Pablo Gargallo

The great sculptor Pablo Gargallo was born in Maella (Zaragoza) in 1881 and died in Reus (Tarragona) in 1934. He settled in Barcelona with his family in 1888; he began to work in a potter’s workshop and was an apprentice in the studio of the Modernist sculptor Eusebi Arnau i Mascort between 1895 and 1903. At the same time he studied at La Lonja Fine Arts School in Barcelona, where he began to make drawings and sketches of the human body. He was a regular member of the gatherings in Els Quatre Gats, which brought him into contact with many important artists of the time. In 1903 he was granted a scholarship to broaden his studies in Paris, but he did not stay long. He returned to Barcelona and held his first solo exhibition at Sala Parés in 1905. At the same time he worked as an assistant with several sculptors and collaborated with the architect Domènech i Montaner in the Modernist sculptural decoration of several of his projects. Between 1905 and 1911, he went through a period of research and consolidation during which he went beyond the trends of the moment and started to use his own personal language, clearly with the intention of simplifying and synthesising forms and essentialising volumes, actually finding a more modern way of representing things. From this time on, Gargallo was ready to use different materials in his sculpture. The exhibition to be held at the IVAM will comprise 180 pieces from all his creative periods, between sculptures, drawings, jewellery and cartoons.