Josep Maria Subirachs

JOSEP MARIA SUBIRACHS (Barcelona, 1927 - 2014).
"Preparatory drawing for the monument Francesc Macia i Luisa".
Pencil on paper.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 25 x 37 cm; 41 x 53 cm (frame).
Preparatory sketch representing the monument erected to Francesc Macia i Luisa, located in the Plaza de Cataluña and built in 1991. The monument presents a bronze bust of Macià in front of an inverted staircase of concrete and travertine marble. The monument was inaugurated on December 25, 1991, coinciding with the 58th anniversary of the death of Francesc Macià.
After entering the workshop of a gilder who was fond of sculpture at the age of fourteen, where he modeled his first works in clay, in 1942 he entered the workshop of the sculptor Enrique Monjó as an apprentice. Five years later he began working 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 travels to Paris to complete his training, with a scholarship from the French Institute of Barcelona. He returns to Barcelona in 1953 and is awarded the Sculpture Prize at the Jazz Salon. After two years working and exhibiting in Belgium he returns to Spain, and in 1958 he is awarded the Gran Premio San Jorge of the Diputación de Barcelona and the "Julio González" of the Cámara Barcelonesa de Arte. Since then he has been commissioned for public works, among which his important sculptural work on the façade of the Passion of the Sagrada Familia 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 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.