He was one of the most important Spanish sculptors of all time. He was born in Barcelona, but in 1899 he moved to Paris where he began to work as a painter and sculptor through goldsmithing, a discipline learned in his youth from his father, who had a workshop. This skill will be essential to understand the evolution of his artistic production since it provided him with a technical mastery from the beginning. In Paris, outside the avant-garde, he learned the technique of autogenous welding. Then, influenced by friends such as Pablo Gargallo or Constantin Brâncuși from 1972 he decided to dedicate himself to iron sculpture.
The style of his goldsmith works is conventional, quite the opposite of the framework of sculpture, where he allows himself to expand his creativity and his ambition for innovation. In 1930 he begins to develop the reason for his great importance, since he was the one who inaugurated the main current of modern sculpture in Spain. He managed to develop the technique of iron forging to the highest level, based on assemblage and construction by means of lines, planes and voids. He managed to “draw in space” at will. With his sculptures, González managed to synthesize in a single language the contradictions between academic conventions and the latent avant-garde in the Parisian artistic context of the time.
The Fundació Suñol keeps in its reserve a single sculpture by the artist: Mask, Shadow and Light (1934). It was exhibited in the foundation’s 20212 exhibition: ‘Sculpture/Object’. It was also shown in other exhibitions of the same foundation such as ‘Colloquiums’ (2009) and ‘In three acts: Twenty faces and three crowds’ (2021-2022).
List of artworks
Máscara, sombra y luz , 1934
Máscara, sombra y luz , 1934
1915 – 1995
Col·lecció Josep Suñol
Owing to the number of works in the collection, the first show included a selection of the most representative pieces dating from 1915 to...
Sculpture/Object
Josep Suñol Collection
36 pieces from the Josep Suñol Collection, ranging from the early avant-garde up to the most daring experiments of the...
Twenty Faces and Three Crowds
In Three Acts
The third and final act goes into the great iconographic motive of art, the element that questions the chronologies and brings to this day the verisimilitude of the whole...
5th Anniversary
Josep Suñol's Collection
A fresh insight into his collection that can help us understand the function of art in...
Dialogues
First part
An idea that ran right through the 20th century: confrontation implies both affinities and discrepancies with initially similar...
Les Escales
In 1976 Josep Suñol moved his residence to Les Escales, an address specially designed to house his growing collection of works of...
FACE(S)
A project by Susoespai
FACE(S) presents a selection of works done by the people participating in the workshops of Susoespai as part of the visits to the exhibition Twenty Faces and Three Crowds...
Rosa Romero: Mira-mira
Performance
At the end of the exhibition Twenty Faces and Three Crowds, the Fundació Suñol is organizing an artistic performance in collaboration with La Caldera les...
Per la cara!
Taller familiar
Amb motiu de l’exposició Vint rostres i tres multituds, el darrer acte del tríptic expositiu En tres actes, us proposem gaudir d’un taller per a tota la família on repensarem l’ús...
Dialogue with Pol Guash and Valentín Romà
Online video
On the occasion of the exhibition Twenty Faces and Three Crowds, we invite the writer Pol Guasch to have a dialogue with the co-curator of the exhibition series In...
Guided tour with Valentín Roma to Twenty Faces and Three Crowds
On the occasion of the exhibition Twenty Faces and Three Crowds, the last chapter of the thryptic In Three Acts,we suggest you visit the exhibition with Valentín...
Guided tour to Twenty Faces and Three Crowds
Festa Major de Les Corts
Fundació Suñol organizes a visit to the exhibtion Twenty Faces and Three Crowds conducted by the fundation’s...
Sculpture/Object
The exhibition Sculpture/Object was the first of various commemorative events for Fundació Suñol’s 5th anniversary, held in 2012. It showed 36 pieces from the...
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