Josep Llimona

JOSEP LLIMONA BRUGUERA (Barcelona, 1864 - 1934).
Untitled, 1929. Commemorative piece executed on the occasion of the XXV anniversary of the foundation of the Hispano-Suiza factory.
Bronze. Marble base.
Signed.
Foundry G. Bechini.
Measurements: 82 x 27 x 42 cm (sculpture); 6 x 49 x 33 cm (base).

The relevance of Josep Llimona's sculpture in tender resides in its close link with the industrial memory of Barcelona and, more specifically, with the Hispano-Suiza factory, a reference of the European automotive and aeronautical avant-garde of the 20th century. The origin of the piece dates back to 1929, when the staff of the factory in La Sagrera (Barcelona), in a gesture of collective gratitude for the 25th anniversary of the firm, commissioned this allegorical set to Josep Llimona to pay homage to its founders. Artistically, the set exemplifies the idealized realism of the master, combining the melancholy of Catalan symbolism with a composition of refined elegance. The central female figure, triumphantly raising the brand's logo like a classical deity, reflects the balance between modernist sensibility and classicist language; next to her the figure of a worker symbolizes constancy and sacrifice, consolidating the work as a landmark of both technical refinement and industrial memory.

Josep Llimona, a central figure of Catalan sculptural modernism and author of some of the most emblematic works of the period, stood out for combining spirituality, formal elegance and a refined classicist purification. In addition to his famous funerary and intimate production, he developed an intense institutional activity, creating monuments and allegorical programs linked to the cultural construction of Catalonia. Works such as this model for the Biblioteca de Catalunya show his key role in the consolidation of a symbolic, cultured sculptural language, perfectly integrated into public architecture.