Painting by Josep Guinovart, d1954, three nudes

Frame: 26" x 32"
Painting: 18 1/2" x 24 1/2"

Josep Guinovart
(Source: Wiki) Josep Guinovart i Bertran (20 March 1927 in Barcelona - 12 December 2007 in Barcelona) was a Spanish painter most famous for his informalist or abstract expressionist work.

In 1941, he began to work as a decorator. Three years later, he started his studies at the Escuela de Artes y Oficios de la Llotja (Art School of La Llotja) where he stayed until 1946.

He first exhibited his work in 1948 in Galerías Syla in Barcelona. In 1951, he produced his first engravings entitled 'Homage to Federico García Lorca'. Two years later, he was awarded a grant from the French Institute to study in Paris for nine months. Here he discovered the cubist works of Matisse and Picasso and travelled to Belgium, Holland and Germany.

On his return to Barcelona and after a period working as an illustrator and set designer, around 1957 he began moving towards abstract art. His work is highly unconventional and usually on a large scale, using a wide range of materials, three-dimensional objects and organic substances such as eggshell, earth and straw.

In 1962, he illustrated a book of poetry entitled Posies by Joan Salvat-Papasseit for the Ariel Editorial. He won many accolades for his work throughout the 1970s and 80s, including Spain's National Award for Plastic Arts in 1982.

In 1994, a museum foundation dedicated to his art was inaugurated in Agramunt, his mother's birthplace to which he always felt a special attachment.

In 2006 he designed the winery Mas Blanch i Jove in La Pobla de Cervoles (Lleida) and created The Artists' Vineyard, a project intended to mix sculptures and other art works from different artists in the middle of a vineyard. The Artists' Vineyard was inaugurated after his death in 2010 with the unveiling of his sculpture The Countryside Organ: a music instrument, 6 meters height, for the wind to sing the vines. This winery also displays the 10.5 meters work In Vino Veritas and other artists' works.

He died on 12 December 2007 at the age of 80, a few days after suffering a heart attack. He is buried in the Sant Gervasi Cemetery, Barcelona.

Provenance
(From nytimes obituary) Laura Odell (b1922), a retired interior and kitchen designer, died on August 25, 2021 at her home of 56 years in Manhattan.

From her interest in preparing fine cuisine, she founded Laura Odell Kitchen Designs and became successful in the design and installation of residential kitchens. Her talents extended into interior design, a lifelong passion. Her clients included notable figures in fashion, corporate leadership and politics. In her early 90s, she consulted on the design of the current Gracie Mansion kitchen.

Over several years, she contributed to numerous articles in the New York Times Home section. She was an enthusiastic patron of the arts, including theater, ballet and musical performance. For over 20 years, she was a dedicated student of the Iyengar school of yoga.

Mrs. Odell was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and emigrated to the US in 1941, living in Chicago, IL. She moved to New York City in 1948 and with her husband Herman, an attorney, (d.1993), devoted her time to raising two sons, James (d. 2020) and Robert of Seattle, WA. She is survived by three grandchildren, Jasper, Miles and Hannah, and beloved nieces and nephews Chuck, Roger & Myla Green.

Good condition overall