FRANCESC SERRA CASTELLET (Barcelona, 1912 - Tossa, 1976). "Girl sleeping" and "Girls". Two charcoal sketches and coloured pencils on paper. Signed in the lower right-hand corner. Sizes: 33 x 37 cm; 46 x 51 cm (frames). A painter and draughtsman, Francesc Serra spent his youth in Granollers, Barcelona. Although he briefly attended the La Lonja School in Barcelona, he is basically a self-taught artist. He held his first exhibition in 1932 at the Sala Parés in Barcelona, and took part in the Salones de Primavera (Spring Salons) between 1934 and 1936. In 1936 and 1937 he was a special guest of the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, USA. He continued to hold solo exhibitions in Barcelona, mainly at the Sala Gaspar. A great admirer of Degas, he was particularly influenced by his favourite subject, the female. He also sporadically tackled other themes, such as urban landscapes, of which the series of Paris, which he presented in 1951, is particularly noteworthy. Likewise, with his portraits of the lead mine he came close to the sensitive realism of Ingres. He won several prizes, including the Sant Jordi prize in Barcelona (1953) and the first medals at the National Exhibitions in Madrid (1957) and Barcelona (1960). He brought together several unpublished drawings under the title "Dibujos de Serra" (Drawings by Serra) (1973), with a foreword by Santos Torroella. A staunch defender of realism in art and of traditional figuration as opposed to the avant-garde, he published the essay "La aventura del arte contemporáneo" (1953), with a preface by Rafael Benet. He is represented in the Museums of Modern Art in Madrid and Barcelona and in the Museums of Fine Arts of l`Empordà and Sabadell.