LIBRO CERCLE

19 Thehistory of theCircle T he Barcelona Artistic Circle -which has borne the title ‘Royal’ since 1917 with its denomination by special decree by King Al- phonse XIII - is one of the institutions that has played one of themost important roles within the art history of our country. In fact, the Cir- cle had enjoyed excellent linkswith theRoyal Household since 1906, when theartist CarlosVázquez completedaportrait of theKingof the institution’s headquarters. Around the same date, a delegation of the Circle moved to Madrid to request he sign and open the Montepío Golden Book of Spanish Artists ’, a volume that even today requests the signature of all thepersonalities that visit theCircle. Originally theRCABwasdesignedasasimpleassociation thatbrought together art students and aficionados in theirmost varied forms of ex- pression; 18th-centuryandModernistaartistsbutwithout being limited to any ideology or aesthetics with the aim of preserving its invaluable critical independenceasaplatform for representingany typeof quality artisticexpression. It isperhaps for this reason that theCirclewasable towelcome two of themost international figures of Catalan art, Xavier Gosé and Anglada-Camarasa, who had returned to Spain given the growingwar atmosphere that was threateningEurope. Amongst the founders we should note the painters Eliseo Meifrén, Modest Urgell, Joaquim Mir, Ramón Casas or Isidre Nonell, all of whom left their mark in one way or another, and are just a small col- lection of the long list of prestigious artists that have passed through our halls. Thesewere the institution’smost glorious times, with nearly 1500members and a great deal of weight within the upper echelons of Barcelona society. Themarkedeclecticism that the institutionhasalways shown since its origins allowed it bring together artistic personalities such asGalofré Oller or ayoung IsidreNonell,whoeven thenwasmakingwaves in the world of art. The only movement that was unfortunate enough to not take root at the institution was the avant-garde, despite havingmany followers asmembers. The earliest reviews known to us located the origins of the Circle in May 1881, when the emblem was chosen and its first statutes were signedbased on thepromotion of FineArt inall itsmanifestations. These conditions were reinforced so that they could not be reformed or altered under any circumstance. Throughout its history, the institu- tion has had various headquarters in theCatalan capital until it occu- pied its current property at the beginning of the 1970s, in a restored