Minguet i Batllori, Joan M.

Revistes Catalanes amb Accés Obert

ART 
AVANT-GARDE ART 
IN CATALONIA 
PABLO PICASSO. WOMAN WITH MANDOLINE, 1 9 1 1 
THE EXHIBITION c 6 A ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  A CATALUNYA 
(1 906- 1 939)" HAS SERVED TO EMPHASIZE THE RELATIONS 
ESTABLISHED BETWEEN CATALONIA ND THE ART 
MOVEMENTS OF THE HISTORIC AVANT-GARDE. 
J O A N  M. MlNGUET I BATLLORI A R T  C R l T I C  
he exhibition Avantguardes a 
Catalunya ( 1906- 19391, held in 
Barcelona in the sumrner of 
1992, in Antoni Gaudi's building "La Pe- 
drera", set out to offer an accurate 
summary of the history of the Catalan 
avant-gardes. Arnongst other things, 
the exhibition -and especially the cata- 
logue- has served to ernphasize the 
rich and complex relations that arose 
between Catalonia and the art rnove- 
ments of the historic avant-garde. In 
two senses: first of al1 by explaining the 
influence the foreign art movernents of 
the first decades of the twentieth cen- 
tury had in Catalonia, and secondly by 
stressing the important part played 
by many Catalans in the international 
avant-garde of the period and in the 
subsequent developrnent of contempo- 
rary art. 
Catalonia, and her capital, Barcelona, 
never became a nucleus of continuous 
effervescence like Paris, Berlin or New 
York, but she never lost touch with the 
avant-garde spirit, either. Quite the 
contrary, a series of figures responded 
to what was happening al1 over the 
world in the field of art and advanced 
architecture. And largely as a result of 
this response, the work of sorne Catalan 
painters, sculptors and architects was 
later able to conquer these avant- 
garde centres. Let us look at sorne 
exarnples. 
The introduction of avant-garde art 
to Catalonia 
The first signs that sornething was hap- 
pening in European avant-garde art 
were due to the untiring activity of the 
dealer in art and antiques Josep Dal- 
ART 
FRANCIS PICABIA. VlRGlN OF MOMSERRAT, 1928 - PRNATE COLLECTION. PARlS 
mau. Dalmau is one of the central fig- 
ures, because through his gallery he 
managed to involve Barcelona, even if 
only indirectly, in the most important 
artistic initiatives of his time. In the 
spring of 191 2 he organised an impor- 
tant exhibition of cubist art in which, 
amongst others, he showed works by 
Juan Gris, Jean Metzinger, Albert Glie- 
res and Marcel Duchamp, who submit- 
ted his famous "Nude Descending a 
Staircasen. This was one of the first ex- 
hibitions af cubism outside Paris. Years 
later, Dalmau took advantage of the 
presence in Catalonia of several artists 
escaping World War I to make his gal- 
lery an unavoidable meeting-place. 
This, for example, was the origin of his 
friendship with Francis Picabia, who 
while in Barcelona produced the first 
four issues of the magazine 391, so 
emblematic in the history of Dada. And 
this, also, was the origin of Serge Char- 
choune's abstract exhibitions in Barce- 
lona ( 1 9 1 6 and 1 9 1 71, and of Picabia's 
own exhibition, in 1922, preceded by a 
conference by André Breton. But Dal- 
mau's affention was not limited only to 
what was going on abroad, to the ex- 
tent that in 1929 he made fruitful con- 
tacts with th-e abstract art of constructi- 
vist roots, exhibiting works by Mondrian 
and Van Doesburg. As well as this, Dal- 
mau gave his support to the foremost 
Catalan art; in this respect, it is no sur- 
prise that Miró and Dalí should have 
given their first individual exhibitions in 
his gallery or that Miró's first exhibition 
in Paris, in 1921, should have been an 
initiative of his. 
Some time later, in the thirties, a series 
of Catalan writers, artists and intellec- 
tuals tried to continue the stirnulating 
work started by Dalmau. To this end 
they founded ADLAN (Amics De I'Art 
Nou - Friends of the New Art) and, 
amongst many other things, organised 
exhibitons by Joan Miró, Alexander 
Calder, Angel Ferrant, Hans Arp and 
Max Ernst, as well as a large exhibition 
by Picasso which also travelled to 
Madrid. 
This wish by concerned cultural sectors 
