216 - JOSEP MARIA SUBIRACHS SITJAR (Barcelona, 1927–2014).

JOSEP MARIA SUBIRACHS SITJAR (Barcelona, 1927–2014). “The Balustrade,” 1972. Etching and aquatint, P.A. edition. Signed and dated on the right-hand side. Measurements: 100 x 76 cm; 106 x 82 cm (frame). Subirachs was born in Barcelona. After joining, at the age of fourteen, the studio of a gilder with a passion for sculpture—where he modeled his first works in clay—he began an apprenticeship in 1942 at the studio of sculptor Enrique Monjó. Five years later, he began working as an assistant to Enrique Casanovas. In 1948, he made his debut at the Casa del Libro in Barcelona, and in 1951 he traveled to Paris to complete his training on a scholarship from the French Institute in Barcelona. He returned to his hometown in 1953 and was awarded the Sculpture Prize at the Salónt del Jazz. After two years working and exhibiting in Belgium, he returned to Spain, and in 1958 he was awarded the San Jorge Grand Prize by the Barcelona Provincial Council and the “Julio González” Prize by the Barcelona Chamber of Art. He has held numerous solo and group exhibitions in Europe, Asia, and the United States, and in 1988 he was awarded the Medal of Merit in Fine Arts. In 1980, he was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Jorge. His work is represented at the Reina Sofía Center, the MACBA museums in Barcelona, Ibiza, Seville, and New York; the Fine Arts Museums of Bilbao, Birmingham, the Vatican, Taipei, and Nebraska; the Open-Air Museum on the Paseo de la Castellana in Madrid; the Musée du Petit Palais in Geneva; and the Millesgärden in Stockholm, among others.