Josep Maria Subirachs

JOSEP MARIA SUBIRACHS SITJAR (Barcelona, 1927-2014).
Untitled. 1990.
Ink on paper.
Signed and located (Orotava) in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 36 x 35 cm; 66 x 65 cm (frame).

Original drawing by Subirachs. The work combines surrealism, geometry and a strong symbolism, elements that defined his work. It is a metaphysical composition that plays with visual perception. The drawing is dominated by a strong conical perspective. All the horizontal lines converge in a single point located on the horizon, on the left side of the image. A thin, vertical tree, almost without leaves, cuts perpendicularly the perspective lines and outlines the giant profile of a human face: a monumental head in negative. This play of positive/negative is a hallmark of Subirachs. In the lower left corner, we see an intertwined serpent, evoking the Greek caduceus, symbol of travel and transit. The style is structural and architectural. Subirachs constructs a human presence from emptiness and geometry, contrasting it with elements of nature in a dreamlike landscape full of symbolism.

Subirachs was born in Barcelona. 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 sculptor Enrique Monjó as an apprentice. Five years later he began working as an assistant to Enrique Casanovas. In 1948 he made his debut at the Casa del Libro in Barcelona, and in 1951 he traveled to Paris to complete his training, with a scholarship from the French Institute of Barcelona. He returns to his hometown in 1953 and is awarded the Sculpture Prize of 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. He has had numerous solo and group exhibitions in Europe, Asia and the United States, and in 1988 he was awarded the Medal of Merit in Fine Arts. In 1980 he was elected member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Jorge. 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.