Sin título, 1960

Frederic Lloveras  

This untitled lithograph by Frederic Lloveras (Barcelona, 1912–1983), a Catalan painter and printmaker, depicts a quiet street lined with houses with ornate cast-iron galleries. On the left, a large tree with a twisting trunk and a broad green crown shades a white clapboard house with a porch and green shutters; beside it stand two elegant white houses with lacy iron balconies and verandas, in a style associated with New Orleans and the American South, and a small tree with red leaves rises in front of them. In the street a woman in a red dress walks past and, at the right, a horse-drawn carriage with bright red wheels waits with its driver. Lloveras combines a precise, illustrative black line, which describes the architectural ornament in detail, with loose, transparent patches of colour in the sky, the foliage and the ground, giving the scene a fresh, sunlit atmosphere. The composition, frontal and frieze-like, has the charm of a travel sketch. The image is printed on Arches vellum with wide margins. The edition comprises 300 impressions, numbered and hand-signed by the artist. Given its age, the sheet may show some spots and signs of ageing.