Josep Serra i Abella

JOSEP SERRA I ABELLA (Barcelona, 1906 - 1989).
Large vase, years 40-50's.
Hand glazed ceramic.
Signature on the back.
Measurements: 32 x 27 x 27 cm.

In this hand-glazed ceramic vase, Serra Abella has represented a seabed in whose silt corals grow, and in which the fishes that cross it coexist with seahorses, stars and other small aquatic beings. The textured work that gives a subtle relief to the forms stands out.

Josep Serra Abella was a Catalan ceramic artist, son of Antoni Serra i Fiter. In 1919 he entered the Escuela Superior de los Bellos Oficios de la Mancomunidad de Cataluña, working in the earthen arts section with his brothers Antoni and Enric and being influenced by modernism. In 1926 he moved with his father and brothers to the Can Famades farmhouse in Cornellà de Llobregat (today Masia Museu Serra), which would become known as Manufacturera Serra. Influenced now by noucentisme and art deco, he and his brothers made pieces of glazed majolica and earthenware. On the death of his father in 1932 he took over his father's workshop. The same year he exhibited pieces at the Spring Exhibition at the Palacio de Proyecciones de Montjuïc and in 1935 he exhibited with his brothers at the Paris Trade Fair, and at several ceramic exhibitions in Milan. During the Spanish Civil War he collaborated with the Commissariat of propaganda of the Generalitat of Catalonia organizing an exhibition on Catalan art in Mexico, but most of the pieces were seized by Franco's troops and the exhibition could not be held. On his return he joined the Popular Army of the Republic in 1938, and during the retreat he left for France, where he was interned in a concentration camp. Around 1940 he was able to return to Cornellà and resume his work. Then he made pieces with abstract and geometric decorations. In 1941 he married the pianist Maria Moragas, with whom he had a son, the ceramist Jordi Serra i Moragas. In 1959 he began to experiment with ceramics with metallic reflections and deepened the study of glazes. At the beginning he focused almost all his interest on monochromatic glazes, and with soft decorations of geometric, figurative or plant drawings, almost always painted or sgraffitoed. His son Jordi joined the workshop in 1960 and began the production of series of matte stoneware on coverings on which he applied flamed glazes. At the end of the 1970s and beginning of the 1980s he received recognition for his work. He organized numerous exhibitions of his work, such as the one organized at the Rectory of Cornellà de Llobregat in 1987. In 1986 he received the distinction of Master Craftsman of Ceramics from the Generalitat de Catalunya.