ArchiveSculpture
Josep Maria Subirachs – The Sculptor and his Works
I was lucky enough to visit prolific sculptor and artist Henry Moore‘s home and studio in Hertfordshire. The eagle-eyed of you may have seen me post up many photos on my personal site, both of his iconic sculptures and studio interior.
I suppose you can’t help but be influenced by such a place, especially inspired by the creativity and drive to express oneself. Henry Moore had these qualities in abundance, so I went looking for others who had a similar nature and story behind them. One sculptor who followed a similar path to Henry, and was also inspired by Moore himself, was Barcelona born artist Josep Maria Subirachs. Growing up in a working class family, and due to a bad economic situation in the country, he was forced to abandon his hopes of studying architecture and work with a local gilder and amateur sculptor from the age of fourteen. Although early on he worked as a traditional sculptor he also experiment with many mediums and embodied the idea of creativity, this included painting, drawing, graphic art, tapestry, book illustration, jewellery and much more, for him all of these were unified.
On a personal level I’m drawn to his early abstract angular works, where they interlock and combine using mainly natural materials. It’s also interesting to note the textures on the surface of the forms, producing partial images to be completed in the mind of the viewer. With Subirachs work it’s particularly nice to see the progression throughout his lifetime, from traditional to abstract, veering back towards the traditional side whilst working on the Sagrada Família in his later life. Obviously you can see all these documented on his dedicated webpage linked below, but I’ve decided to place some of my favourite examples of his work here on the site for all to enjoy.