JOSEP MESTRES CABANES (Manresa, Barcelona, 1898 - Barcelona, 1990). "Mediterranean coast", 1941. Watercolour on paper. Signed, dated and dedicated in the lower right corner. Frame with xylophages. Size: 28 x 56 cm; 35 x 64 cm (frame). Painter and set designer, Josep Mestres Cabanes came from a family with a long artistic tradition. He began his studies at the School of Arts and Crafts in Manresa, and then furthered his training at the Sant Jordi School of Fine Arts in Barcelona, where he was taught by J. Calvo. He also studied in the studio of Salvador Alarma, with whom he became a collaborator and partner years later, with the firm Alarma y Mestres (1939). When Alarma died in 1942, he was commissioned to decorate several Wagnerian works for the Teatro del Liceo, and then moved to his scenographic workshop until 1956. His decorations stood out for their realism and good knowledge of perspective, and as an easel painter he held several exhibitions in Barcelona and Madrid. Between 1947 and 1969 he taught perspective at the Institut del Teatre in Barcelona, and was later appointed professor of the subject at the Escola de Sant Jordi. During his career he was awarded the silver medal of the Diputació de Barcelona, the gold medals of the city of Manresa and of the Gran Teatre del Liceu Society, and the Gold Poster of the Consortium of the Liceu. Although most of his work is in private collections, he is also represented in the Museo Comarcal de Manresa and in the Museo de Artes Escénicas del Instituto del Teatro in Barcelona, where an exhibition has recently been dedicated to him.