Julio Gonzalez

JULIO GONZÁLEZ PELLICER (Barcelona, 1876 - Arcueil, France, 1942).
"Face in profile", 1941.
Inks and watercolor on paper.
Signed and dated in the lower corner.
Enclosed certificate from Viviane Grimminger, Paris.
Published in the artist's catalog raisonné.
Measurements: 16 x 19.5 cm; 31 x 33.5 cm (frame).

This drawing, made with great economy of means, shows the profile of a mature woman, recognizable by her low chignon and her serene countenance. The lines, soft, essential and sure, trace the oval of the face, the jaw and the main features with a precision that eliminates all superfluous detail.

The use of gray and black gives the figure a sculptural air, as if the watercolor anticipates the volume of a future sculpture in iron or stone. In fact, it is probably a preparatory study for a three-dimensional piece, since González used to transfer his drawings directly to the sculptural plane, conceiving the stroke as an equivalent of wrought iron. However, the drawing definitely has artistic value in itself.

This type of drawing is in line with his last period (1938-42), marked by the purification of gesture and expressive interiorization. After his collaboration with Picasso and his research on space, Gonzalez turned to the human figure (especially the female face) as a vehicle for a pained, but also dignified and contained humanity.

Julio González was born into a family of goldsmiths, learning the trade as a child. Later he studied Fine Arts at La Lonja in Barcelona. In 1900 he went with his family to Paris, where he frequented artistic circles and maintained contact with Picasso, Gargallo and Brancusi, among others. Around 1910 he began to work with embossed metal masks, with a style marked by naturalistic and symbolist features, as well as by a new conception of the human figure, with synthesized volumes and lines. During these years, Gonzalez began to participate in the Parisian salons, specifically in the Autumn Salon, the Salon des Indépendants and the Salon of the National Society of Fine Arts. In 1920 he opened his own forge workshop, and two years later he made his individual debut at the Povolovsky Gallery in Paris. At the end of the 1920s he began to develop his first sculptures in wrought iron, a material that until then was considered merely decorative. During the thirties his work became more abstract, and the first spatial constructions appeared. After a long list of participations in solo and group exhibitions such as Spanish Art at the Jeu de Paume Museum (1936) or the Spanish Pavilion at the Universal Exhibition in Paris (1937), at the beginning of World War II his work, as a result of the shortage of iron, focuses on a new material, plaster, and on drawings with war themes. González is represented at the Georges Pompidou Center in Paris, the Reina Sofía in Madrid, the IVAM in Valencia and the MoMA in New York, among many others.