Josep Berga i Boada

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Josep Berga i Boada: Berga family: Front father Josep Berga i Boix with his wife, in the back Josep Berga i Boada himself with his wife and sister, in between his two daughters (Museu Comarcal de la Garrotxa, Olot)
Portrait of Agnès Vila (Museu de l'Empordà de Figueres)
La Tramuntana (1897, special north wind in Catalonia, Museu de l'Empordà de Figueres)

Josep Berga i Boada (born March 19, 1872 in Olot , † July 16, 1923 in Sant Feliu de Guíxols ) was a Catalan draftsman, illustrator, painter and writer who was in the tradition of the landscape painting school of Olot . He introduced the Modernisme Català in Olot. His father, who was also one of his artistic teachers, was the painter Josep Berga i Boix .

life and work

Berga graduated from secondary school in Girona . He received his artistic training at the Escola de Belles Arts d'Olot , which his father directed. Josep Berga i Boada initially followed his father in artistic terms. He increasingly integrated modernist elements into his work. In 1893 he went to the Figueras art school as a lecturer. However, due to conflicts with the city administration, he soon gave up this position. He went back to Olot, where he worked for a long time as a lecturer at the local art academy. Berga became a member of the Institut de les Arts de les Ciències i de les Indústries (Institute for Science and Industry), where he exhibited frequently. He illustrated various magazines such as Catalunya artística , La Ilustració Catalana , L'Esquella de la Torratxa and L'Olotí as well as books. He took over the position of director at L'Olotí magazine . He also designed numerous art posters. During the Olotensian period he published some plays and short stories such as the drama La borda (1902, the railing) or the comedy La fiesta de Sant Ferriol . In 1912 he went to the drawing section of the Escola de Belles Arts de Sant Feliu de Guíxols (Art School of Sant Feliu de Guíxols) as a lecturer in coloring, modeling and carving . He wrote to his friend Martí Casadevall that it was artistically too "tight" in Olot. Together with the lecturers Joan Bordàs i Salellas and Narcís Albertí i Bosch, he established a high-quality section for the artistic representation of the female body in Sant Feliu de Guíxols.

Rating

Berga left an outstanding work as a draftsman. In 1913 he was known for his drawing La Passada (Museum of St. Feliu). The quality of his charcoal portraits was often placed on a par with those of Ramon Casas . Berga's war, or better anti-war, drawings that resulted from the experiences of the First World War are extremely interesting . His painting did not reach the creative height of the graphic work. Berga also worked as a sculptor.

The picture The Berga family is of course an homage to one's own family. But the idyllic family picture in the idyllic surroundings of Olot also points directly to a false reality. Berga was a choleric person who loved and practiced the bohemian nightlife. Against this background, the relationship with his family was not free of tension. On the one hand, he admired his highly respected father, the classic painter and artist von Olot, but was in no way able to follow his artistic path. He had rarely painted his mother and hardly ever mentioned it in public. His wife and daughters are only external companions of his excessive artistic life. Berga i Boada found it difficult to face family reality. The false, bucolic reality of the picture artistically consciously conceals all these opposites and thus highlights them again.

Berga i Boada experienced many contradictions in person and work. He admired the three “classic” Vayredas ( Joaquim , Marià and Francesc Vayreda ) and their work. At the same time, he sharply rejected them. His versatile work is a reflection of his time, which was a time of great social and political upheaval. The work is also a reflection of his partly choleric and excessive bohemian character. Berga accepted all the artistic challenges of the time and thereby also created upheavals in art history.

literature

  • Enciclopèdia catalana: Josep Berga i Boada . In: Gran enciclopèdia catalana. 2nd edition, 5th reprint 1992. Volume 4 . Enciclopèdia catalana, Barcelona 1987, ISBN 84-85194-86-1 , p. 446 (Catalan).

Web links

Commons : Josep Berga i Boada  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ This information comes from an information board of the Museu Comarcal de la Garrotxa in an exhibition on Berga i Boada from September 8, 2018 to February 10, 2019 in the Sala oberta of the museum.
  2. ↑ See above.
  3. ↑ This image analysis was published on the occasion of the exhibition “Josep Berga i Boada” in the following magazine: La Comarca d'Olot, Olot, September 20, 2018, Num. 1952, page 10, “La família Berga i Boada”.
  4. ↑ Evaluation according to the exhibition flyer of the Museu Comarcal de la Garrotxa in Olot on the occasion of the exhibition from September 8, 2018 to February 10, 2019 in Olot.
personal data
SURNAME Berga i Boada, Josep
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Catalan painter
DATE OF BIRTH March 19, 1872
PLACE OF BIRTH Olot
DATE OF DEATH July 16, 1923
Place of death Sant Feliu de Guíxols