Joan Hernández Pijuan

JOAN HERNÁNDEZ PIJUAN (Barcelona, 1931–2005).
“Leaves 2,” 1984.
Drypoint engraving on Guarro paper, print no. 5/35.
Signed and numbered in pencil.
Ed. Polígrafa, Barcelona.
Measurements: 12.5 x 18 cm; 39 x 28 cm (paper).

Joan Hernández Pijuan began his training in Barcelona, attending the La Lonja School and the Sant Jordi School of Fine Arts, and later completed his studies at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Appointed professor at the Barcelona School of Fine Arts in 1981, Hernández Pijuan occupies a unique position among Spanish artists of recent decades. The strength of his creative individuality sets him apart from successive dominant trends and fashions, yet this does not prevent one from recognizing in his work a deep identification with the aesthetic concerns of his time. Throughout his career, he has created paintings on canvas, works on paper, and prints using aquatint, lithography, and other printmaking techniques. Hernández Pijuan began his career practicing a tragic expressionism with a strong social message, and during this period he formed, along with the other members of the Sílex Group, the so-called Barcelona School. In the 1970s, he simplified his style until adopting a geometric and calculated figurative approach, a style he left behind in the following decade to focus on Informalism. His exhibition activity was as extensive and diverse as his own artistic creation. Whether exhibiting individually or alongside other artists, Hernández Pijuan made a significant impact on art circles around the world. In fact, interest in and fascination with this painter’s career remain as strong as ever, and his work continues to be the subject of new exhibitions and public displays. During his lifetime, he held solo exhibitions in various Spanish cities as well as in Zurich, Milan, Johannesburg, Cologne, Geneva, New York, Paris, and Osaka, among other cities around the world, and in 2003, a major retrospective exhibition was dedicated to him at the MACBA in Barcelona, which was subsequently shown at the Musée d’Art et Histoire in Neuchâtel (France), the Konsthalle in Malmö (Sweden), and the Galleria Comunale d’Arte Moderna in Bologna (Italy). Even after his death, his work has continued to be exhibited internationally, as evidenced by the exhibitions dedicated to his work held at the Flowers Gallery in London (2006), the Cervantes Institutes in New York, Chicago, and Lisbon (2007), the Museum of Spanish Abstract Art in Cuenca (2008), the Andrés Thalmann Gallery in Zurich (2009), the Baukunst in Cologne (2010), the Altana Kulturstiftung in Bad Homburg (Germany, 2011), and the Museum of Modern Art in Moscow (2012), among many others. Hernández Pijuan served as dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Barcelona, and in 2000 he was appointed a member of the Royal Academy of San Fernando in Madrid. In 1981, he received the National Prize for the Visual Arts; in 1985, the Cross of Sant Jordi; and in 2004, the City of Barcelona Prize. He was also awarded the Prize from the General Directorate of Fine Arts at the 1957 National Exhibition in Alicante, the First Prize in Painting at the “Peintres Residents” competition in Paris (1958), the “Malibor” Prize at the Ljubljana Print Biennial (1965), the prize at the Krakow International Print Biennial (1966), and the prize from the editorial staff of “Vijesnik u Srijedu” in Zagreb (1970).