Sanguine on paper, Two Dancers, signed Alenza, 19th century. Sanguine on paper, total dimensions with frame: 55 x 46 cm
Large framed frame representing a Woman with Children, Alfonsino Period, Spain Frame measurements: 105 x 74 cm, framed measurements. 130 x 87cm
Ink on paper, drawing dimensions: 45 x 28 cm. Framed dimensions: 51 x 36 cm. Son of the draftsman Juan Grau Miró, he was born in Barcelona in 1911. Although he attended the School of Fine Arts, his training is considered largely self-taught. His first exhibition took place in 1930 at the Badriñas Gallery in the same city. When the Spanish Civil War broke out (1936), Grau Sala left Spain with his wife, the painter Ángeles Santos, and settled in Paris. He would remain there for 25 years. In Paris, Grau Sala became acquainted with the avant-garde movements but clearly favored a gentle and colorful figuration, derived from Impressionism and Fauvism. He illustrated editions of "Madame Bovary," "Les Fleurs du Mal," and "Bel Ami," designed posters, and produced lithographs and etchings. In 1963, Grau Sala returned to Barcelona, just as the stagnant figurative style of Francoist Spain was beginning to be challenged by Oteiza, Chillida, Antoni Tàpies, and the El Paso collective (Antonio Saura, Manolo Millares, Rafael Canogar). But he remained true to his style, and until his death in 1975, he produced a substantial body of work within the same framework: female figures, interiors, and landscapes, set in a vaguely classical, nostalgic 19th-century atmosphere. His paintings were decorative in nature, avoiding any risk. After his death, beginning in the 1990s, the resurgence of mid-level art collecting revived Grau Sala's reputation, recognizing him as an accessible, Spanish-influenced interpreter of a style generally labeled "Impressionist."
"The Marriage of Mary" and "Adoration of the Kings", Pair of Engravings based on plates by Albrecht Dürer, 19th century Engraving measurements: 35 x 50, framed measurements: 56 x 42 cm
