Josep Roca Sastre

JOSEP ROCA SASTRE (Terrassa, 1928 - Barcelona, 1997).
Untitled, 1951.
Ink on paper.
Signed and dated in the upper left corner.
Measurements: 45 x 33 cm; 62 x 44 cm.
Formed in Barcelona, from the sixties Roca initiates a personal, independent style, and creates his own language. His proposal focused on recovering the look of the close and the everyday, the known. He exhibited for forty years in the Sala Parés in Barcelona, and also showed his work in other Spanish cities, as well as in the United States. In 1966 he was awarded the Sant Jordi prize by the Diputació de Barcelona, and two years later the medal of honor at the Salon des Artistes Français in Paris. In 1980 he became a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Sant Jordi, and in 1993 he was awarded the Quadern Prize of the Fundació Amics de les Arts i de les Lletres de Sabadell. Roca Sastre developed a figurative style of intimate themes, applying a personal and subjective look to his interior scenes as well as to his urban and natural landscapes. Since his death, retrospectives of Josep Roca's work have been held at La Pedrera and the Muncunill (Terrassa), Oriol (Barcelona) and Juan Oliver Maneu (Palma de Mallorca) galleries. His work is preserved in the National Museum of Art of Catalonia.