Joan Rebull

JOAN REBULL TORROJA (Reus, 1899 – Barcelona, 1981).
“Female Nude.”
Ink on paper.
Work executed on both sides of the paper.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 20.5 x 28.5 cm; 36 x 44 cm (frame).
Considered one of the leading figures in 20th-century Catalan sculpture, Joan Rebull began his training in his hometown under the sculptor Pau Figueres, later completing it at the School of Fine Arts at La Lonja in Barcelona and in the studio of the marble worker Bechini. In 1917, together with other artists, he founded the group Els Evolucionistes as an alternative to the tenets of Noucentisme. His stays in London and Paris profoundly shaped his artistic sensibility and reinforced his interest in classical sculpture. After gaining recognition in the Catalan and Parisian art scenes, he received major awards, including the Grand Prize at the First Hispano-American Art Biennial in Madrid (1951).
He taught at the Sant Jordi School of Fine Arts and was awarded the Gold Medal of the Generalitat of Catalonia. His sculpture, characterized by refined execution and a masterful command of form and volume, is distinguished by an essential, serene, and anti-rhetorical conception of the human figure, in which classical tradition is reinterpreted through a modern and personal language. His work is represented in institutions such as the National Art Museum of Catalonia, the Reina Sofía Museum, the Monastery of Montserrat, and the Palau de la Música Catalana, among other public collections.