Josep Niebla

JOSEP NIEBLA (Tetouan, Morocco, 1945-Girona, 2021).
"Vertical Africana nº 1" from the series "Africa in memory".
Oil on wood.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 140 x 30 cm.

Expressionist painter, adopted from Girona in the 1960s. He studied Fine Arts in Tetuan, which he extended in Seville, Barcelona and Paris. In 1962 he decided to settle in Girona where he actively participated in the life of the country, until he set up his house-workshop in a farmhouse in Casavells, in the Baix Empordà. Since 1961, when he presented his first individual exhibition at the Cultural Center of Ceuta, he has had almost 200 exhibitions in Europe, Asia, Africa and America. In 1975 he won the grand prize at the International Biennial of Barcelona. In 1982 he made a large painting commissioned by the town council of Playa de Aro with letters of the alphabet as a pictorial motif and various objects (wood, neon, X-rays) on the canvas. He has painted other large murals (Sant Feliu de Guíxols, 1984; Buenos Aires, 1987-88 and Barcelona, 1992), and has also made posters, engravings, collages and illustrations for bibliophile books. He has often exhibited both in Spain and abroad, and in 1992 a retrospective exhibition of his work was held in Girona. Since the 1980s he has lived in Casavells, where he has his studio and his foundation.