Ramón Casas y Carbó (Spanish, 1866-1932)

The present lot is an example of Ramon Casas' engagement with auca, a Catalan tradition of story telling with pictures. Popularized in the 19th century, auca usually consists of a series of sequential scenes, similar in structure to a comic strip, that may illustrate fables, humorous narratives or even historical events. Among the best examples of auca are those produced by Casas to illustrate the novel L'auca del senyor Esteve, written by the Barcelona artist Santiago Rusiñol. Published in 1907, after Ruisñol and Casas had both returned home from Paris, L'auca del senyor Esteve explores contemporary life in a Barcelona neighborhood. Casas' aucas also appeared in the avant-garde journals, Quatre gats and its successor Pèl i ploma, which were central publications of Barcelona's Modernisme movement.