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With the title Teresa Puxan. A forgotten artist, the three paintings by this artist (1865-1933) are shown in the Museum of History of Girona, which have just been added to the fund of the City Council, thanks to the donation of Joaquim Martí Sulla.
All three are oil paintings on canvas from the late 19th century. One is a still life of flowers and the other two are portraits. One of them is by Antoni Collell Oriol and the other by Miquel Collell.
According to the City Council, this is a “very significant donation, since unfortunately information about its history and the number of works recovered is scarce.”
Teresa Puxan Carreras (Girona, 1865-1933), daughter of the industrialist and owner Esteban Puxan and Modesta Carreras, came from a wealthy and large family.
She dedicated herself to painting, and probably had to “face difficulties in training, fight to have her status as an artist recognized, combat moral prejudices that relegated women to the private sphere of the family, and even give up on starting a family.” .
Teresa Puxan persisted and painted portraits and floral still lifes, with great mastery of drawing and color. One of her first exhibitions was in 1892 in the window of the Corominas store in Girona. Also the same year, she participated in the Fine Arts exhibition in Sant Feliu de Guíxols.
She combined her work as a painter with teaching. In 1932 she was a drawing teacher in the first grades of the Escuela del Ateneo Social de Girona, a cultural entity promoted by Cassià Costal, Josep Junquera, Joaquim Pla Cargol and the president of the entity, Carles Rahola.