Lot 40: Carlos Nadal (1917-1998) Mer du Nord

Mer du Nord
signed 'cNadal' (lower right); signed again, titled, dated, signed and stamped with artist's atelier stamp 'MER DU NORD - 1984/ cNadal' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
62 x 81cm (24 7/16 x 31 7/8in).
Painted in 1984

PROVENANCE
Private collection, England.

EXHIBITED
Leeds, The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery, University of Leeds, Carlos Nadal: Paintings in Yorkshire Collections, June - August 2011.
London, Bonhams, Carlos Nadal: Paintings in English Collections, a non-selling exhibition, August - September 2011, no.13.

LITERATURE
J. Duncalfe, Carlos Nadal 1917-1998, An English Perspective, Harrogate, 2010, (illustrated p.119).

This work is sold with a photo-certificate of authenticity from the Comité Nadal.

Described as 'the last wild expressionist of Spain' (J. Duncalfe, 'Carlos Nadal: Obituary' in The Independent, 20 June 1998), Nadal's exuberant use of joyful colour, bold application of paint and expressive outlines are perfectly exhibited in Mer du Nord.

A child-like sense of nostalgia is evoked in the present work through the cheerful beach huts, sun-drenched beach, smart sailors in uniform and figures promenading along the pier. This uplifting feeling resonates through each of Nadal's works, produced in a long career which began at the age of thirteen, after the artist lied about his age in order to gain entrance to the School of Arts and Crafts in Barcelona.

Despite fighting in the Spanish Civil War and spending five months in a concentration camp, the artist continued to paint on whatever material came to hand and his optimistic perception of the world expresses itself throughout his oeuvre.