JOSEP MARIA SUBIRACHS SITJAR (Barcelona, 1927 - 2014).
"Sidero 268. 1958.
Iron sculpture.
Signed.
Size: 85 x 170 x 15 cm.
Thanks to his uninterrupted participation in the October Salon from 1949 to 1957 and his subsequent period in Belgium (where he lived from 1954 to 1956), Josep Maria Subirachs gained public recognition for his work. From that moment on, he understood the possibilities of being able to make a living from his work, becoming a professional sculptor. He began to experiment with language, moving from expressionism to expression and becoming interested in iron. During this same period - around 1958, the year our piece was made - he worked with other materials (such as stone, bronze and wood, among others), trying to highlight the plastic qualities of their varied colours, structures and textures.
After entering the workshop of a gilder who was fond of sculpture at the age of fourteen, where he modelled his first works in clay, in 1942 José María Subirachs entered the workshop of the sculptor Enrique Monjó as an apprentice. Five years later he began to work as an assistant to Enrique Casanovas. In 1948 he showed his work for the first time at the Casa del Libro in Barcelona, and in 1950 he founded, together with other artists, the group Postectura. In 1951 he travelled to Paris to complete his training, with a grant from the Institut Français in Barcelona. He returned to Barcelona in 1953 and was awarded the Sculpture Prize at the Salon del Jazz. After two years working and exhibiting in Belgium he returns to Spain, and in 1958 he is awarded the Gran Premio San Jorge by the Diputación de Barcelona and the "Julio González" by the Cámara Barcelonesa de Arte. Since then he has been commissioned for a succession of public works, among which his important sculptural work on the façade of the Passion of the Sagrada Família stands out. He has held numerous solo and group exhibitions in various Spanish cities, as well as in Lisbon, Geneva, Antwerp, Brussels, Taipei, Chicago, Paris, New York, Zurich, Stockholm and Copenhagen, among others. His awards include the Ynglada-Guillot Drawing Prize (1966), the San Martín Prize (1971) and the Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts (1988). In 1980 he was elected member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Jorge. He has participated in the main international biennials, such as São Paulo, Venice, Havana, Antwerp, Cairo, Alexandria, Lausanne and Budapest. 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.