Manolo Hugué was a unique character who alternated an eventful and adventurous youth in Barcelona’s underworld with his friendships with the great avant-garde artists. The writer Josep Pla left an enduring portrait of the artist in Vida de Manolo contada per ell matiex [The Life of Manolo as Told by Himself], published in 1928.

In recent years his work has been acknowledged beyond this anecdotal component. Better known for his facet as a sculptor, Hugué was also an extraordinary draftsman and painter. During an initial stay in Céret, in French Catalonia, between 1910 and 1917—meeting point for international artists—, he developed his own language which was closely linked to Cubism.

This drawing belongs to his second period in Céret between 1919 and 1927. Manolo Hugué used color loosely, in a spontaneous fashion, and created his singular interpretation of modernity. He took on a classic motif: the study of a woman’s back, and developed it in an original way, seeking the contrast between the rotund shapes and the softness of color.