Joan Rebull

JOAN REBULL (Reus, 1899 - Barcelona, 1981).
"La gitanilla", c. 1933.
Stone sculpture.
Signed on the base.
Measurements: 81 x 35 x 31 cm.; 90 cm. (height with pedestal).
Exhibitions: MEAM "A century of Catalan sculpture", 2013. Reproduced in the catalog, p. 254.

Made around 1933, "La gitanilla" belongs to the decisive period of Joan Rebull's stylistic consolidation, a stage especially valued by the market for marking the full definition of his modern classicism. Carved in stone and signed on the base, the piece concentrates some of the most appreciated features of his early production: refined volumes, structural rotundity and a restrained expressive serenity, which avoids sentimentality to enhance the physical presence of the figure. The refinement of the surface, worked with a uniform polish and without descriptive excess, directs attention towards the purity of the forms, the controlled geometrization of the canon and the silent intensity of the face, features that anticipate the artist's mature language. Within the context of the Catalan sculpture of the thirties, this work is situated in the renewal of Mediterranean realism, where the academic tradition is reinterpreted with modern, sober and essentialized keys. "La gitanilla" thus constitutes a significant testimony of Rebull's evolution at a key moment in his career, reinforced by his exhibition presence and his solid institutional provenance.

Considered the most outstanding Catalan sculptor of his time, Joan Rebull began in the world of sculpture in his hometown, under the guidance of the sculptor Pau Figueres. In 1915 he moved to Barcelona to begin his artistic training at the School of Fine Arts of La Lonja, while working in the workshop of the marble artist Bechini. In 1916 he made his individual debut with an exhibition at the Centro de Lectura in Reus, and the following year he founded, together with other artists, the group known as "Els Evolucionistes", which aimed to replicate the Catalan Noucentisme. In 1921 he traveled to London and Paris, cities where he was particularly impressed by the ancient art housed in their museums. Between 1926 and 1929 he lived in the French capital and took part in the Salon des Indépendants, although he also sent works to exhibitions in Barcelona. In Paris he was the first artist hired by the prominent Catalan art dealer Joan Merli. On his return he was appointed president of the new Montjuic Salon (1932) and a member of the Sant Jordi Academy (1934), took part in various exhibitions in Madrid and Barcelona and, in 1938, won the Campeny Prize at the Salon d'Automne in Barcelona. After the war, he went into exile in Paris, where he took an active part in artistic life, attending the exhibition "Le Jeune Sculpture Française" and the Salons d'Automne. He returns to Barcelona in 1948, and three years later he obtains a great prize in the I Bienal Hispanoamericana de Arte de Madrid. In 1962 he was appointed professor at the School of Fine Arts of Sant Jordi, and shortly before his death he was awarded the gold medal of the Generalitat de Catalunya. A child of noucentista perfectionism and a great draughtsman, Rebull works with great technical mastery and certainty in the path to follow. His is a direct and anti-rhetorical sculpture, based on a serene and essential vision of reality. His style can be defined as a reencounter with the source of classicism, from which he never copies the consequences. He is represented in the National Art Museum of Catalonia, the Reina Sofia National Center, the Barcelona City Hall, the Monastery of Montserrat and the Palau de la Música Catalana, among other centers.