Josep Llimona i Bruguera
Encyclopedia
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
8 April 1864–27 February 1934), was a Catalan sculptor. His first works were academic, but after a stay in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, influenced by Auguste Rodin
Auguste Rodin
François-Auguste-René Rodin , known as Auguste Rodin , was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past...
, his style drew closer to modernisme
Modernisme
Modernisme was a cultural movement associated with the search for Catalan national identity. It is often understood as an equivalent to a number of fin-de-siècle art movements, such as Art Nouveau, Jugendstil, Secessionism, and Liberty style, and was active from roughly 1888 to 1911 Modernisme ...
. He was very prolific, and exhibited in Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
, Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, Paris, Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
and Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
. Some of his monumental work is familiar to Barcelona residents and visitors alke.
Artistic education and career
He studied at the Llotja school and in the studio of the brothers Agapit and Venaci Vallmitjana. He was also a disciple of Rossend Nobas, with whom he worked for two years, and the painter Martí i Alsina, in the school of fine arts in Barcelona. When he was 16 years old he obtained a Fortuny grant, awarded by the City Council, and moved to RomeRome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, where as well as producing the works that were mandatory under the terms of his grant, he made an initial model for an equestrian statue of the count of Barcelona Ramon Berenguer the Great. This work earned Llimona the renewal of his grant for a further month, enabling him to remodel the statue at its definitive scale.
The work was shown at the Exposición Universal de Barcelona (1888), where it won a gold medal, the highest award given by the international jury for sculpture. The original became the property of the City Council, in return for the modest amount of the grant (3,600 pesetas) and it can now be seen in the Barcelona square named after the count. Almost at the same time Llimona won a competition for a statue of Ramon Berenguer the Elder, which, cast in bronze, is amongst the monuments which stand in the Saló de Sant Joan in Barcelona, and in spite of sending in his work late, he won a resounding moral victory in the competition held in Reus
Reus
Reus is the capital of the comarca of Baix Camp, in the province of Tarragona, in Catalonia, Spain. The area has always been an important producer of wines and spirits, and gained continental importance at the time of the Phylloxera plague...
(Tarragona
Tarragona (province)
Tarragona is a province of eastern Spain, in the southern part of the autonomous community of Catalonia. It is bordered by the provinces of Castellón, Teruel, Zaragoza, Lleida, Barcelona, and the Mediterranean Sea....
) for an equestrian statue of general Joan Prim i Prats.
Josep Llimona also sculpted a large number of works in other genres, including Desconsol, shown in the international fine arts exhibition held in Barcelona in 1907 and acquired for the city's municipal museum; Idil·li, in a private collection in Argentina; the funerary monument of Señora de Chopitea (Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
); the group Amor a la infància, in the Bosc Schools on Montjuïc
Montjuïc
Montjuïc is a hill located in Barcelona, Catalonia.-Etymology:Montjuïc is translated as 'Jew Hill' in medieval Catalan, or is perhaps related to the Latin phrase Mons Jovicus . The name is found in several locations in the Catalan Countries: the Catalan cities of Girona and Barcelona both have a...
, and the great monument to Doctor Robert, originally placed in the Plaça de la Universitat in Barcelona and now in the Plaça Tetuan.
He also worked in the applied arts. Notable examples in this area are the crosier
Crosier
A crosier is the stylized staff of office carried by high-ranking Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and some Lutheran and Pentecostal prelates...
for the bishop of Vic
Vic
Vic is the capital of the comarca of Osona, in the Barcelona Province, Catalonia, Spain. Vic's location, only 69 km far from Barcelona and 60 km from Girona, has made it one of the most important towns in central Catalonia.-History:...
, a coffee service that was to be offered as a gift for a royal wedding, and various pieces of jewellery whose artistic value exceeds the intrinsic value, although the latter is still considerable. Also, as a draughtsman
Draughtsman
A draughtsman or draftsman , is a person skilled in drawing, either:*drawing for artistic purposes, or*technical drawing for practical purposes such as architecture or engineering...
, Llimona produced a large number of excellent life studies.
He was one of the founders, along with his brother Joan Llimona i Bruguera, of the Cercle Artístic de Sant Lluc
Cercle Artístic de Sant Lluc
The Cercle Artístic de Sant Lluc is an arts society which was founded in Barcelona in 1893 by Joan Llimona, Josep Llimona, Antoni Utrillo, Alexandre de Riquer, the city councillor Alexandre M...
in 1892.
