Julio González Pellicer

JULIO GONZÁLEZ PELLICER (Barcelona, 1876 - Arcueil, France, 1942).
"Nature north", 1925.
Oil on panel.
Work reproduced in the Catalogue Raisonné .
Provenance: Roberta González, daughter of the artist.
Signed and dated on the lower left. Signed and titled on the back.
Measurements: 27 x 35 cm; 45 x 53 cm (frame).
This still life made in 1925 by Julio González Pellicer is a piece of extraordinary interest to understand a lesser known, although essential, facet of his artistic career. Universally known for his wrought iron sculptures and for having transformed industrial welding into a modern sculptural language, González developed in parallel an intimate pictorial production, where the observation of everyday objects acquired a singular poetic intensity. "This painting belongs precisely to that more reserved territory of his work: the space of experimentation where the artist refines form, light and matter before reaching the radical modernity of his sculptures of later decades.
The composition presents a simple bowl with fruit, apples, citrus fruits and a pear, arranged on a dark surface. The seemingly modest subject matter ties in with a long tradition of European still life, but Gonzalez avoids any descriptive or decorative excess. The scene is constructed through a rigorous, almost ascetic formal economy, where each element seems carefully calibrated to maintain a structural balance. The table and the background are barely distinguishable from each other; both are absorbed by an earthy and enveloping atmosphere that concentrates all the attention on the chromatic vibration of the fruits. This spatial reduction recalls certain post-impressionist and Cezannian solutions, especially in the way of conceiving volume through color and not only through chiaroscuro.
The pictorial quality of the work resides to a great extent in the material treatment. The brushstroke is dense, impastoed and visible, which gives the surface a very marked tactile presence. Gonzalez does not pursue a smooth or academically illusionistic representation; on the contrary, he allows the painting to retain its physicality. The fruits seem to be modeled by means of small strokes of color that slowly build the form, while the white and yellow reflections introduce luminous accents of great vivacity. It is particularly interesting to note how this painting anticipates concerns that would later appear in his sculpture. The arrangement of the objects reveals a very precise structural thought.
The date 1925 places the work at a decisive moment in his biography. Settled in Paris since the beginning of the 20th century, Julio González was then going through a period of economic difficulties and aesthetic search. He had come into contact with the Parisian avant-garde and maintained links with fundamental figures of modern art, among them Pablo Picasso, whose friendship would be crucial a few years later. However, he had not yet achieved the international recognition he would obtain in the 1930s with his iron sculptures. This still life reflects precisely that transitional stage.