Expressionist School (c.1950) - Expressive Portrait

FEMALE EXPRESSIONIST PORTRAIT

Catalan School, mid-20th century
Mixed media on cardboard

• Author: Anonymous / signature not identified

• Chronology: Mid-20th century, ca. 1950–1970

• School: Catalan

• Style: Figurative expressionism / material painting

• Technique: Mixed media on cardboard

• Support: Cardboard

• Dimensions of the work: 17 x 12 cm

• Overall dimensions: 25 x 21 cm

• Inscriptions: Traces of an inscription on the upper area, possibly “Roma”; incised or drypoint inscription on the neck area, legible close to “Montse” and a second line likely “Novell” or similar

• Theme: Profile portrait of a woman

• State of conservation: Generally good and visually attractive. Surface with wear, small abrasions, craquelure and slight losses typical of the technique, the support, and its age. Review photographs

• Presentation: It is presented in a decorative dessert-frame. The frame is included as a courtesy and a gift

-- The work will be professionally packaged with custom-made packaging and shipped insured to any international destination.

-- We collaborate with a specialized logistics center, with preparation and distribution approximately within 3 days once payment is confirmed.

IDENTIFICATION

1.1. Typology and attribution

This is a small and highly suggestive work of Catalan painting from the mid-20th century, resolved with notable technical freedom and a clearly expressionist sensibility.

By plastic language, material and intimate character, it can prudently be cataloged as Catalan School, ca. 1950–1970.

1.2. Inscriptions and context

The work preserves especially interesting clues. In the upper part there seem to be remnants of an inscription compatible with “Roma,” while in the neck area a faint inscription can be distinguished, probably traced with a drypoint, where one may read “Montse” and, below, a second word of uncertain reading, close to “Novell.”

These elements suggest a personal or dedicatory dimension, and open a beautiful relationship between the author’s Catalan sphere and a possible Roman or Italian context.

ARTISTIC DESCRIPTION

2.1. Composition

The image presents a female profile portrait, focused on the essential, with an austere and powerful construction of the face.

The head is cut off with great force against a vibrant and abstract background, while the figure is summarized in a few chromatic masses of immense expressivity.

2.2. Color and material

The artist works with a rough-surfaced mixed technique, employing overlays, dragging, and rubbed or sgraffito areas that enrich the painted skin.

The yellows, pinks, blues, and blacks do not describe in a naturalistic way, but emotionally. The hair resolves as a large dark mass, almost graphic, contrasting with the delicate fractured face.

STYLE, SCHOOL AND ICONOGRAPHY

3.1. Plastic language

The work clearly sits within Figurative Expressionism and late 20th-century material painting.

It does not seek academic likeness or polished finish: its interest lies in psychological intensity, in the vibration of color and in the trace of gesture. It contains echoes of postwar European figuration and of certain Catalan languages close to intimate and poetic experimentation.

3.2. Catalan sensibility

The whole evokes the Catalan milieu of mid-century, where figurative modernity, the material, and a painting with strong subjective charge coexisted.

Its small format, together with the possible personal inscriptions, reinforces the impression that we are facing a very private piece, probably conceived as an affective portrait, intimate note, or close evocation.

CONDITION

4.1. Painted surface

The work presents a generally good state within its typology.

Wear, small abrasions, craquelure, and slight losses are observable, coherent with the fragility of the cardboard and with the experimental nature of the technique. Far from diminishing interest, these aspects contribute to its material authenticity.

4.2. Presentation

Kept in a decorative dessert-frame, very suitable for its intimate scale and its character as a personal piece.

The frame accompanies the work gracefully and is provided as a courtesy, not forming part of the strict material valuation of the painting.

GUARANTEE, TRANSPARENCY AND SHIPPING

5.1. Prudent cataloging

The work is offered as a mid-20th-century Catalan School piece, mixed media on cardboard.

The readings of the inscriptions are stated with caution, given that they are partial and delicate scripts, visible but not fully conclusive.

5.2. Photographs and description

Photographs are an essential part of the description.
No claims will be accepted for visible aspects or those expressly mentioned, such as wear, small losses, surface irregularities, support characteristics, inscriptions of doubtful reading, or frame condition.

5.3. Shipping and conditions

The gallery works with a professional packaging company, custom protection, and international insured shipping.
Any additional cost arising from destinations outside Euro zones 1 and 2, islands, remote areas, high-rate zones or non-EU shipments will be borne by the buyer. The frame is included as a gift and no claims will be accepted regarding its state, age, fragility or suitability.

CONTEMPLATION

6.1. A small yet profound presence

Despite its small format, this work possesses extraordinary intensity.
There is in this face something fragile and, at the same time, firm, as if the figure emerged from the material and memory. It is an intimate, vibrant, and silent piece, one of those that does not need to impose itself to stay in the viewer’s gaze.