Josep Maria Subirachs

JOSEP MARIA SUBIRACHS SITJAR (Barcelona, 1927-2014).
"The pedestal", 1985.
Bronze sculpture.
Marble pedestal.
Work published in "Subirachs", Lourdes Cirlot, ref. 211, p. 165.
Measurements: 99 x 46 x 45 cm; 145 x 60 x 60 x 60 cm.

This bronze sculpture by Josep Maria Subirachs, entitled "El Pedestal", is a material-symbolic reflection on the intimate universe of the creator. Halfway between the still life and the metaphor of the workshop, the work is articulated as a compact block on which are arranged with calculated ambiguity various objects that simulate a sort of secular altar consecrated to the act of creating. A draped cloth covers the table displaying bottles and miniature reproductions of the artist's sculptures. In these, a human torso appears printed as a negative in bronze. This resource, characteristic of his language, turns the figure into a trace, a vestige rather than a presence. The absent body becomes a sculpted memory, a shadow detained in the metal, accentuating the dialectic between what was and what remains, between the artist and his work. Likewise, the draped fabric introduces a dialogue with tradition, while reinforcing the idea of the workshop as a stage set. In the apparent stillness of this scene beats the persistent drive for creation.

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 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 Europe, Asia and the United States, and in 1988 he was awarded the Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts. In 1980 he was elected a 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.