Dionis Verdaguer Baixeras

Dionisio Baixeras y Verdaguer (Spanish, 1862-1943) The Boatmen of Barcelona signed 'Baixeras' (lower right) oil on canvas 51 x 72½ in. (129.5 x 184.2 cm.) Pre-Lot Text THE PROPERTY OF THE UNION CITY LIBRARY, UNION CITY, NEWJERSEY Lot Notes Dionisio Baixeras y Verdaguer made his reputation as one ofSpain's foremost genre painters in the latter part of the 19thCentury. His compositions focused on the daily life of the Catalanpeople and, in particular, the lives of the fisherfolk who madeBarcelona the important port that it was. His pictures demonstratethe influence of the French artists Millet, Breton andBastien-Lepage whose works also celebrated the daily lives andcustoms of the peasant. Like those of French contemporaries,Baxieras' pictures were acclaimed for their realism and enjoyedrecognition both at home and abroad. He was honored with medals inMadrid in 1884, Paris in 1886 and Barcelona in 1888, and wasinvited to participate in the Exposition Universelle in Paris in1900. In 1886, Baixeras travelled to Paris where he was able to study theFrench Realists firsthand. This experience had a profound impact onhis work. His commitment to naturalism and his sensitive portrayalof the life of the peasants, farmers and fishermen is evident inhis idealized depiction of these individuals in his compositions.In order to convey a sense of accuracy to his pictures he workeddirectly from nature, first sketching apuntes hastily en situ tocapture his impressions of the scenes, later developing them intofinished works in his studio. In The Boatmen of Barcelona the artist depicts three fishermen intheir boat in the middle of Barcelona's harbor, taking a moment'sbreak from their labors to enjoy conversation and a smoke. Throughthe compositional devise of thrusting the boat into the foreground,Baixeras enables the viewer to participate in the scene. The present picture is a version of a larger painting by the sametitle that Baixeras exhibited in the Paris Salon of 1886. Thispainting is now in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum ofArt, New York.