Nonell's dress

Last weekend was a thrilling one because it's not every day that one finds an unpublished letter from the painter Isidre Nonell in which, to top it all off, he talks about the famous suit he wore when he arrived from Paris in 1898 and which caused such a stir in Barcelona. Once again, the discovery is the result of the astuteness of Joan Mar Sauqué, with whom we conducted a joint investigation. It's a very modern suit. The jacket has a kind of Mao collar, with large buttons, and the white shirt peeks out with an elegant hem. The haircut completes the modern look: a bob with straight hair (Nonell's hair naturally tended to curl). The artist was so pleased with his new look that, before leaving Paris, he had his portrait taken, complete with all his gear, his chin proudly raised. Several copies of this photograph exist, suggesting that Nonell himself commissioned them to give to his friends. Picasso must have had one that he used to make a drawing he published in the catalogue of a 1901 exhibition. Miquel Utrillo had another. And Joan Mar Sauqué has located a third at auction.

“When I put on my suit I felt the admiration of the people and I realized that I no longer wear my hair.”

The great Ramon Raventós referred to this costume in an article from 1911, just after Nonell's death: "I dressed with a Roman-style hair, with a quick -change dress, with some black ties, which give three volts to the collar and with some fantastic ermilles; I wore the wide pants and cordats to the cap d'avall with a line of buttons. Fou un èxit. Encara no'l coneixiem y ja l'admiràvem. Oh! that dress and those drawings and that auriola of who is in Paris. In the letter that we have found, Nonell laughs at the effect it has in Barcelona and explains it to a friend who is abroad. "When I put on this suit, people admired me, and I no longer have my hair." And to prove it, he adds an article published three or four days after his return. The journalist recounts that, shocked, one writer nearly shot himself.

Arxiu of Sergio Vila-Sanjuán" width="449">

This story reminds me of a photograph from one of Miquel Barceló's first trips to Barcelona, ​​after his initial successes in Paris, which Sergio Vila-Sanjuán keeps. It was an event at the Boliche bar: in 1984, a collection of artist guides published by the Àmbit gallery was being presented. Ramón de España, Llàtzer Moix, Carlos Pazos, Javier Mariscal, and Sergio himself appear, dressed in the style of Barcelona in the early 1980s, that is, modern: blazers, bomber jackets, ties. In the center of the group, Barceló sports amazing baggy trousers with thick, crosswise stripes and a colorful patchwork shirt, a haircut like the Duran Duran singer's, and his eyes are lined with lined makeup. He's dressed in postmodern Nonell, and his good friends Vila-Sanjuán, Moix, Pazos, and De España, in modernist outfits from the Quatre Gats. Things never change as much as they seem.