Enric Casanovas

ENRIC CASANOVAS ROY (Barcelona, 1882 - 1948).
"Bust of Beethoven", c.1916.
Bronze.
Measurements: 49 x 24 x 27 cm; 56 cm (height with base).
Exhibitions: MEAM "A century of Catalan sculpture", 2013. Reproduced in the catalog, page 160.

Bronze bust representing Ludwig van Beethoven, executed with the personal expressive force and volumetric forcefulness characteristic of Enric Casanovas. The musician appears frontal, with a firm face and concentrated gesture, with a marked introspective severity that conveys the emotional intensity and tragic grandeur associated with his figure. The modeling, vigorous and with a deliberately vibrant surface, reinforces the energy contained in the gaze and the psychological density of the character. The hair, powerful and agitated, envelops the head, accentuating the romantic drama, while the fabrics of the neck are resolved by broken planes that provide sculptural dynamism. The work is dated around 1916, a year that coincides with the commemorative inscription on the base, related to the Wagnerian Association of Barcelona, a key cultural institution in the dissemination of symphonic and chamber music in Catalonia. The bust was conceived as a tribute to the Quartet Renaixement, in recognition of the performance of Beethoven's seventeen quartets, an emblematic event in the musical life of Barcelona at the beginning of the 20th century.

The sculptor Enric Casanovas was one of the main representatives of the Catalan "noucentisme", and his work is characterized by a monumentality inspired by archaic Greek sculpture. He began his training as a disciple of Josep Llimona (1896), and then entered the School of La Lonja in Barcelona (1900). In 1900 he made his first trip to Paris, and on his return he showed his work at Els Quatre Gats (1903). His first participation in an exhibition was at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in Zaragoza, in 1898. Between 1904 and 1913 he lived between Paris and Barcelona, in contact with Picasso, Maillol and Gargallo, among other artists. On his return to Barcelona, he opened a workshop, through which he worked with outstanding figures such as Rebull, Fenosa, Granyer and Viladomat. In 1910 he participated in the first exhibition of "Les Arts i els Artistes", an association of which he became president. That same year he exhibited at the Faianç Català, and shortly after he traveled to London and Belgium (1912). During these years he joined the team of the School of Decoration directed by Joaquín Torres-García (1914). In 1920 he obtained a special room at the Fine Arts Exhibition, and in 1922 he took part in the Exhibition of Catalan Artists in Amsterdam. Five years later he showed his work in Italy, and in 1929 he won the gold medal at the Universal Exhibition in Barcelona. In 1932 he enters the Academy of Fine Arts of San Jorge, and in 1935 he obtains the Campeny prize of the Generalitat de Catalunya. After working from 1936 as director of the Museum of Tossa, between 1939 and 1943 he lived in exile in France, although he finally spent his last years in his native Barcelona. Casanovas produced both works for private individuals and public commissions, an example of which is his "Female Figure" of the Plaza Cataluña in Barcelona. His work is currently preserved in the National Art Museum of Catalonia, the Municipal Museum of Tossa de Mar, the Jaume Morera Art Museum in Lleida, the Luis Perlotti Sculpture Museum in Buenos Aires and the MACBA.