Exhibitions: Modern Catalan Painting

February 7, 1932: An important exhibition of modern Catalan paintings will open at the Brooklyn Museum on February 15 to continue through March 12. The collection was assembled by the College Art Association with the aid of collectors and artists of Barcelona, and the Director of the Museum of Vich. Among the artists represented in the exhibition are Bosch-Roger, Rafael Duran-Camps, Jaime Mercade, Luis Mercade, Joaquim Mir, Pablo Picasso, Jose Prim, Pruna, Joan Serra, and Joaquim Sunyer. The selection is representative of groups, tendencies, historical epochs and events, and in addition given evidence of great sensitivity on the part of the present day painters. Thus we find that the list of artists contains the names of the most prominent personalities of this generation. Through these personalities we may appreciate the variety which distinguishes the modern Catalan school. There is evidence of much spiritual depth which proclaims adherence to the noble origins of Spanish painting but yet admits the verities of present day existence. The existence of a realistic movement whose foundations are rooted in the naturalism of the traditional Catalan School is marked.

Catalonia is a testing ground for vastly conflicting tendencies. A young people without an official art school, or rather possessing an official school having no prestige, has found itself leading young artists into the open field of speculation. This vivid school of painting is represented at its best in this exhibition. It has not yet achieved its full development but it shows promise of great development in the future and its greatest strength and interest lies in its freedom from those banalities which are the super-cargo of much present day art.

After the Metropolitan showing it will travel to Concinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio, Springfield Art Museum Springfield, Mass; California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, California, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, etc.

Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1931 - 1936. 01-06_1932, 012. View Original