Josep Maria Subirachs

JOSEP MARIA SUBIRACHS (Barcelona, 1927–2014).
"Ulysses," 1958.
Patinated bronze, no. 7 of 9.
Signed and numbered on the side of the base.
Bibliography: José Corredor-Matheos, *Subirachs*, Ed. La Polígrafa, Barcelona, 1975, p. 53, no. 73; Lourdes Cirlot, *Subirachs*, Ed. Artur Ramón Editor, Barcelona, 1990, p. 13, fig. 1.
The model was included in *Subirachs: From Expressionism to Abstraction (1953–1965)*, Can Mario–Fundació Vila Casas, 2022–2023, exhibition catalog no. 33, and in *Subirachs in Essence: Sculptures and Drawings 1951–1996, Artur Ramón / Leandro Navarro Gallery, 2024, p. 42.
In good condition.
Measurements: 69 x 12.5 x 12.5 cm.

Ulises belongs to a decisive moment in Subirachs’ career, when his expressionist figuration evolved toward progressive abstraction. The human figure is reduced to a highly stylized vertical structure, articulated through broken planes, voids, and textured surfaces, though it still retains a recognizable presence. Along with works such as Ícaro and Déco, it exemplifies the process of synthesis and geometrization characteristic of his work in the late 1950s.

The date 1958 adds to the piece’s significance. A year earlier, Subirachs had installed *Forma 212*, considered the first abstract sculpture placed in a public space in Barcelona, and in 1958 he won the Sant Jordi Grand Prize for *Catedral* and the Julio González Sculpture Prize for *Tekel*. Ulises thus belongs to the period in which the artist gradually moved away from the closed mass of figurative sculpture and explored the relationship between figure, structure, and space, foreshadowing much of his later artistic language.

Josep Maria Subirachs trained under Enric Monjo and Enric Casanovas, and after his stay in Belgium between 1954 and 1956, he established a career with a broad international reach. He participated in the 1963 São Paulo Biennial and the 1968 Venice Biennale, and between 1987 and 2005 he created the monumental sculptural program for the Passion façade of the Sagrada Família. His work is represented at the Reina Sofía Center, the Contemporary Art Museums of Barcelona, Ibiza, Seville, and New York, the Fine Arts Museums of Bilbao, Birmingham, the Vatican, Taipei, and Nebraska; the Open-Air Museum on the Paseo de la Castellana in Madrid; the Musée du Petit Palais in Geneva; and the Millesgärden in Stockholm, among others.