Ramón Folch Roca

RAMÓN FOLCH ROCA (Sabadell, 1923 – Barcelona, 1988).
"Reader."
Oil on canvas.
Signed on the back.
Measurements: 82 x 76 cm.
Provenance: The artist’s family.

Painter, ceramicist, educator, and director of the Barcelona School of Textile Design.
He began painting as a young man, alongside other artists from Sabadell such as Joan Vilacasas, Andreu Castells, and Xavier Oriach, who years later would become part of the city’s first avant-garde circle. He later studied at the School of Arts and Crafts in Sabadell, where he earned the highest grade, which enabled him to secure a scholarship from the Sabadell Savings Bank to continue his studies at the San Jorge School of Fine Arts in Barcelona (Llotja), where, between 1945 and 1950, he specialized in painting. In 1949, the school awarded him a scholarship to continue his studies in France.
During those years, he also exhibited in his hometown, participating in group exhibitions at the Academy of Fine Arts (1942, 1943, 1944) and the Círculo Sabadellés (1946). He also received other scholarships and awards: in 1944, he won second prize in the Young Painters’ Competition at the Atenea Galleries in Barcelona, a venue where, just one year later, he would exhibit for the first time.
While still studying at the Lonja, in 1950 he collaborated with the painters Andreu Castells and David Graells in creating the Salón de Arte Actual at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sabadell, which would play an important role in the cultural revival of the city of Sabadell during the postwar period, at the Sabadell Savings Bank (1953).
After completing his studies, in 1951 he won, through a competitive examination, the first-degree scholarship from the Amigó Cuyàs Foundation at the same school, which consisted of a four-month trip through Spain. In addition, the French Institute in Barcelona awarded him the Círculo Maillol Scholarship to study in Paris for one academic year in 1953, and two years later, the Barcelona City Council granted him a scholarship to study for another six months in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. His training abroad proved decisive for his future professional career. In Paris, in addition to exposing himself to all kinds of artistic movements, he established relationships with figures such as the ceramicist Pierre Canivet and the fashion designers Christian Dior and Pierre Cardin.
Upon his return in 1955, he was awarded second prize at the Second Biennial Fine Arts Exhibition in Sabadell for his work *Circo*, which is currently housed at the Sabadell Art Museum. He also participated in the third edition of this exhibition.
Toward the end of the 1950s, he created murals using various techniques, such as colored sgraffito stucco, pyrography on wood, and ceramics. During these years, he participated in various group exhibitions both in Spain and abroad, such as the October Salon, the exhibitions organized by the Círculo Maillol, and the 3rd Hispano-American Art Biennial. Beginning in the 1960s, he focused on pedagogical research in art and design. Coming from a Sabadell family involved in the textile industry—and thus well-versed in that world—and drawing on the connections and knowledge he had gained in Paris, he spearheaded a shift in mindset within the field of industrial production, much as Germany had done with the Bauhaus. Just five years later, in 1965, he devoted all his efforts to channeling the knowledge he had acquired throughout his life into the creation of the Barcelona School of Textile Design, known as the “little Bauhaus” or “Barnahaus,” which he directed from its founding until his death. In this educational context, he made significant pedagogical contributions, particularly regarding the role of design in the industrial process.
As for his work, during his formative years and following the advice of Antoni Vila Arrufat, he devoted himself to formal research, producing expressive compositions of what he perceived in his surroundings. Examples include *Chicas Brodant* and *El abuelo enfermo*. Later, his stays abroad allowed him to better understand the work of the Impressionist and Expressionist painters, as well as that of the Constructivists and Cubists, who exerted a notable influence on his work. His pieces reflect this exposure, for example in *La Sandía* or *Desnudo*. His working method was characterized by a high degree of rigor. With a reflective and critical disposition, Ramon Folch often created highly elaborate works. His early Expressionist paintings had a critical and dramatic tone that was accentuated by a very limited color palette.
The Sabadell Art Museum houses works by Ramon Folch, and in 2011 the Sabadell Academy of Fine Arts dedicated a retrospective exhibition to him.