1. SCULPTURE
2. SUBIRACHS, Josep Mª

Josep María Subirachs was born in Barcelona 11 March 1927. Sculptor, designer and engraver. He worked as an apprentice in the studio of E.Monjo (1942-1947) and was a free student in the "Escola de Belles Arts" of Barcelona (1945), but Enric Casanovas (1947-48) was his authentic professor from whom he inherited a style of Mediterranean character inspired by Maillol.

 At twenty-one years old he carried out his first solo exhibition (1948) at the Casa del Llibre of Barcelona. His stay in Paris (1951) and his later residence in Belgium (1954-1956) contributed to his professional development nad plural knowledge of the plastic arts of the second half of the 20th century. Very soon his work enters into a process of schematization and of deformation that will end in abstraction. From this time is Les Parques (The Fates -1956), or Forma 212 (1957) -of the entrance of the Llars Mundet gardens in Barcelona - and especially with Evocació Marinera ( Seascape Evocation 1958-1960) , placed right in the middle of the Barceloneta district, becoming the first abstract sculpture in a public thoroughfare in Barcelona. As an engraver he has cultivated etching, lithography, serigraphy, linoleum and drypoint . He has undertaken all manner of work from large group sculptures to medals and even utilitarian elements. He has imposed a new concept of sculpture in Catalonia and is one of the most original sculptors in the world, his work showing very few influences. He passed away on April 7, 2014.