Joan Rebull

JOAN REBULL TORROJA (Reus, 1899 - Barcelona, 1981).
"Female bust.
Terracotta sculpture on marble base.
Signed.
It is a preparatory study for a sculpture now preserved in the MNAC, n. inventory 010048000.
Measurements: 26 x 14 x 16 cm; 9 cm (height of base).

This work is an eloquent sample of the most personal work of Joan Rebull, an artist who develops a language of classical roots in the aesthetic, based on the principles of nobility, beauty and proportion, which uses however an idealization and a synthesis of the forms according to the avant-garde and not the models of classical antiquity. Thus, we are faced with a serene, balanced portrait of a certain immutable character, archaic and almost sacred in the perfection of its proportions and structural lines, which establishes a bridge between the ancient idols and avant-garde plastic research.

Considered the most outstanding Catalan sculptor of his time, Joan Rebull began in the world of sculpture in his hometown, under the sculptor Pau Figueres. In 1915 he moved to Barcelona to begin his artistic training at the School of Fine Arts of La Lonja, while working in the workshop of the marble artist Bechini. In 1916 he made his individual debut with an exhibition at the Centro de Lectura in Reus, and the following year he founded, together with other artists, the group known as "Els Evolucionistes", which aimed to replicate the Catalan Noucentisme. In 1921 he traveled to London and Paris, cities where he was particularly impressed by the ancient art housed in their museums. Between 1926 and 1929 he lived in the French capital and took part in the Salon des Indépendants, although he also sent works to exhibitions in Barcelona. In Paris he was the first artist hired by the prominent Catalan art dealer Joan Merli. On his return he was appointed president of the new Montjuic Salon (1932) and a member of the Sant Jordi Academy (1934), took part in various exhibitions in Madrid and Barcelona and, in 1938, won the Campeny Prize at the Salon d'Automne in Barcelona. After the war, he went into exile in Paris, where he took an active part in artistic life, attending the exhibition "Le Jeune Sculpture Française" and the Salons d'Automne. He returned to Barcelona in 1948, and three years later won a great prize at the I Bienal Hispanoamericana de Arte in Madrid. In 1962 he was appointed professor at the School of Fine Arts of Sant Jordi, and shortly before his death he was awarded the gold medal of the Generalitat de Catalunya. A child of noucentista perfectionism and a great draughtsman, Rebull works with great technical mastery and certainty in the path to follow. His is a direct and anti-rhetorical sculpture, based on a serene and essential vision of reality. His style can be defined as a reencounter with the source of classicism, from which he never copies the consequences. He is represented in the National Art Museum of Catalonia, the Reina Sofia National Center, the Barcelona City Hall, the Monastery of Montserrat and the Palau de la Música Catalana, among other centers.