Miquel Torner de Semir (1938) - Paisaje y figuras femeninas

\Artist: Miquel Torner de Semir (1938)
Technique: Oil on panel\Signature: Hand signed\Dimensions: 89_2_66_cm
Oil glued to panel Sign in the bottom corner Miquel Torner de Semir was born in 1938 at the Castle of Santa Pau, in La Garrotxa (Gerona) . He is the last living person to have been born in this emblematic building, which is surrounded by volcanoes. He is currently living in San Feliu de Guísols) . This fact marked his facet as a painter. A man of the old Catalonia, educated, he has always been attracted by the Middle Ages, the Pyrenees romanesque and the primitive gothic. The wake of Italian Renaissance art, specially the one of the Italian quattrocento painters -not as in Fra Angelico or Raphael- can be felt in many female portraits of Torner de Semir, such as the present one. It is precisely this mixture between the old and the new where the originality of his works lies. What seems to have built him up is the knowledge of Romanesque and Gothic. His figures, on many occasions bordered by a thick dark line, evoke the Gothic stained glass windows, bright, beautiful in and by themselves. A disciple of the muralist painter and print maker Ricard Marlet, he learned what was most important to him, the discipline of drawing. With the master Marlet he got to know Catalan Modernism and Noucentrisme. He studied at the Escuela de Bellas Artes de Sant Jordi in Barcelona and at the San Fernando school in Madrid, where he visited the Prado Museum and immersed himself in Velazquez’s painting. He decided to reproduce the “Meninas” to his liking, with his own style, with shades of bright colours such as pink and phosphorescent violet, which leaves no room for doubt about the artist's prominence, modernity and friendliness. In addition, if one looks closely, one can find the artist’s use of the collage technique, which decides to embed a piece of fabric, cardboard or even a musical score. In Paris, he began his work as he says ‘between the old and the new”. In 1968 he started holding solo exhibitions in Terrassa, and he did it later in other Catalan cities and in Paris ( Espace and Boutique galleries) . His career began with a Mediterranean figurativism, flowing into abstraction, in order to come back to a figuration of modern concept. In short, he is considered as one of the most important exponents of Mediterranean painting. All these tendencies were not unknown to him, since in Barcelona he had had the opportunity to meet the Dau al Set group. At the Dau al Set school he met such renowned artists as Tharrats, Muxart of Tapiès. His painting is characterised by the use of vivid and rich colours. His work can be defined in a single word: LIFE. Thus, the magnificent works of this Catalan painter are characterised by their rich and impasto colour of great vivacity. This, together with the various materials that he uses as support, gives us the result of a high-quality expressionist painting with a strong personality, which defines the artist as a master. The classic and the new merge amidst Miquel Torner de Semir brush. Time is diluted, it fades. The dividing line between the past and the present is erased with his paintings, with his way of drawing on the canvas. Miquel achieves what very few have achieved before: talking about the past with a present voice. His voice: his paintings. His method: his passion. His achievement: all his works. The Girona painter is influenced by the ancients, Giotto, the Italian Renaissance and by the informal search of abstract paintings. All this is the starting point of his painting: he is as much or more concerned with the craft than with the concept. He has tried to be a bridge painter between the past and the present, but also to be open to everything new, to the constant search. An interesting contrast in Miquel´s work is the way in which he presents people, places and situations of ancient periods, captured with modern painting techniques. This distinguished Catalan painter has been able to break with the rules of time. Miquel Torner the Semir is so direct in defining the lines and shapes, that sometimes it is incredible that the work is a 2 dimensional canvas. It seems at first glance that painting is rather a sum of textures from a three-dimensional world. Some of his works have an outstanding Fauvist accent, with an intense and expressive colour palette, in contrast to the serenity and empty gaze of the faces that invites the observer to delve into the environment of the artist’s work and thought. However, Torner de Semir has a style of his own based on the simplicity of the execution within a very well-structured composition. Female figures have the leisurely forms of religious art and express the calm of the spirit. The figure serves Semir to reclaim the order and rhythm of human actions. According to Joan Lluís Montañé, from Barcelona and a member of the Asociación Internacional de críticos de Arte, the prestigious Catalan painter Torner de