Celso Lagar (1891-1966)

Celso Lagar (1891-1966)
Female nude from behind
Gouache and wash on paper
Signed lower left
24 x 14 cm
Work sold without frame, in a passe-partout 30 x 24 cm

Originally from Salamanca, Celso Lagar is a painter and sculptor expressionist belonging to the School of Paris. He was introduced to sculpture by his cabinetmaker father before entering the School of Arts and Crafts in Madrid in 1907. On the advice of Miquel Blay, the young artist moved to Paris in 1911 to complete his training there. . He rubs shoulders with the international avant-garde of the Montparnasse district and also befriends Amadeo Modigliani, André Derain and Blaise Cendrars. There he met the sculptor Hortense Bégué who would become his wife. Celso Lagar exhibited for the first time at the Salon d'Automne in 1912 before abandoning sculpture to devote himself to painting in 1913. After the First World War, Celso Lagar, who had returned to Spain for a time, exhibited in renowned Parisian galleries (Galerie Ashnur, Galerie Berthe Weill, Galerie Druet). His work met with great success during the inter-war period, a period of maturity of his art.

Max Jacob wrote in the Lagar exhibition catalog in 1928 at the Zborowski Gallery: “Here is a painter in soul and spirit; here is a generous producer who is not hampered by the barriers of the various modern or other schools. He paints what he likes and likes what he paints and puts into it the ardor of a nourished and sagacious understanding. What real feelings!”.