Still Life - José Vilató Ruiz

Oil on cardboard circa 1960 attributed to José Vilató Ruiz. José Vilató Ruiz, born in Barcelona on January 4, 1916 and died in Paris 12th on March 8, 1969, is a Spanish painter and engraver known as "J. Fín". He is the brother of Javier Vilató, the uncle of Xavier Vilató and the nephew of Pablo Picasso. Son of the Barcelona neuropsychiatrist Joan Vilató and Lola Ruiz Picasso, he is the second of a family of seven children. He grew up in an artistic atmosphere. Some of his uncle's paintings adorn the walls of the family home, such as Science and Charity, or the famous Harlequin, above his childhood bed, as historian Pilar Vélez recounts in her biography. His pseudonym "Fin" comes from his youth: José, Josefín, Fín. As a teenager, painting took precedence over his studies, and he began producing his first paintings at the age of 14. He studied for a time at the La Llotja school. When the Civil War broke out in 1936, he joined the Republican army and went to the Aragon front, where he met Manuel Viola. In 1939, during the Retirada, he joined his brother Javier, who was also mobilized. Both crossed the Pyrenees and were interned in the Argelès-sur-Mer concentration camp, from which they were able to escape thanks to the intervention of their uncle Picasso, who welcomed them to Paris. The outbreak of World War II sent them back to Barcelona. In 1945, Fín settled permanently in Paris and moved into La Ruche. Emptied of its artist residents after the war, the house was a shadow of its former self. Fín then turned to abstraction. He painted in very harsh conditions. The studio was cold and dirty, and the artist was losing his health there. In the 1950s, he moved to Rue Santeuil and joined the group of Spanish artists in Paris: Óscar Domínguez, Baltasar Lobo, Antoni Clavé, Hernando Viñes… He exhibited in Paris and Barcelona, and returned some summers to Catalonia, to Port de la Selva, where he painted a long series of maritime landscapes. In 1952, he met his partner Colette Jacquemin. In 1962, he moved to Montmartre, to his last studio. He continued to paint and exhibit despite his precarious health. He died on March 8, 1969, in Paris. His remains joined the family burial site in the Poblenou cemetery in Barcelona a few days later. Her work is currently exhibited at the Picasso Museum (Barcelona), the National Library of Catalonia, notably for her engravings, the Museum of Modern Art in Paris and the Centre Pompidou. She joined the MACBA in 1996 and the Reina Sofia Art Centre in 1998.