Xavier Corberó

XAVIER CORBERÓ OLIVELLA (Barcelona, 1935).
Untitled. 1998
Marble and stone.
Measurements: 53 x 57 x 26 cm.
Painter and sculptor descendant of goldsmiths, Xavier Corberó was formed in the Massana School of Barcelona, one of whose founders had been his father. After a period of studies in England, where he attended classes at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London between 1955 and 1959, he moved to New York. In the American city he came into contact with surrealist circles. Before his trip he took part in the Hispano-American Biennial of 1955, and in 1959 he had a solo exhibition in Lausanne (Switzerland), where he spent a key period for his formation, working in the Medici foundry. During his years of studies he became acquainted with the work of Pablo Gargallo and Henry Moore, whose works greatly influenced the formation of his personal language. In 1963 he held his first solo exhibition in Munich, where he received the Bavarian Gold Medal. He returned to Spain in the mid-sixties, and in 1970 he began working in Esplugues de Llobregat, where in 1972 he founded the Centro de Actividades e Investigaciones Artísticas de Cataluña. He currently alternates his activities as a sculptor and painter with those of jewelry designer and interior decorator. Corberó took part in several European group exhibitions and in the Salones de Mayo in Barcelona, where he was awarded the Manolo Hugué (1960) and Ramon Rogent (1961) prizes. He has also exhibited in Germany, the United States and Japan, and between 1966 and 1968 he published a series of etchings and lithographs. In the early nineties he played an important role as advisor to the Barcelona City Council in the selection of works by internationally renowned artists to be placed in the streets and squares of the city in preparation for the 1992 Olympic Games. He was also chosen to design the Olympic medals. That same year, 1992, he was awarded the Cross of Sant Jordi by the Generalitat de Catalunya. Corberó is represented in the MoMA in New York, the Stedelijk in Amsterdam and the Victoria & Albert in London, among other important collections.