to internationalize Catalonia is not to 
be seen only in the exhibitions by artists 
of renown that were held in Barcelona. 
Certain critics also made an important 
Joan Salvat-Papasseit as the main fig- 
ures). 
In architecture, Josep Lluís Sert not only 
brought his teacher, Le Corbusier, to 
Barcelona, but also produced an irn- 
pressive architectural oeuvre. And in 
sculpture, the work of Pau Gargallo 
and, especially, of Juli Gonzulez in 
DAL~. WOUNDED BIRD, 1928 sculptural work with iron, have had a 
profound and notable influence. Very 
probably, modern sculpture would not 
have been the same without Gonzalez's 
contribution. 
Catalonia, then, played an important 
contribution (Sebastib Gasch, Magi Al- part in the history of the avant-garde 
bert Cassanyes, Rafael Benet, to a les- art movement, in a two-way relation- 
ser extent) as did some of the press ship, as I have said; welcoming some of 
(with a special mention for the avant- the activities and figures in this story 
garde magazine L'Amic de les Arts), and letting their initiatives penetrate; 
who struggled to make the break in the and, in return, giving rise to proposals 
arts known in Catalan artistic circles. which, faced with the impossibility of 
becoming established in Catalonia's 
Catalan art in the international own artistic systems, had to take shelter 
avant-garde in other cultural systems that were more 
At the same time, as I have already in contact with the spirit of the break- 
said, Catalan art has had its own impor- through. 
tant influence on international avant- Despite this two-way relationship, Bar- 
garde art. A series of painters, sculp- celona was always a peripheral cultural 
tors and architects born in Catalonia centre with respect to the great centres 
-Joan Miró, Salvador Dalí, Juli Gonzd- that drove the international avant- 
lez, Josep Lluis Sert, Josep Torres Cla- garde. Its importance, if you like, was, 
vé ...- or trained in Catalan artistic cir- in the long run, relative: the city does 
cles -Picasso, Joaquin Torres-García, not seem to have rnanaged to take ad- 
Pau Gargallo ...- made an especially vantage of the many opportunities of- 
irnportant contribution to the revolutio- fered it over the years (Picasso's love of 
nary art movements that grew up during the city, the cubist exhibition, the pres- 
the first third of the twentieth century. ence of Picabia, the first exhibitions by 
What is more, some of these figures Joan Miró and Salvador Dalí, Le Corbu- 
played a central role in these move- sier's proiects for Barcelona, etc.). 
ments. In this respect, cubism would not Nevertheless, in spite of being on the cul- 
have been the same without Picasso's tural periphery, Barcelona successfully 
participation. And modern historio- combatted the more orthodox local cul- 
graphy has stressed the enormous in- tural nucleuses through individual initia- 
fluence exercised on Picasso by the Ca- tives that were soon followed. If this is  
talan Modernist circles he frequented in not enough to show the intense rela- 
Barcelona at the turn of the century. tions Catalonia maintained with the 
Joan Miró and Salvador Dalí also avant-garde, one need only rernember, 
played an active and important part in as I have done briefly here, the long list 
the shaping of Surrealism, always on of Catalan artists who today are inclu- 
the basis of their native Catalonia. ded in the manuals of contemporary 
Whether from automatism or from art. All things considered, and whether 
dreams, Miró and Dalí have become in one sense or another, the history of 
two of the pillars of Surrealist painting. the art of the twentieth century will have 
Torres-Garcia got involved in geometric to pay special attention to everything 
abstraction after his contact with the Catalonia can contribute to an under- 
first Catalan futurist nucleuses (with the standing of what are commonly referred 
painter Rafael Barrades and the poet to as the historical avant-gardes. 


Avant-garde Art in Catalonia

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Revistes Catalanes amb Accés Obert