Julio González (sculptor)

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La Petite Faucille (around 1937). Museo Arte Público, Madrid

Julio González (born September 21, 1876 in Barcelona , † March 27, 1942 in Arcueil near Paris ; actually Julio Luis Jesús González-Pellicer ) was a Spanish sculptor . He is considered to be the inventor of the “iron sculpture” and the first “artist with the welding machine”. With his constructive language of form he was an important representative of sculpture in abstract art .

life and work

In 1891 González began an apprenticeship as a goldsmith with his brother. Her teacher was her own father, who ran a well-known blacksmith's studio in Barcelona . González took part in evening drawing courses at the Art School in Barcelona. In 1896, González's father died. The family moved to Paris in 1899. Around 1900 González made artistic contacts there with Pablo Picasso , Georges Braque , Max Jacob , Joaquín Torres García , Pablo Gargallo and Constantin Brâncuși . He decided to become a painter for the time being. In 1908, González's brother died, which plunged him into a mental crisis. He lived very withdrawn for a few years and only kept the connection to the artists Picasso and Brâncuși. He began to earn a living as a blacksmith and gave up painting entirely. In 1918 Gonzáles began an apprenticeship as a welder at Renault . In this apprenticeship he learned autogenous welding .

With the acquisition of this technical skill, he began to create his first sculptures from forged iron. These first sculptures were human figures that still followed the classic forms of traditional sculpture. González's first solo exhibition included painting, sculpture, drawings, jewelry and objects and took place in 1922 at the Povolovsky Gallery in Paris.

From 1923 he worked with Pablo Picasso. Around 1928 González instructed his friend Pablo Picasso in the arts of metalworking. Pablo Picasso, on the other hand, led González to create increasingly abstract works of art, also from several materials. In 1931 González had a joint exhibition with the Surrealists in the Paris "Salon des Sur-Indépendants". In 1930 he became a member of the local artists' association " Cercle et Carré " and was also a member of the subsequent association " Abstraction-Création ".

González created his important sculpture The Angel in 1933 and the Seated Woman in 1935 . In 1937 his sculpture La Montserrat took part in the Spanish pavilion at the Paris World's Fair . His famous series Cactus Man was created in 1940 .

In the last years of his life, González limited himself to drawing and, due to the war-related shortage of materials, to sculptures made of plasticine and plaster of paris.

Julio González died of a heart attack on March 27, 1942 in Arcueil near Paris.

Important exhibitions (selection)

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Museo Arte Público (Spanish Wikipedia)
  2. ↑ González Biography ( Memento of the original from May 9, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Guggenheim Collection (in English)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.guggenheimcollection.org
  3. ↑ Julio González - Sculpture and Drawing · Sculpture and Drawing . Eds. Ferdinand Ullrich, Hans-Jürgen Schwalm, Kerber-Verlag, Bielefeld 2001, ISBN 3-929040-59-X . Catalog for the 2001 exhibition in the Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, in the Sinclair-Haus, Bad Homburg vd H., and in the Städtische Museen Heilbronn.
  4. ^ Brigitte Leal: Julio Gonzalez: Collection. Center Georges Pompidou Service Commercial, Paris 2007, ISBN 978-2-84426-323-0 .
  5. ↑ Mercè Doñate: Julio González, retrospectiva. Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona 2008, ISBN 978-84-8043-191-0 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME González, Julio
ALTERNATIVE NAMES González-Pellicer, Julio Luis Jesús (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH September 21, 1876
PLACE OF BIRTH Barcelona , Spain
DATE OF DEATH March 27, 1942
Place of death Arcueil near Paris , France