Montserrat Mainar

MONTSERRAT MAINAR I BENEDICTO (Barcelona, 1928- 2015).
"The last supper".
Enamel in four pieces.
Preserves silver frame.
Measurements: 73 x 14,5 cm; 90 x 30,5 cm (frame).
Montserrat Mainar was a Catalan enameller. Daughter of Josep Mainar i Pons, she was formed in the Escola Massana with Miquel Soldevila. In her early years she collaborated with Alexandre Cirici in the design of costumes for Esbart Verdaguer, for example, and participated in initiatives such as the foundation of the Salones de Mayo and the Salones de Arte Femenino. She soon became interested in the technique of enamel and its new applications, and held her first solo exhibition at the Syra Galleries in Barcelona in 1957.
In 1952 she won the Competition Exhibition of the Holy Supper of the Eucharistic Congress of Barcelona, in 1955 she won the Grand Prize for enamel of the Biennial Hispano-American Art, and in 1961 she was invited to the international exhibition of jewelry at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. In 1975 she received the prize of the International Biennial of Limoges, the most prestigious contest of the specialty. She regularly exhibited her work in the Syra and Rovira galleries in Barcelona, as well as in Sabadell (Intel-lecte Gallery), Madrid, London and other European cities. In 2008, on the occasion of his eightieth birthday, he held an exhibition at the Rovira Gallery in Barcelona.
His enamels include plates and bowls, crosses and cups, buttons and necklaces, plaques and trophies, but also large figurative panels and wall coverings. His work, characterized by the richness of textures and the chromatic range he achieved with unusual combinations of materials, highlights the inspiration in the reading of the classics: the poems of Homer or Tirant lo Blanc, of which he offered a friendly and Mediterranean vision. However, his best known work is the frontal of the main altar of the Basilica of Montserrat (1958), in which he represented the Last Supper.
Montserrat Mainar's work is kept in the Museu d'Història de l'Hospitalet and in the Museu del Disseny de Barcelona.