39 - MARCEL MARTÍ BADENES (Alvear, Argentina, 1925–Girona, 2010).

MARCEL MARTÍ BADENES (Alvear, Argentina, 1925–Girona, 2010). Untitled, 1985. Iron. Signed and dated on the base. Measurements: 21 x 7 x 6 cm. Having lived with his family in Barcelona since he was three years old, Marcel Martí studied at the La Lonja School of Fine Arts. He began his artistic career in painting in 1942, but in 1953 he abandoned it to devote himself fully to sculpture. He held his first solo exhibition in 1948 at the Sala Caralt in Barcelona. Thanks to the success of that exhibition, Martí was able to travel to Paris, where he became part of the city’s artistic circles. At the Grande Chaumière Academy, he took lessons from Zadkine and Lothe. In 1950, he traveled through Sweden and Italy, where he was deeply impressed by the work of Michelangelo, whom Marcel Martí regarded as the epitome of a complete artist. Among his awards, the Manolo Hugué Sculpture Prize (1958) stands out, and he has exhibited his work in Spain, Europe, the United States, and Japan. His work is represented at the Museum of Abstract Sculpture on La Castellana in Madrid; the Salvador Allende Museum in Chile; the museums of contemporary art in Vilafamés, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and Ibiza; the Museum of Abstract Art in Cuenca; and the San Telmo Museum in San Sebastián, among many others.