CERCLE 1

37 ous spaces perfectly designed for its social and exhibition needs. The organising committee was greatly praised for theattention todetail, towhich thePaintingSectionBoard hadalsocontributed. THEOPENING The opening of the exhibition, celebrated at 6pm 18 on the 23rd of November 17 was quite the success. The event was attendedbydistinguished figures from theworldof art, lit- erature, science and finance, who all gave great eulogies. The crèmede lacrème of theartisticworldwaspresent:Ga- lofreOller, theCasasAbarcabrothers, Cusí, Lasarte, Ferrat- er,Moisés, Pizà, Beltrán,MariàAndreu, Baixeras andFuxà. In attendance therewas also Pirozzini from theMuseums Board, Batlle, Florensa and Granados, amongst many oth- erswishing toexpress their admiration forGosé. Similarly, MartínezDomingo (themayorofBarcelona), Villar iVillate (theCapitanGeneralof theRegion),Matos(CivilGovernor), Parellada and Irla (Provincial Deputies), Dr. Huguet (Peni- tentiaryCanon), representativesof theBishopric, theNavy commander, Eulate (TaxOffice representative) andUtrillo asa representativeof theBarcelonaRegional Government. Therepresentativeof theLleidaRegionalGovernmentsEs- paña, Sol, Pereña, LasalaandAgele chosea seriesofworks with the help of the painter Gili i Roig to be acquired for the recently created art museum. Lleida paid fair homage tooneof itsmost famous sons 19 byacquiringworksworth 7,750pesetas. THEARTWORKS Theexhibitionwasmadeof280artworksbrought together in a simple catalogue that alsomentioned that therewere numerous portfolios of interesting sketches and notes available to the public and to the institution’s secretariat, whichwerealsoon sale. The press noted that those attending, congregated in the fabulous salons, had carefully followed the exhibition, tak- ing in Gosé’s magna opera , also adding that this great ar- tisticmanifestationwas tobeameetingpoint for the city’s most distinguished women and girls, who would admire themasterful work of the painter of elegance, the refine- ment of chicand thecharminggraceof Parisian fashion. The impressioncausedbyhisworkwasgreatly important: over 5000 carefully classifieddrawings and sketcheswere on show, and the roomswere constantly full. All theworks were perfect in their execution and in excellent taste. The themes of his work were everyday life, cafés-concert , the midinettes , prostitutes, the people of the boulevards, the horse-racing fans, sportsman and Montmartre. A large numberof theworkswereoriginalsofdrawingsoncurrent fashionsandmotifspublishedby themost important fash- ionandartmagazines inFrance, EnglandandGermany. Theexhibitionshowed the intenseartistic lifeGoséhadde- veloped in Paris, where he had earned fame for the high value of his work. In his search for a new beauty he had gothiscreations into theworkshopsof themost important designers, andhisstyliseddrawings influenced femaleaes- theticat the time. Manuel RodríguezCodolà rememberedGosé’s initial years of artistic activity inBarcelona, explaining that he used to go toavenues andgardens to catch lifeunawares, toavidly take in the spectacle of the crowd. He noted that he nev- er stopped thispractice, and came to imbue itwithagreat easeand it gavea firmness tohis line, a confident firmness to the precise outline. The quickness of a moving figure that forces the artist to capture, the briefness one has to stick to inorder tosketchout theessential, bothconditions that taught Gosé tomaster the line of expression, and to capture its feeling. Later on in his article Rodríguez Co- dolà continued tomention that there were priceless inti- mate sketches that recreated the atmosphere of the Café Riche , the Restaurant de l’Abbaye , the Au filet de sole , or the Grill Room de l’Elysée Palace Hotel . Gosé created a kind of woman that fascinated thepropagatorsofParisian fashion: female clothing put together by himhad an exquisite nov- elty. The critic remembered the excellent character of the artist, his simplicity despite his success: he said that the artistdidn’t followParis, but thatParis followedhim.When thewarbrokeout theatmosphereofelegancedisappeared, the resturants closed, anddeprivedof hismodels, Gosé re- turned toLleida 20 . ACQUISITIONS There was a great amount of interest in acquiring works on the part of the visitors, and numerous and important works changed hands, the proceeds of whichwent to the artist’smother. Some of the works were acquired by the Barcelona Mu- nicipal Museum Board, the Lleida Regional Government, the Decorative Art Association, a great number of artists, collectors and fans, and evenKingAlphonseXIII, whowas quite the fan of art objects and followed Sorolla’s indica- tions to buy some. The kingwas interested in Saint Cloud (no. 97), Adriana y Emilia (no. 120), and Les cadeaux de Noël (no. 129). However, he acquired Plumas (no. 114), El tocado (no117), and Les cadeaux deNoël (no. 129) on the 25th of November, possibly advised by Sorolla. Georges Foret later acquired Saint Cloud and Adriana y Emilia re- mainedunbought. The Museum Board 21 acquired: La verbena , Sur la ter- rase-Carnaval , Mail-Coach, Bailarinas , Las dos herman- as , Italiana-Española-Idilio (three drawings in the same frame), El chal-Parisiense-Polonesa (three drawings in the same frame), L’aparador de joieria , Cabezadecorativa, Ter- rasseduboulevard , Patinador , Enel jardín , andsixtysketch- es. The followingalsoacquiredworks 22 : PereCasasAbarca (20sketches), JosepMariaXiró (sixsketches), JosepRosich (three sketches), Joaquín Sorolla ( Academia and Encuen- tro ),HermenAnglada-Camarasa (thirtysketchesand Napi- erkowska ), JosepRoca Rabell ( Nocturno ), Manuel Delgado (17 sketches), Manuel Rodríguez Codolà (ten sketches), AlexandreCardunets (dos sketches andhe bought himself Laabuela ), SantiagoAgelet ( Camille ), DomingoBaró iMas (76 sketches, The Weller , El lobo enjaulado and Estudio ),