The lovely young woman has collapsed, exhausted, on her chaise longue after an evening of dancing. The look on her face seems dissatisfied. Perhaps the handsome young man she wished to dance with was not on her dance card. (Jove decadent, 1899)
Ramon Casas i Carbó was born in Barcelona, Spain in 1866. He was known for his portraiture of the wealthy, his crowd scenes and as a graphics designer where he helped define the the Catalonian art movement of modernisme. Born into a wealthy family, he began the study of art at 11. At 16 he co-founded the art magazine L’Avenç. He began exhibiting in 1890, with exhibitions following in Barcelona, Berlin and the World Colombian Exhibition. In 1897 he financed a bar, Els Quatre Gats, which became a meeting place for well-known artists of the modernisme period.
Casas’ star continued to rise though the 1900s as he continued with his art and branched out into the restoration of a Catalonian village which had been purchased by his frequent patron, American art collector Charles Deering, as well as illustrations for the commercial trade. However, by the 1920s that star began its descent as his art became more conventional. He died in 1932.
