169 - XAVIER ORIACH Y SOLER (Sabadell, 1927–2024).

XAVIER ORIACH Y SOLER (Sabadell, 1927–2024). “Fruits bleus,” 1994. Oil and mixed media on canvas. Signed in the lower right corner. Signed, dated, and titled on the reverse. Dimensions: 38 x 46 cm; 41 x 48 cm (frame). Xavier Oriach was taken in by his uncle, the photographer Albert Rifá, when his family moved to Valencia in 1932. His uncle introduced him to the progressive intellectual circles of Sabadell in the early decades of the 20th century. In 1943, he too moved to Valencia and began his formal training in the art world by enrolling in the city’s School of Fine Arts. In 1947, he joined the so-called “Grupo Z,” thus becoming part of the Valencian avant-garde of the time. Thanks to a scholarship from the French Institute in Valencia, he moved to Paris in 1951, where he formed relationships with leading artists of the time, such as Chillida, Palazuelo, Clavé, and others. In Paris, he exhibited at the Galerie Breteau, the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles, and the Salon de Mai. In 1980, he settled in Jouy-sur-Eure, Normandy, where he founded the Centre d’Art Contemporain, as well as the Biennale Européenne de sculpture de Normandie. He returned to his hometown, Sabadell, in 1992. Oriach’s work has received numerous awards and has been the subject of several retrospective exhibitions, most notably the one held in the fall of 2013 at the Sabadell Art Museum.