Joan Hernández Pijuán

JOAN HERNÁNDEZ PIJUAN (Barcelona, 1931 - 2005).
"Campos", 1976.
Etching, copy 39/50.
Signed, dated and justified in pencil.
Measurements: 11 x 25 cm (plate); 50 x 32,5 cm (paper).

Joan Hernández Pijuán was a painter and engraver, one of the most relevant figures of contemporary art in Spain. He trained in Barcelona, at the Schools of La Lonja and Sant Jordi Fine Arts, and later completed his studies at the School of Fine Arts in Paris. Since 1981 he has been a professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Barcelona, where he also served as dean, and in 2000 he was appointed member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando. He began his career in the 1950s with a painting of expressionist character and strong social content, linked to the Sílex Group and the so-called Barcelona School. In the 1970s he evolved towards a more geometric and structured figuration, and in the 1980s he developed a more refined language close to informalism. His work is characterized by simplification, the use of space and a deep reflection on the landscape, which becomes one of his central themes. He worked in painting, drawing and engraving (etchings, lithographs, etc.). Throughout his career he held numerous solo and group exhibitions in Spain and in international cities such as Paris, New York, Milan, Zurich and Osaka. In 2003 the MACBA in Barcelona dedicated a major retrospective exhibition to him, which subsequently toured several European museums. After his death, his work has continued to be shown in international exhibitions. He received important awards and recognitions, among them the National Prize of Plastic Arts (1981), the Cross of Sant Jordi (1985) and the City of Barcelona Prize (2004), as well as several international awards in painting and engraving since the fifties. His work is part of collections of prominent museums, such as MACBA, and his legacy places him as one of the key artists in the evolution of Spanish painting in the second half of the twentieth century.