ARTIGAS, The Man of Fire., Casa Milà (La Pedrera), Eixample, Barcelona

Qué/Por qué:

Josep Llorens Artigas (Barcelona, 1892-Gallifa, 1980) is one of the most important names in 20th century European pottery. The Noucentista spirit in which he was trained, the resurgence of pottery in France and his fascination with the great pottery of the Song Dynasty led Artigas to renew Western pottery at the end of the ’20s by completely removing figurative decoration from his jugs and focusing on researching the quality of the glaze.

With extraordinary formal refinement and rigour, Artigas renewed the ancient technique of wheel-thrown pottery, which had been relegated to the field of applied arts in the West, bringing him on par with great Oriental pottery (Chinese, Japanese and Korean), and so much so that by the beginning of the ‘30s, art museums such as the Metropolitan in New York and the Museu d’Art Modern in Barcelona were acquiring pieces of contemporary pottery for the first time.

The work of Artigas, slowly fired using wood – which for him was the basis for his art – is characterised by the simplicity of forms inherited from tradition, worked with the humility of the craftsman, and by the subtlety of deep, bright glazes that express the soul of the artist. Artigas, who never repeated the colour he applied to his earthenware jugs, produced original pottery where each piece was a unique work.

With this exhibition, CatalunyaCaixa’s Social Project would like to provide a new opportunity to examine the work of Artigas and understand and appreciate the importance of his fundamental contributions. The exhibition, which has more than 150 pieces, covers his extensive career chronologically, from the jug called Clar de Lluna (1927) – considered a masterpiece by the artist himself – up to later pieces created at the beginning of the ’70s, also including his fruitful collaborations with artists such as Raoul Dufy and Joan Miró.