Emilio Grau Sala

Emilio Grau Sala (Catalan. Emili Grau i Sala , born June 22, 1911 in Barcelona , † June 21, 1975 in Paris ) was a Spanish painter and member of the École de Paris .

life and work

Grau Sala was the son of the draftsman Juan Grau Miró . He attended the Escuela de Bellas Artes in Barcelona , but acquired most of his painting skills self-taught . His first exhibition was shown in 1930 in Barcelona in the “Galería Badriñas”.

During the Spanish Civil War , Grau Salas emigrated to Paris with his wife, the artist Ángeles Santos , in 1936 , where they lived for the next 25 years.

Grau Sala painted in the style of impressionism . His work is influenced by Pierre Bonnard , Marc Chagall and Raoul Dufy .

Grau Sala illustrated some books, for example Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert , The Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire , Bel-Ami by Guy de Maupassant . He also designed posters and made lithographs.

In 1963 Grau Sala returned to Barcelona to counter the stiff painting influenced by Franquism . In the years that followed, up to his death, he created a multifaceted oeuvre, he painted female characters, still lifes and landscapes in the classic, nostalgic style of the 19th century.

In the years after his death, Grau Sala's work was overshadowed by the diverse artistic influences that flowed to Spain in the course of democratization. The professional world first became aware of his work in the 1990s.

Works (selection)

• Colette : La vagabonde. Lithographies de Grau Sala . Éditions du Livre, Monte Carlo 1950.

literature

• Jean-Albert Cartier: Gray Sala. 1911. Documentation . Cailler, Geneva 1956.
• Rafael Santos Torroella: Dibujos de Grau Sala . Iberico Europea, Madrid 1970 (Cuadernos de arte).
• Gray Sala . Editorial La Gran Enciclopedia Vasca, Bilbao 1974, ISBN 84-248-0152-0 .