Marcel Martí

MARCEL MARTÍ BADENES (Alvear, Argentina, 1925-Palafrugell, Girona, 2010).
"Escal II".
Terracotta. Marble base.
Measurements: 25 x 37,5 x 23 cm.

Settled with his family in Barcelona since he was three years old, Marcel Martí studied at the School of Fine Arts of La Lonja. He began his artistic career in the field of painting in 1942, but in 1953 he abandoned it to devote himself fully to sculpture. At that time he began what would be a constant experimentation with materials (wrought iron, bronze, stone, plastic, wood...), research that involved a wide diversity of approaches and solutions. From 1961 he focused his attention on the search for rhythms, which he established on the basis of geometric or organic oppositions, the complexity of which directed his artistic personality towards the investigation of the interior space of the work. He made his individual debut in 1948, at the Sala Caralt in Barcelona. Thanks to his success, Martí managed to travel to Paris, where he joined the artistic circles of the city. At the Grande Chaumière Academy he receives lessons from Zadkine and Lothe. In 1950 he travels to Sweden and Italy, where he is strongly impressed by the work of Michelangelo, the paradigm of a complete artist for Marcel Martí. Among his awards is the Manolo Hugué Sculpture Prize (1958), and he has exhibited his work in Spain, Europe, the United States and Japan. He is represented in the Museum of Abstract Sculpture of La Castellana in Madrid, the Salvador Allende Museum in Chile, the Contemporary Art Museums of Vilafamés, Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Ibiza, the Museum of Abstract Art in Cuenca and the San Telmo Museum in San Sebastián, among many others.