RAMÓN LLISAS FERNÁNDEZ (Barcelona, 1879 - 1952)."Portrait of the violinist Francesc Costa.Terracotta

RAMÓN LLISAS FERNÁNDEZ (Barcelona, 1879 - 1952).
"Portrait of the violinist Francesc Costa.
Terracotta bust.
A bronze copy of this work is part of the Lerín Collection, Barcelona.
Wooden base.
Size: 38 x 40 x 18 cm (terracotta); 6.5 x 31.5 x 19 cm (pedestal).
A music lover, Ramón Llisas Fernández left several portraits of singers and musicians, among them those of Hipólito Lázaro and Francesc Costa (a bronze copy of the same work shown here is in the Lerín collection, Barcelona). Francesc Costa's is his most celebrated work: its tortured, expressionist style makes it part of the post-modernist trend.
Sculptor. He trained at the Official School of Fine Arts in Barcelona, and was a disciple of Josep Reynés. He worked with Miquel Blay, Josep Llimona, Agustí Querol and Joan Borrell Nicolau, with whom he achieved a complete mastery of the craft. He was in contact with Eusebi Arnau, and was a great admirer of Donatello, Michelangelo and Rodin. He travelled around Spain, visited Rome and Venice to further his studies, often residing in Paris. With the desire to acquire all the technical knowledge related to his profession, he visited numerous workshops and foundries in Catalonia. He devoted himself mainly to bust portraits, producing many of them of musicians and singers - an activity for which he was very fond -, he excelled as a poster artist, winning prizes in competitions, and he also devoted himself to painting. He had great skill in working in marble, a speciality he developed in Bechini's reproduction workshop. His sculptural work is realist, and very much influenced by the French of the last quarter of the 19th century. In works such as the portrait of Elena Jiménez Albentosa and that of the violinist Francesc Costa, realism and symbolism are combined. He took part in the Second General Exhibition of Fine Arts in Barcelona in 1894 with a Plaster Studio Head. In 1896 he presented the plaster bust "El riu contemplant ses plantes" at the Third Exhibition of Fine Arts and Artistic Industries in Barcelona, and was awarded a 3rd Class Medal, a work that is kept in the Museum of Barcelona. At the 4th Exhibition of Fine Arts and Artistic Industries in Barcelona in 1898, he presented two charcoal drawings: Retoño and Flores blancas. At the International Exhibition in Barcelona in 1907 he presented Work, initiating him into a typically postmodernist social theme. In 1908 he lived in Madrid, and at the Exposición General de Bellas Artes e Industrias Artísticas he presented the plaster statue Labor and the imitation copper bust Labor. In the Spanish section of the International Exhibition of Painting, Sculpture, Drawing and Engraving at the 1929 Barcelona International Exhibition, he presented two sculptures entitled Portrait and Portrait, both in bronze, and was awarded the 3rd Class Medal. In 1942 and 1944 he exhibited at the National Exhibitions held in Barcelona. A friend of Joaquim Mir, he made works for him: Zorro para su jardín (Fox for his garden) and a bust portrait which he presented at the National Exhibition in Barcelona in 1942.