Rafael Jutglar Pujol (1889 - 1961) - Cesta con cerezas

Signed by the artist on the bottom

The overall condition of the work is good, only note that it shows some craquelure due to the passage of years

The work is presented framed

Dimensions of the work: 38 cm in height x 41 cm in width

Dimensions of the frame: 47 cm in height x 55 cm in width

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RAFAEL JUTGLAR PUJOL (Badalona, 1889 - Barcelona, 1961)

Rafael Jutglar Pujol was born in Badalona on October 11, 1889, and died in Barcelona in 1961. He studied at a School of Arts and Crafts in Barcelona, where his fondness for drawing and painting began to germinate, and would later become the focus of most of his professional activity.

When very young he went to Cuba with his brother Miguel. There he worked as a drafting illustrator, in addition to writing art criticism for the prestigious Diario de la Marina in Havana. Among his activities in that country, he participated in the works of the Presidential Palace, the Casino Español of Havana, the Maceo monument, and the Centro Asturiano. It is true that both he and his brother were very well connected in Cuba at an official level.

Back in Spain, he worked in Badalona for the Catalan Company of Chemical Products as a draftsman from February to July 1918. It was at that time that he moved to Sabiñánigo, joining EIASA as a draftsman. In this company he remained in two periods interrupted by a stay in Huesca, namely: from July 1918 to April 1921, and from January 1925 to November 1927, the interval from 1921 to 1925 in Huesca. From September 1926 to November 1927 he was transferred to Panticosa. At EIASA he did works related to the construction of waterfalls and buildings. From his stay in Huesca we know that he worked at the Military Command of Works.

In 1927 he left EIASA and until 1930 he worked in Sabiñánigo as a Designer and Contractor. Perhaps this is the period that interests us most, since he left his personal mark. During those three years he carried out several works: Casa LACOMA (the old one) in Puente de Sardas, which was the first he did; Casa de ROSENDO BIESCAS, still standing, where the “Almacenes Arrudi” are; Casa ABADIAS (or the VINATERO), already disappeared, where today is “El Barato”; Casa de la HISPANO TENSINA, also disappeared; Casa LAGUARTA in which he lived and from which remains are still visible. But, certainly, his most representative work was the construction of the Church of Cristo Rey. In 1929 the construction of this church was completed (years later it would be remodeled), and it was blessed on May 5 by the Very Illustrious Bishop Don Juan Villar Sanz; and as could not be otherwise, the original seal of the parish was made precisely by Rafael Jutglar.

In 1930, after finishing Rosendo Biescas’ house, he stayed with the contract to build the road from Sabiñánigo-town to the station, although he did not finish it due to bankruptcy.

But his activity in Sabiñánigo was not limited to construction; Rafael Jutglar had time for drawing and painting (some works from the Exhibition are from the Sabiñánigo period), to make covers for festival programs, letterheads, invoices, various logos, etc. Even the older people remember that he painted the ribbons for the races during the festivals. He even gave drawing classes at Casa VICTOR, where he also lived for a time. Indeed, he fully integrated into Sabiñánigo society, remembered for his joviality and friendliness and a few anecdotes aboard his car of the “torpedo” type.

Regarding his style, it can be noted that he was influenced by the Modernist current of the first quarter of the century. The appearance of the Modernist style in Aragonese architecture was a relatively late phenomenon closely linked to the diffusion of Catalan modernism, especially the “floral style.” Although it was essentially an urban movement, Jutglar applied it in Sabiñánigo in a personal way both in architecture and the graphic arts: floral and vegetal forms, play of curved and straight lines, allegorical figures, etc.

Rafael Jutglar left Sabiñánigo in 1931 and resided in Barcelona until his death in 1961. For those thirty years he lived entirely devoted to the world of drawing and painting, leaving behind an enormous body of work, of which this Exhibition shows a small part. Of his painting activity in this period, two Exhibitions stand out: one in 1949 of Drawings at the Caralt Hall in Barcelona, with good reviews, and another in 1953 at the Casa de Cultura in San Sadurní de Noia.

After thirty years since his death and sixty since his departure from our town, “Amigos de Serrablo” has “recovered” this man who left his mark in the short history of the industrial Sabiñánigo. Rafael Jutglar, surely, will be better known in Sabiñánigo starting from this Exhibition.”