond the pure reproduction of reality. Labarta initially trained with his father, Luis Labarta, at the Escuela de La Lonja in Barcelona. His activity in the field of applied arts earned him a teaching post at the Escuela de Artes y Oficios in Barcelona. A co-founder of Les Arts i els Artistes, in 1912 he was appointed teacher at the Escola de La Lonja in Barcelona, where his pupils included Serra, Sisquella, Capmany and Alumà, among many others. He worked in mural and easel painting, and in the latter field he specialised in the female figure and landscape. He took part in the Barcelona International Exhibition of 1915, where he won a second medal, and also in the Universal Exhibition of 1929. He took part in the National Fine Arts Exhibitions, where he won a second medal (1906) and three third medals (1901, 1904 and 1929). He collaborated as a satirical illustrator, under the pseudonym "Lata", with various publications, and also published books and treatises on art pedagogy. In 1933 he entered the Sant Jordi Academy of Fine Arts. He is represented at the National Art Museum of Catalonia, the Prado Museum and the Empordà Museum.