Josep Maria Subirachs

JOSEP MARIA SUBIRACHS SITJAR (Barcelona, 1927 - 2014).
"Diàleg", 1949.
Terracotta.
Signed and dated on the base (right side).
Presents small restoration on the base.
Work published on the artist's website.
Measurements: 82 x 36 x 29 cm.

This terracotta is contextualized in the first stage of Subirachs, when the young artist began to work as a collaborator in the workshop of the noucentista sculptor Enric Casanovas. Although the master died a few months later, Subirachs has always recognized the profound artistic legacy he left him. Corredor-Matheos stated of this first stage "The measurements, clarity and balance that emanate from Josep Maria Subirachs' early terracottas are also recognized in later sculptures, when the artist would have opted for another aesthetic". Although the work we present here lacks any characteristic trait of Subirachs' later sculpture, it is an exceptional example of the Catalan's mastery of modeling technique and excellence in the rendering of physiognomies.

After entering the workshop of a gilder who was fond of sculpture at the age of fourteen, where he modeled his first works in clay, in 1942 he entered the workshop of the sculptor Enrique Monjó as an apprentice. Five years later he began working as an assistant to Enrique Casanovas. In 1948 he made his debut at the Casa del Libro in Barcelona, and in 1951 he traveled to Paris to complete his training, with a scholarship from the French Institute of Barcelona. He returns to his native city in 1953 and is distinguished with the Sculpture Prize of the Jazz Salon. After two years working and exhibiting in Belgium he returns to Spain, and in 1958 he is awarded the Gran Premio San Jorge of the Diputación de Barcelona and the "Julio González" of the Cámara Barcelonesa de Arte. He has had numerous solo and group exhibitions in Europe, Asia and the United States, and in 1988 he was awarded the Medal of Merit in Fine Arts. In 1980 he was elected member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Jorge. He is represented at the Centro Reina Sofía, the MACBA Museums in Barcelona, Ibiza, Seville and New York, the Fine Arts Museums of Bilbao, Birmingham, the Vatican, Taipei and Nebraska, the Museo al Aire Libre del Paseo de la Castellana in Madrid, the Petit Palais Museum in Geneva and the Millesgärden in Stockholm, among others.