His apprenticeship was quite diverse, starting from classes of Francesc Labarta in the Municipal School of Arts, which he attended without being registered, to jewellery and restoration practices. Before moving to Paris in 1917 he held his first exhibition in the Galerías Layetanas. On the advice of Suñer and Vidal he settled in the French capital, where he got acquainted with Picasso, who introduced him to the artistic circle of the city, thus, for example, he started communicating with members of the Philosophie magazine. Very soon he joined the group of painters working for Serge Diaghilez and his Ballets Russes.
As he was a faithful admirer of ancient arts, especially of Greek and the Renaissance classics, his manner differs both from the Picasso’s contemporary neoclassical trend and the style of Matisse and Giorgio de Chirico. It is quite obvious from his feminine figures, which happen to be his favourite subject matter, with the classical aesthetics and certain features of Christian mysticism.
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Portrait of Madame Mayer, 1924 |
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Starting from 1926 he displayed his works all over the world with notable success. He participated in exhibitions, both personal and collective, in London, Paris, Pittsburgh, Avignon, Copenhagen, Berlin, New York, Chicago etc. Nevertheless, after the outbreak of the civil war and his enlistment in the Francoist group he refuses from avant-garde as abstraction and makes religious paintings his only subject matter.
In 1938 he was chosen by Eugenio D’Ors to display his works on the Francoist stand at the biennial exhibition in Valencia. Pere Pruna held his last exhibition in Paris in Galeria Drouin in 1943.
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