Joan Vila Grau

JOAN VILA-GRAU (Barcelona, 1932-2022).
Untitled. 1975.
Painted wood sculpture.
Signed and dated.
Measurements: 130 x 170 x 25 cm. (irregular)

Joan Vila Grau was a total artist, of great versatility in terms of languages and techniques. Thus, he made assemblages like the one we show in parallel to his well-known stained glass and pictorial work. It is possible to link this type of assemblages with the Italian Povera and the French New Realism.

Son of the painter Antoni Vila Arrufat, he was trained at the School of Architecture in Barcelona, but he nevertheless turned to painting. Interested in liturgical art, he has specialized in the realization of stained glass windows for churches and religious buildings, highlighting his work in the Expiatory Temple of the Sagrada Familia. He has worked in Barcelona (church of the Little Sisters of the Assumption, 1962; Llars Mundet, 1963; Virgen de la Paz church, 1964-1966; Orfeón de Gracia, 1978; Bellesguard, 1979), Sabadell (Caixa d'Estalvis, 1968-1970), San Sadurní de Noya (Cavas Codorniu, 1970), Vendrell (Fundació Pau Casals, 1980), Villafranca del Panadés (Caixa d'Estalvis, 1986), etc. He has also made works in Andorra, Alayor, Zaragoza, Granada, Madrid, Cádiz, Corrientes and Cincinnati, collaborating on occasions with Joan Miró. As a painter, he has evolved from a schematic figuration of Romanesque influence towards abstract art, with works in polychrome wood halfway between painting and sculpture. He has held exhibitions in Barcelona, Madrid, Tarragona, Tarragona, London, Mataró, Granollers, Bilbao, Santander, etc. He also stands out as a theorist, being the founder of the magazine Qüestions d'Art. It is worth mentioning his research on stained glass, from Gothic to contemporary, being the author of works such as Els vitrallers de la Barcelona modernista (1982), Descoberta de la taula de vitraller de Girona (1985), El vitrall renaixentista (1991) and Le vitrail dans l'architecture de Gaudí (2004). He is director of the Institute of Stained Glass in Barcelona and a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Sant Jordi and the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona.