Artwork by Julio and Joan González is currently on display at the Museu Picasso Barcelona, in its new exhibition “De Montmartre à Montparnasse: Catalan artists in Paris, 1889-1914”. It focuses on the important place held by Catalan artists among the influx of French and foreign creators that amassed in Paris at the turn of the 20th century, when it was widely considered the world’s capital of modern art.
The González brothers settle in Montparnasse in 1900, after their father’s death and the sale of their family decorative metal workshop. They pursue their dream of becoming “real” artists–in other words, painters–and join a dynamic community of compatriots and acquiantances from Barcelona, including Ramon Casas, Isidre Nonell, Joaquim Sunyer and Pablo Picasso, an adopted Catalan.
The subjects of Joan and Julio González’s displayed drawings –the circus, elegant Parisian women, scenes evocative of “la bohème”–, show the impact of the French capital of the Belle Epoque on these two natives of Barcelona, captivated by its modernity and effervescence.
Joan González’s « Jeune élégante assise » (c. 1900-1904, left) is an ink drawing. Its careful, minute lines show a smiling Parisian woman dressed in fashionable clothing, sitting in the park. It is typical of the refinement of this talented artist whose career was cut short by his untimely death in 1908. Julio González is represented by « La toilette n. 1 » (c. 1906-1912, middle) and « L’acrobate n. 1 » (1906, right).
Photos (c) Museu Picasso, Barcelona