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97 - Josep Pascó i Mensa (Sant Feliú de Llobregat, Barcelona, 185…

Estimate €100 - €300

Description

Josep Pascó i Mensa (Sant Feliú de Llobregat, Barcelona, 1855 - Barcelona, 1910) Blue glazed ceramic plate. Diameter: 36 cm Provenance: Collection of the artist's family, passed down through the generations. As noted in the entry dedicated to Josep Pascó on the website of the Royal Academy of History, Pascó “received his artistic training under Simón Gómez and the scenographer Joseph Planella. For a time he devoted himself to landscape painting, but his exceptional talent as a decorator led him to focus entirely on book illustration and decorative arts. In 1887 he moved to Madrid, where he joined the scenography workshop of the Teatro Real and also worked on the decoration of the Teatro Príncipe Alfonso. Shortly thereafter he was appointed chief scenic painter at the National Theatre of Mexico, producing, among other projects, the stage designs for the opera Carmen, whose preparatory drawings he later exhibited at the Third Exhibition of Fine Arts and Artistic Industries in Barcelona in 1896. After little more than a year in Mexico, family circumstances compelled him to return to Barcelona, where he entered a period of intense artistic activity that continued until the end of his life. Art historian Alexandre Cirici identified Josep Pascó as the principal representative of Aestheticism (1875–1888) in the graphic and book arts. This movement was closely linked to Japanese-inspired decorative design, characterized by luxuriant floral motifs, idealized animals, symbolism, and rich coloration. As an illustrator, Pascó worked for the leading publishing houses of his day, designing lavish book covers distinguished by flat colours and highly ornamental compositions. Particularly noteworthy are his designs for the Biblioteca Arte y Letras collection, the covers for the Biblioteca Universal series initiated in 1887 by the publishing house Montaner y Simón, as well as the elaborate luxury editions issued by the same firm. Another celebrated work was his design for the 1900 catalogue of Escofet y Compañía, manufacturers of hydraulic flooring. He also illustrated numerous magazines, including Ilustración Catalana, for which he worked under the pseudonym “Brisa”, and he directed the artistic section of the magazine Hispania between 1899 and 1902. Pascó received a Third-Class Medal at the National Exhibition of 1887 and Second-Class Medals in 1890 and 1892. He was also awarded Gold Medals at the Universal Expositions of Barcelona (1888) and Paris (1889) for his decorative designs for industrial bookbindings. Taking advantage of the technical innovations transforming Catalan graphic arts at the end of the nineteenth century, he produced a wide variety of illustrations and poster designs, including the celebrated poster created for the Fourth Centenary of Columbus in 1892, which was highly praised by contemporary critics. He designed countless commercial advertisements, notably for Escofet and for Hermenegildo Miralles’ imitation ceramic tiles. As a decorator, Pascó undertook architectural and interior design projects, organised exhibition halls and processional pageants, and created ceramic tile designs. Among his most notable interiors were those executed for the residence of painter Ramón Casas on Barcelona’s Passeig de Gràcia, designed by architect Rovira Rabassa and considered a precursor of the floral Art Nouveau style (1892–1894), as well as the decoration of the celebrated Saló de la Peixera at the Cercle del Liceu. In 1892 he was appointed professor at the Higher School of Arts and Industries of Barcelona, where he held the Chair of Decorative Drawing and taught Decorative Composition within the Painting Department. At La Llotja School, during a period when drawing pedagogy was undergoing profound transformation, Pascó succeeded in creating what was effectively an analytical laboratory devoted to the study of natural forms and their decorative reinterpretation. He instilled in his students an innovative and highly personal approach to decorative design that proved deeply influential and effectively established a new artistic school. With the arrival of the twentieth century, he introduced progressive ideas aligned with Modernisme into the teaching of the decorative arts. Pascó was also a distinguished collector of historic textiles. He assembled an important collection and catalogued the textiles previously collected by Francesc Miquel i Badia. In 1913 his heirs organised an exhibition of this collection in Barcelona and offered the city the opportunity to acquire it before it was dispersed abroad. Thanks to contributions from private donors and the Board of Barcelona Museums, the collection—comprising approximately 1,100 pieces—was ultimately purchased and preserved. Josep Pascó suffered a fatal stroke while attending the Barcelona Ateneu, of which he was a member, and died shortly afterwards at his home.” The website Modernisme Barcelona further notes that one of Pascó’s most original creations was the painted banner for Santiago Rusiñol’s celebrated Cau Ferrat in Sitges, as well as the decoration of its ground-floor ceilings and Great Hall. Between 1901 and 1903, together with painter Oleguer Junyent, Pascó also participated in the decoration of the celebrated Sala de la Peixera at the Cercle del Liceu. While Junyent executed the mural paintings, Pascó designed the remarkable fireplace incorporating bronze, glazed ceramics, marquetry, stained glass, and a glazed ceiling supported by timber beams. For the residence of painter Ramón Casas on Passeig de Gràcia, Pascó designed the decoration of the principal salon, installing an impressive fireplace that combined wrought iron and carved stone ornamented with animal and vegetal motifs. Ramón Casas painted a portrait of Josep Pascó, now preserved in the collection of the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC, inventory no. 027313-D), donated by the artist himself. Further insight into Pascó’s remarkable contribution can be found in Antonio Boix’s study The Spanish Artist Josep Pascó (1855–1910) and His Influence on Joan Miró, in which the author examines Pascó’s formative impact on Miró’s early academic training. Boix observes: “Pascó was one of the foremost introducers of Japanese-inspired floral themes and a keen observer of contemporary artistic developments. He sought to bring the innovations of European Art Nouveau decorative arts to Catalonia through a historicist sensibility reflected in his extraordinary textile collection, ranging from antiquity to modern times. As Pijoan rightly observed, he was among the foremost textile experts of his generation.” Miró enrolled in Pascó’s elective Decorative Arts course at La Llotja, probably during the academic years 1908–1909 and 1909–1910. According to Boix, “Josep Pascó represented for Miró the disciplined influence of Modernisme. Pascó was far more significant than Urgell as an innovator, a true avant-garde figure before the term existed, and Miró himself later recalled that Pascó gave him freedom.” Boix also reproduces the obituary written by Ramón Marés, one of Pascó’s pupils and a contemporary of Miró: “In 1910 one of the School’s most efficient and progressive professors, Josep Pascó Mensa, died suddenly. It was to him that the teaching of the decorative arts owed its great impulse. His influence on the revival of the industrial arts was decisive, particularly at a moment when the fine arts appeared to have entered a period of decline. His conceptual and design work earned him widespread prestige, and his services were constantly sought after. In Paris and Madrid he received the highest distinctions awarded at exhibitions devoted to decorative arts. The most advanced decorative artists of the early twentieth century were among the students trained under his guidance.” Works by Josep Pascó are today preserved in the collections of both the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC) and the Museo Nacional del Prado. Selected Bibliography Royal Academy of History: https://historia-hispanica.rah.es/biografias/34334-josep-pasco-mensa Antonio Boix, El artista español Josep Pascó (1855–1910) y su influencia sobre Joan Miró: https://artcontemporanigeneral.blogspot.com/2014/12/el-artista-espanol-josep-pasco-1855.html Modernisme Barcelona: https://modernismobarcelona.com/autor/josep-pasco-i-mensa/

About the sale Dialogues with the Past: Vestigia

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Auction time 07/02/2026 at 7:00 PM

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