Antoni Coll Pi

ANTONI COLL PI (Barcelona, 1857 - Santiago de Chile, 1943)
Untitled, 1975.
Silkscreen on paper. Copy 46/150.
Signed and dated in pencil.
Measurements: 65 x 50 cm.
Antoni Coll i Pí studied at the Academy of Fine Arts of Barcelona, where he was a disciple of the painter Antoni Caba. His first works became known in 1882 in the Exhibition of the Academy of Fine Arts of Sabadell and in 1885 in the Exhibition of the Martorell Museum of Barcelona, where he presented the works "Revelation" and "A portrait". In 1887, he participated in the National Exhibition of Fine Arts with the work "A Study".
His first great triumph came with "The Widower", which earned him a third medal at the Universal Exposition of Barcelona in 1888. Later, he perfected his technique in Paris under the tutelage of Carolus Duran, where he painted "La marraine catalane" for the Universal Exposition of Paris in 1889.
In 1906, he was hired by the Chilean government as a professor of drawing at the School of Decorative Arts in Santiago. In Chile, he made important public monuments such as those dedicated to Alonso de Ercilla (1910) in Santiago, Blanco Encalada in Valparaíso and Pedro de Valdivia in Valdivia.
In 1927, he returned to Barcelona, where he made the bust of the politician Francesc Pi i Margall. He returned to Chile in 1935 and died in 1943. The Chilean National Salon organized a retrospective exhibition of his works after his death.
Antoni Coll i Pí left a significant legacy in both Spain and Chile, being recognized for his skill in both painting and sculpture, and for his contributions to art education and the creation of public monuments.