Semir, in his extensive pictorial career “is interested in composition and colour -which is a generator of specially elaborated creations where the imprint of determination can be felt and the colour palette is contrasted. exhibits figures, landscapes and compositions that represent a clear exercise in pictorial academicism where he does not renounce to a certain formal and technical innovation, all within an unmistakable personal plastic hallmark. The art critic, Josep M. Cadena says about Semir: “The painter marks with strong and precise lines the silhouettes of the main elements of each composition and he uses basic and pure colours to express feelings. When possible, he makes the painting within the painting, and he even tries to put abstract interpretations and signs on his backgrounds. In this way, he achieves a positive relationship between the various forms of artistic expression that motivate him and his plastic language is much richer and more attractive. He has his own style, based on the simplicity of production within a very well-structured composition. His female figures have the relaxed forms of religious art and they express the calm that the achievements of the spirit must obey. The figure serves him to ask for order and rhythm in human actions, his painting is ethical. He easily communicates positive feelings in those who know his work. Para J. Llop S. : “The drawing, the fundamental, strong, precise, incisive line, establishes the form, delimits spaces in the thoughtful compositions that Torner de Semir present to us. And then comes the moment of seeing in a different way, imaginative things, arrive the dreams which connect with the reality he describes and he dresses up with a chromatism which combines basic colours and soft hues. It is a personal style that discovers the other reality of the landscape, of the figure. Interesting and engaging work that captures the viewer and leads him along the path of imaginative things”. Consistent with his vision of the primitives, he has not worried too much about his social projection towards his teachers. These were sometimes unnamed and although his works are in many countries (he has exhibited in Europe, America and Japan) it is difficult to make an exhaustive compilation of his career. He currently exhibits his works at the Arcadia Gallery in Madrid. In 2003 he was chosen by the Museo de la Real Casa de la Moneda so that one of his works could be published on a post stamp and to participate in the exhibition of the 25th anniversary of the Spanish Constitution. Meanwhile, the Museo de la Real Casa de la Moneda in Madrid has organised an exhibition of his works. Torner’s works have been exhibited in a large number of European and Spanish cities such as: Paris, Brussels, Frankfurt, Heidelberg, Strasbourg, Saint Paul de Vence, Dijón, Clermont-Ferrand, Barcelona, Gerona, Valencia, Seville, Pontevedra, Oviedo, etc. Let's see, below, some of the most important exhibitions held by this Catalan artist: MOST SIGNIFICANT EXHIBITIONS: Amics de les Arts. Terrassa – Barcelona. Pinacoteca. Sabadell – Barcelona. Sociéte des Artiste Independants. Paris. Gran Palais. Paris. Dan Art, Béiziers-Francia. Galerie Espace. Paris -Beaubourg. Lyions Club. Chartres Doyen - France. Guest of honour at the Cercle Espanyol exhibition. Dreux - Francia. Salon d´Autome. Clermont Ferrant – Francia. Grand Prix la Famme et l´Imabonaire Jeanne Gatineau. Paris. Sala Gavina. Palamós - Girona. Sala Clará, Olot-Barcelona. Espai cultural Francolí-Barcelona. Galerie Boutique. Paris, France. La Galerie de l´Hotel Meridien. Paris. L´Atelier. Platja d´Aro. Girona. Ausstellungsraume der Mineralquelle Eptigen. Suiza. Galería Arcadia- Madrid. Galería de arte Star. Colectiva. Madrid. Galería 4 Cantons. Olot. Girona. Galería Catalonia-Barcelona. Galería Art 16. Olot. Girona. Pedreguet Art espai contemporani. Girona. Galería Da Vinci Art. Girona. Galerie Ducs de Dijon. France. Galería Campo u Campo. Belgium. Galería B. C. S. Estrasburgo. Francia. Haus Arnold. Frankfurt am Main. Alemania. Haus Berlinghoff. Heidelberg. Alemania. Naumilenium. Barcelona. Lart century art. Barcelona. Real Club Naútico de Sanxenxo. Pontevedra. Picassomio. com Madrid. Galeries d´Art Christian Dazy. Dijon-Megéve-France. Exposición Conmemorativa del 25 Aniversario de la Constitución Española. Madrid. Sala Constanti Art, Reus. Colectiva de Navidad, 2009-Tarragona. Since it is better if the spectator himself makes the compliment, we are going to enumerate the present artists. Then you can judge. Painters: Cerefino Olivé,Palau Ferré,Guerrero Llabería, Morató Aragonés, J. Soler, J. Queralt, Vicente Romero, Judith Jansá, Josep M. Munté, J. Roig,Abelló, Montesol, Agustina Sobrino, Roelán,Miquel Torner de Semir, De la Cruz, Joaquín Bolda, Ricardo Soler, Domingo Álvarez, Vives Fierro, María Dolors Trench, Joan. Martí, Aguilar Moré, Rafael Romeo, Tito Figueras, Joan Colomer, Luis Bolivar and Marta Argentina. Galería Cervantes6-Oviedo. Given the painter’s...