Notable works
- 1888 FriezeFriezethumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
for the Arc de TriomfArc de TriomfThe Arc de Triomf is an archway structure in Barcelona, Spain. It was built for the Exposición Universal de Barcelona , as its main access gate by architect Josep Vilaseca i Casanovas.The arch is built in reddish brickwork in the Neo-Mudéjar style...
in Barcelona. - 1888 Eight reliefs for the monument to Christopher Columbus, Barcelona.
- 1890 Sacred Heart. Parish church of TerrassaTerrassaTerrassa is a city in the east central region of Catalonia, Spain, in the comarca of Vallès Occidental, of which it is the co-capital along with Sabadell, the historic capital....
. - 1891 Modèstia. Museu Nacional d'Art de CatalunyaMuseu Nacional d'Art de CatalunyaThe Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya , abbreviated as MNAC, is a museum of Catalan visual art located in Barcelona, Catalonia. It is housed in the Palau Nacional, built for the 1929 World's Fair...
. - 1892 Virgin of the Rosary. Museum of the Abbey of Montserrat.
- 1895 L'Àngel exterminador. Cemetery of ComillasComillasComillas is a small township and municipality in the northern reaches of Spain, in the autonomous community of Cantabria. The Marquisate of Comillas, a fiefdom of Spanish nobility, holds ceremonial office in the seat of power at a small castle which overlooks the town.-Marquis of Comillas:The first...
, CantabriaCantabriaCantabria is a Spanish historical region and autonomous community with Santander as its capital city. It is bordered on the east by the Basque Autonomous Community , on the south by Castile and León , on the west by the Principality of Asturias, and on the north by the Cantabrian Sea.Cantabria...
. - 1897 Saint Nicholas and the fishermen. Church of San Nicolás, BilbaoBilbaoBilbao ) is a Spanish municipality, capital of the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. With a population of 353,187 , it is the largest city of its autonomous community and the tenth largest in Spain...
. - 1903-1910 Monument to Dr. Robert] in Barcelona.
- 1907 Desconsol. Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona.
- 1914 Christ Resurrected. In collaboration with Antoni GaudíAntoni GaudíAntoni Gaudí i Cornet was a Spanish Catalan architect and figurehead of Catalan Modernism. Gaudí's works reflect his highly individual and distinctive style and are largely concentrated in the Catalan capital of Barcelona, notably his magnum opus, the Sagrada Família.Much of Gaudí's work was...
for the Abbey of Montserrat. - 1916 Saint George. Grand stairs of the Barcelona City Hall.
- 1916 Monument to José María UsandizagaJose Maria UsandizagaJosé María Usandizaga was a Spanish Basque composer.A native of San Sebastián, Usandizaga began his musical studies in his hometown before moving to the Schola Cantorum in Paris. There, he was a composition pupil of Vincent d'Indy, and he took piano lessons from Gabriel Grovlez...
. San SebastiánSan SebastiánDonostia-San Sebastián is a city and municipality located in the north of Spain, in the coast of the Bay of Biscay and 20 km away from the French border. The city is the capital of Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. The municipality’s population is 186,122 , and its...
. - 1924 Sait George on horseback. Park of Montjuïc, Barcelona.
- 1925 Female nude. Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya.
- 1929 Sculptural group of the Monument to the heroes of 1808.
- 1929 Judas’ kiss. Tarragona cathedralTarragona CathedralThe Cathedral of Tarragona is a Roman Catholic church in Tarragona, Spain. Located in a site previously occupied by a Roman temple dating to the time of Tiberius, a Visigothic cathedral and a Moorish mosque, it was declared a national monument in 1905....
. - 1929 La Font. Public gardens in Buenos Aires.
- 1930 The bath. Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya.
External links
Sources
Adapted from the Catalan Wikipedia- La Gran Enciclopèdia en català Volum XII, Barcelona: Edicions 62, 2004. ISBN 84 297 5440 7
- Josefina Alix Trueba Escultura Española 1900/1936 Madrid, Ediciones El Viso, 1985. ISBN 84 7483 412 0
- Apèndix VI pag. 1350-Tom nº, 31 pags. 1044-45 de l'enciclopèdia Espasa