Post-cubist Bouquet By Rafel Tona (1903-1987)

Oil on canvas circa 1950 signed TONA (Rafel Tona, Barcelona 1903 - Paris 1987). Post-Cubist composition depicting a free-form vase with a bouquet set against a nuanced blue background. Beautiful original wood frame gilded with gold leaf. Very good overall condition. Dimensions: 72 cm x 55 cm.

Rafel Tona was born on June 24, 1903, in Barcelona's bourgeois neighborhood of Sant Gervasi, the son of a Catalan federalist lawyer and politician. In 1917, he entered the Barcelona School of Fine Arts, where he studied drawing, painting, and sculpture. He graduated in 1924 with a gold medal. In 1919, he participated in his first exhibition as part of the Els Evolusionistes group. During his studies, he worked in the studio of sculptor Josep Llimona and drew for the Barcelona satirical newspapers Papitu and D’aci d’allà. He also apprenticed in the studio of photographer Rafel Areñas Tona. In 1921, he founded the Agrupacio Noucentista with other young Barcelona artists, which exhibited annually at the Dalmau Gallery. His mentor, the sculptor Pau Gargallo, encouraged him to complete his training in Paris. In 1924, he left for France, first to Toulouse, then to Paris where he attended painting classes at the Académie Charpentier and the Académie Scandinave. He earned his living by making advertising posters for the Grands Magasins du Louvre, among others. Attracted by the light of Africa, Rafel Tona and his friend, the Catalan painter Alfred Figueras, stopped in Algiers, from where they traveled throughout the Maghreb. In 1927, they founded the Arts Academy in Algiers, which taught painting, sculpture, and drawing. It quickly became an important meeting and training center for Algiers artists. Back in Paris, while continuing to paint, Rafel Tona divided his time between creating fabric designs and film sets at the Joinville-le-Pont studios, where he participated in the creation of the sets for Pagnol's Marius and Korda (1931) and Pabst's The Threepenny Opera (French version, 1931). The Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed in 1931.
After his mother's death in 1932, he returned to Barcelona, ​​where he opened an advertising agency. In 1936, at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, he joined the SDP (Syndicat des Dessinateurs Professionnels), an alliance of the UGT (General Labor Union, a Marxist-leaning union). He actively participated in the propaganda of the PSUC (Catalan Unified Socialist Party - Catalan Communist Party) by creating posters. Dissensions between anarchists and communists put an end to the SDP's activities in late 1936. During this period, he also published satirical drawings in the weekly L'Esquella de Torratxa, the SDP's organ.
After the fall of Barcelona in February 1939, he took refuge in France, where he remained until the invasion of Nazi troops. He returned to Algeria in June 1940.
Rafel Tona devoted himself entirely to the service of the Resistance and contributed to the organization of the Allied landings in November 1942. Encouraged by Gaston Palewsky (General de Gaulle's Chief of Staff), he and the painter Louis Bernasconi created the Salons de la Résistance in North Africa in late 1943, intended to raise funds for the movement. In 1944, he illustrated articles and short stories published in the newspaper Combat (Algiers edition). At the request of René Capitant (Commissioner of National Education), he and Louis Bernasconi mounted the traveling exhibition Kollaboration (1944). He contributed to the Allied graphic propaganda campaigns (posters and leaflets). During this time, he formed strong friendships with Jean Amrouche, Jean Brune, Albert Camus, Max-Pol Fouchet, and René-Jean Clot. Throughout this period, he continued to paint and exhibit his works in North Africa. Rafel Tona exhibited in Paris in 1946 at the Galerie Champion-Cordier under the patronage of Albert Marquet, who hosted him in his studio in La Frette-sur-Seine.
Back in Algiers, he mounted numerous solo exhibitions and participated in salons in Algeria. He continued his work as an illustrator for Le Journal d’Alger and Algerian magazines. In 1956, he returned to Spain for the first time after 17 years of political exile. He traveled to Portugal, France, and Holland, all new sources of inspiration. In Algiers, he received the Prix de la Critique in 1950 and the Prix du Salon de la France d’Outre-Mer in 1952. His paintings joined the collections of the Algiers Museum of Fine Arts.
In 1960, Rafel Tona left Algeria and settled permanently in Paris, where he made a living from his painting and sculpture. He organized numerous exhibitions both in France and abroad (see list). He continued his quest for discovery and enlightenment in Spain, Italy, Greece, and especially New Caledonia, which would become a new land of inspiration from 1970. Works were acquired by the Toulouse Museum of Fine Arts in 1965, and the National Fund for Contemporary Art