Josep Cruañas. Atmosphere and dynamism

Al leer la biografía del catalán Josep Cruañas cualquiera diría que no se trata de un artista contemporáneo, sino que fuera uno de aquellos creadores que a principios de siglo XX se reunía con sus compañeros de profesión en tertulias interminables, en las que se comentaban los hallazgos artísticos, se contrastaban las ideas y, sobre todo, se aprendía a pintar libremente, sin imposiciones académicas.

That is how this painter has learned his profession, in official schools too, but above all from several masters and from his own experiences travelling around Europe. Just as Paul Cézanne did, an artist Cruañas admits to admiring. Chasing, as the Frenchman did, the changing light in different landscapes, whether rural or urban. Perhaps the latter deserve a special mention, because they are the ones that best express his style, halfway between expressionism and impressionism.

There's no need to look for comparisons in his artworks, but they help to place this artist critically, even if his canvases already speak for themselves. He has the nerve, the energy, of the first movement mentioned and the vaporous luminosity of the second style, frozen in a single instant. His palette is neutral, leaden, like the grey skies he discovered in London or in Nordic landscapes. In the seascapes a happier light can be detected. Each moment has its own character.

Cruañas's work may therefore seem somewhat melancholy, an impression the artist dilutes with vigorous touches of colour and compositions built on tensed structures. The greyish and bluish tones, which give an earthy impression, like when sky and earth mix after rain, are tempered, as we say, with warm colours such as red, a trace of the expressionist passion his artworks also reveal.

Suggesting movement is another feature of this creator's painting. He doesn't paint streets crammed with cars and in his harbours the boats are moored. The vitality comes from the dynamic line of the drawing and from dividing the view into blocks of colour with blurred outlines.

Cruañas paints in oil and watercolour. In the latter, although it doesn't lose its quality of transparency, the atmosphere isn't as damp as that of his canvases, it brings to mind dry mists instead, tempered for example by the strong sun of the Venetian lagoon.

With more than three decades of work behind him, and quite a few exhibitions and prizes, Cruañas is a solid artist, with personality and sensitivity, values that extend to his artworks.

Visit the artworks of Josep Cruañas at http://cruanas.artelista.com/