Josep Clarà i Ayats

Josep Clarà's early self-portrait dedicated to his teacher Josep Berga (Toulouse 1898).

Deessa (1928), MNAC Barcelona

Jose Clarà: La Joventut (youth), Barcelona, ​​Plaça de Catalunya

Crepuscle (1913, marble), Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Santiago de Chile

Josep Clarà i Ayats (born December 16, 1878 in Olot , † November 4, 1958 in Barcelona ) was a Catalan sculptor. Clarà was the typical sculptor of the Noucentisme . His brother Joan Clarà i Ayats was also a sculptor.

life and work

Clarà came from a simple family. He first studied drawing at the Escola de Dibuix d'Olot (Olot Art School) with Josep Berga i Boix . From 1897 he studied sculpture at the École supérieure des beaux-arts de Toulouse (Toulouse Art School). Here he stayed longer than originally planned in order not to be drafted into the war in Africa. In 1900 he went to Paris and worked in the studio of Louis-Ernest Barrias . Here he met the sculptors Aristide Maillol , Antoine Bourdelle and Auguste Rodin . The advice of these artists helped him to implement modernist characteristics in his first works.

In 1907 Clarà presented his work Turment ( Torture ) in the Salon des Artistes Français . Under the influence of Rodin, he refined his style in the direction of more clarity and balance in the work Crepuscle (1913, The Twilight , Marble, now in the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Santiago de Chile). He first presented this work as a plaster figure in 1908 at the Salon de la Société Nationale . In 1909 he presented La Deessa ( The Goddess ) for the first time . This work brought him the official recognition of his extraordinary artistic talent. The friendship with the ballerina Isadora Duncan allowed him to create original, spontaneous drawings. The dynamic of the ballet in no way contradicted its search for artistic stability. He worked hard. He received various orders, such as the Serenitat sobre les ruïnes de la vida ( Serenity in the Face of the Ruins of Life ) in the San Isidro Cemetery in Madrid and the Monument als voluntaris catalans ( Monument for you volunteer Catalans ) in Parc de la Ciutadella in Barcelona. For the latter work he received the Paris Grand Prix in 1925. In 1924 Clarà went on a trip to the USA. In 1925 he became a member of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid. He also created many heads, busts and portraits: These he realized very lively and condensed, such as Voluntat (1911, Der Wille ), Clara Stuart Merrill (1926), Adela (1936), Senyoreta Rodríguez Bauzà (1941). With every work he placed more emphasis on light; his sculptures simplified; they became increasingly free from feelings; an example of this is Estàtica (1926, Die Statik ). With this new, visionary approach, he reinterpreted the Deessa ( The Goddess ) and the Serenitat ( The Serenity ) both today in the park of Montjuïc in Barcelona. He also created a new character Repòs ( The Calm , Museum of Modern Art, Barcelona). With the latter sculpture he won a medal of honor at the Barcelona World Exhibition in 1929 .

In 1932 he left Paris, returned to Barcelona and took part in the rich cultural life of the Second Republic . In 1934 he received the Damià Campeny Prize for Nu de noia ( Naked Young Woman ) . With Puixança (1936, power , strength ) and Figura de dona (1941, female figure ) he probably created his best works in a synthesis of simplicity, light and balance. In 1952 he realized the Monumento a los caídos (1952, Monument to those who fell in war ) in Barcelona. With Nu Pomona (1954, The Naked Pomona , Museum La Havana, Cuba) he won the grand prize of the Hispanic American Biennale. Sant Benet (1946, Saint Benedict, as a seated figure) is now in the Montserrat Museum. In his later phase he mainly created sitting ( Maternitat , Die Mutter ) and reclining figures.

Aftermath and evaluation

At the instigation of his sister Carmen, the Museu Clarà was set up in his former studio in the C. Calatrava in Barcelona in 1969 . Due to the limited space available and the lack of necessary expansion options there, this museum was closed in 1995. The works were divided between the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya in Barcelona and the Museu Comarcal de la Garrotxa in his native Olot. Particularly representative Clarà collections can now be visited in these two museums.

The first decades of the 20th century were marked by rapid changes in avant-garde art movements. The political sphere in Europe was characterized by revolutionary, anti-bourgeois movements in many European countries. Clarà, on the other hand, was committed to the aesthetic ideal of classicism in his art. This classicism has always remained committed to the free, self-confident will of the citizen and the progress of the civil community. The sculptures, especially the female sculptures by Clarà, radiate the deep longing of the bourgeoisie for self-determination, as the ancient Greeks understood it. Clarà's characters became increasingly simple, clearer and more balanced and thus spread this message. Noucentisme made this bourgeois trait of classicism its own. Together with Aristide Maillol, Clarà stands for the classicist reaction with Mediterranean roots to Nordic Romanism and Rodin's impressionism. Clarà thus became the archetypal representative of Noucentism.

literature

• Rodolf Puigdollers: "Clarà i Ayats, Josep". In: Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana. Volume 5. 1st edition. Barcelona 1973. ISBN 84-300-5737-4 . Page 204 f.
• Arnau i Prades, M. Assumpció; Sala i Plana, Joan: L'art olotí en el XIX i XX . 1st ed.Diputació de Girona, Girona 2013, ISBN 978-84-15808-03-9 , chapter 20, p. 52 f .
• Josep Maria Canals: Diccionari Biogràfic d'Olot . Ed .: Ajuntament d'Olot. 1st edition. Olot 2015, OCLC 943687866 (Catalan). Page 216 f. Article "Clarà i Ayats, Josep"
• Xavier Antich: Josep Clarà i l'estètica del Noucents: Entre el classicisme i la civilitat. In: Josep Clarà. La recerca de l'ideal. Girona 1999. Page 21 (The core passages of this article are printed in: M. Assumpció Arnau i Prades, Joan Sala i Plana: L'art olotí en el XIX i XX. Girona 2013.)

Web links

Commons : Josep Clarà  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Enciclopedia.cat: Josep Clarà i Ayats. Retrieved January 2, 2018 (Catalan). 
• Garrotxa Museum Olot: Josep Clarà i Ayats. Retrieved January 3, 2018 (Catalan). 
• Museoreinasofia.es: Works by Josep Clarà i Ayats in the Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid. Retrieved January 3, 2018 (Spanish). 
• Esculturaurbana.com: José Clará Ayats - Exhibitions and works in public space. Retrieved January 3, 2018 (Spanish). 

Individual references and comments

1. ↑ Josep Clarà's father, Joan Clarà i Coromina, was known as an "espardenyer", a shoemaker who made espardenyas or espadrilles, in the Olotens district of Sant Rafael; his mother's name was Lluïsa Ayats i Montsalvatge. (see the article by Josep Maria Canals)
2. ^ So: M. Assumpció Arnau i Prades, Joan Sala i Plana: L'art olotí en el XIX i XX. Girona 2013.
3. ↑ This information comes from the corresponding article on the Catalan language Wikipedia.
4. ↑ Cf. Xavier Antich: Josep Clarà i l'estètica del Noucentents: Entre el classicisme i la civilitat.
5. ^ So the Enciclopèdia Catalana in their article on Clarà.