Pablo Gargallo

PABLO GARGALLO CATALÁN (Maella, Zaragoza, 1881 – Reus, Tarragona, 1934).
“Small Maternity,” 1916.
Bronze relief on a travertine marble base, edition 7/7.
Alexis Rudier, Fondeur, Paris.
Signed and numbered.
Work published in “Pablo Gargallo. Catalogue Raisonné,” by Pierrette Gargallo-Anguera, Ed. Les Éditions de l’Amateur, 1998, Paris.
Measurements: 13 x 8.5 cm; 22.5 x 14 cm (with base).
Throughout his life, Gargallo developed two seemingly opposing styles in parallel: one with classical roots, related first to Modernism and later to Noucentisme, and another avant-garde style that experiments with the disintegration of space. Nevertheless, both share the central theme of the human figure and the harmonious combination of space and volume. In his works with classical roots, such as the one presented here, one can appreciate the same taste for fluid planes, the emphasis on voids and solids, and the fragment over the whole, as seen in paradigmatic works from his avant-garde output, such as “The Prophet” (1933). Thus, in this “Torso of an Adolescent,” the volume is not simply modeled but acquires its own identity thanks to the sinuous profile, the void that surrounds it, and the missing fragments that demand the viewer’s active participation. As in his iconic masks, here Gargallo sculpts the void, while maintaining the mass in the spirit of classical, archaic, and timeless idealization. In fact, that sculpture—which ultimately becomes a drawing in the air, such as “Greta Garbo with Eyelashes” (1930)—represents the reduction to essence or refinement of this other, more traditional-looking statuary, and one cannot be conceived without the other. In fact, we can see works that are exactly symmetrical in terms of volume and that represent both styles, such as “Silhouette of a Young Woman” and “Boy on the Beach,” both created in 1934.
Pablo Gargallo is considered the pioneer of iron sculpture, and he learned the technique of blacksmithing from his father, who owned a blacksmith shop. In 1888, his family emigrated to Barcelona for economic reasons, and there he began his artistic training in the studio of the sculptor Eusebio Arnau and at the Escuela de La Lonja, with Venancio Vallmitjana as his primary teacher. During this period of Modernism’s heyday in Barcelona, Gargallo frequented the gatherings at “Els quatre Gats,” forming relationships with artists such as Nonell and Picasso. This is why his early works were influenced by Modernism, as seen in the decoration of Barcelona buildings he created in collaboration with the architect Domènech i Montaner, such as the Hospital de la Santa Cruz y San Pablo and the Palau de la Música. In 1903, Gargallo received a scholarship that allowed him to travel to Paris to complete his studies. His stay in the French capital was brief, but from then until 1923—when he settled permanently in Paris—he made frequent trips there. In Paris, he encountered the aesthetic principles of Cubism, assimilated its expressive techniques, and sought the schematization and essentiality of figures and objects, striving to find the authentic three-dimensional expression of Cubist principles. Around this time, he began using metallic materials such as sheet metal, copper, and iron. Around 1911–12, he created his first masks—highly simplified pieces made from cut-out sheet metal, rooted in the Cubist aesthetic. Using sheet metal, Gargallo began to suggest volumes and highlight the voids through the penetration of light into the interior spaces. In 1920, he was appointed professor of sculpture at the Technical School of Artistic Crafts of the Mancomunidad de Cataluña, a position from which he was dismissed in 1923 for political reasons. It was then that Gargallo settled permanently in Paris with his wife and daughter. From this point on, his style took on a highly personal dimension, derived from his interpretation of Cubism, which was based on the search for a formal synthesis of the figure in ever-fluid geometric planes; he replaced conventional materials with sheets of wrought iron, and he pioneered a new sculptural language by incorporating negative space as a form and endowing his figures with great expressive drama. Pablo Gargallo’s work is currently represented at the museum that bears his name in Zaragoza, the MoMA in New York, the MACBA in Barcelona, the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, and the Reina Sofía in Madrid, among many others.