Joan Rebull

JOAN REBULL (Reus, 1899 - Barcelona, 1981).
"Figure", c. 1951.
Ulldecona stone.
Signed.
Measurements: 140 x 37 x 37 cm.
Exhibitions: MEAM "A century of Catalan sculpture", 2013. Reproduced in the catalog, p. 253.

This sculpture is a particularly representative example of Joan Rebull's period of maturity, a period highly appreciated in the market for the full definition of his modern classicist language and for the formal purification achieved in his post-war work. The piece shows the characteristic balance between formal synthesis and volumetric sensibility that distinguishes the sculptor's best carvings. The compact treatment of the surface, with a smooth and uniform finish, avoids descriptive excess and concentrates the expressiveness in the contained pose, the rounded volumes and the serenity of the face. This technical mastery can be seen in the relationship between mass and proportion, in the resolution of the minimal folds of the cloth and in the smooth transition of planes, traits associated with his works of higher quality. Within Rebull's career, this figure is part of his search for a renewed Mediterranean classicism, where the human presence is presented with monumental stillness and a restrained spirituality, far removed from dramatism but charged with plastic intensity. It is a work fully consistent with the Catalan sculpture of the mid-twentieth century, which knew how to combine the academic tradition with a modern purification of the formal language, which explains its solid historical and market valuation.

Considered the most outstanding Catalan sculptor of his time, Joan Rebull began in the world of sculpture in his hometown, with 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 actively participated in artistic life, taking part in the exhibition "Le Jeune Sculpture Française" and the Salons d'Automne. He returns to Barcelona in 1948, and three years later he obtains a great prize in the I Bienal Hispanoamericana de Arte de 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.