Petit Masque Aere | MACA - Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Alicante

Julio González

Light breathable mask

ca.1932-1933

Technical data

Authorship:

Julio González

Title:

Light breathable mask

Date:

ca.1932-1933

Dimensions:

16.7 x 9.3 x 1.3 cm

Collection it belongs to:

Collection 20th Century Art

Inventory no.:

XX.066

Artwork text

Petit masque aéré [Small Aerated Mask] was one of two sculptures that Roberta González gave to Eusebio Sempere as proof of their great friendship, along with the paintings Montserrat criant nº 2 and Nature morte and nearly thirty drawings by Julio González, as Sempere himself declared in 1976. The collection of works by the artist constitutes one of the most singular testimonies of the affective and intellectual bond that united the Alicante artist with the González family.

The piece belongs to one of the most fertile moments in González's career, when the artist explored with greater intensity the expressive possibilities of the mask as a sculptural form. The adjective "aerated" is not casual: The mask owes its name to the voids that traverse it: the iron appears cut out, perforated, so that the air becomes part of the sculpture itself. What at first glance seems a profile of a face is also revealed as a face divided into two halves, one of metal and one of void, that interpenetrate and merge. The figure becomes background and the background becomes figure, in a play of solids and hollows that keeps the gaze in motion.

It is a small piece, but of great formal density, that condenses some of González's most personal discoveries: the integration of space in sculpture, metal reduced to its minimal expression and, nevertheless, capable of defining a face with barely a few strokes. Cast in bronze by the prestigious Parisian workshop Valsuani in an edition of eight numbered copies, the specimen in the MACA collection corresponds to number 3/8.

Exhibitions

-"Avant-gardes in Catalonia 1906-1939, protagonists, tendencies, events", Barcelona, La Pedrera. Fundació Caixa de Catalunya, from July 16 to September 30, 1992.

-"The Revolution of Sculpture in the 20th Century", Vitoria, Caja Vital Kutxa, September-November 2001.

-"Three Sculptors in Paris: Manolo Hugué, Pablo Gargallo and Julio González", Fundación Caixa Sabadell, from January 31 to March 17, 2002.

- "Julio González and his Family Circle, Joan and Roberta", Logroño, Sala Amós Salvador, March-May 2006. Touring: Valladolid, Museo de la Pasión, May-June 2006.

- "Masks. Metamorphosis of Modern Identity", Málaga, Museo Carmen Thyssen, from July 27, 2020 to January 10, 2021.

Bibliografía

- Aguilera Cerni, Vicente; Julio, Joan, Roberta González, itinerary of a dynasty, Barcelona, Editorial Polígrafa, 1973, p. 337, cat. 448.il.

- "Julio González Donation", Gazeta del Arte. Exhibitions and Auctions. Year I-number 2, April 30, 1973, p 4 and 5; il.

- González Donation, Barcelona, Museum of Modern Art, City Council, 1974, cover and p.17, cat. 20;il.

- Julio González, Madrid, Ruíz Castillo Gallery, 1974; il.

- "The New Iron Age. 1876-1976: centenary of Julio González" Gazeta del Arte. Exhibitions and Auctions. Year IV, no. 59, January 18, 1976. p 13 to 15; il.

- Julio González, Galerie de France en Art. 1978, Basel, 1978, cat.36;il.

- Julio González, sculptures and drawings, Madrid/Barcelona, Juan March Foundation/Chapel of the Old Hospital of the Holy Cross, 1980, cat.20;il.

- Bonet Correa, Antonio: Municipal Museum "Casa de la Asegurada", 20th Century Art Collection, Alicante, Ed. Municipal Museum "Casa de la Asegurada", 1981, il b/w. p. 29.

- Julio González, a retrospective, Städische Galerie im Städel/Academy of Arts, Frankfurt/Berlin, 1983, p.79, cat.75; il.

- Visit to the Exhibition. Julio González 1876-1942. Sculptures, Decorative Arts, Drawings (teaching guide), Berlin, Academy of Arts, 1983, fig.3; il.

-Calvo Serraller, Francisco: Spain, half a century of avant-garde 1939-1985, Madrid, Ministry of Culture, 1985, p.29; il.

- Merkert, J.: Julio González. Catalogue raisonné of sculptures, Milan, Electa, 1987, cat.138;il.

- Julio González, Madrid, Theo Gallery, 1987, cat.10;il.

- Avant-gardes in Catalonia 1906-1939, protagonists, trends, events, Barcelona, Fundació Caixa Catalunya-La Pedrera, Barcelona, 1992, p.90-91, 130 and 324, cat.250; il.

- Rowell, M.: Julio González. The IVAM Collections. New Holdings, Valencia, 1993, p.34; il.

- AA.VV.: 20th Century Art Collection. Museum of the Asegurada / Alicante, Alicante, City Council, 1998, p. 54: il.

- The Revolution of Sculpture in the 20th Century, Vitoria, Caja Vital Kutxa, 2001, s.p.

- Julio González and his family circle, Joan and Roberta, Logroño, Cultural Rioja, 2006, p. 27:il.

-Castells González, Rosa Mª: "Eusebio Sempere collector. The 20th Century Art Collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Alicante" in Atlas Sempere Canelobre no. 69, Alicante, Alicantine Institute of Culture, 2018, p. 280-291.

- Masks. Metamorphosis of Modern Identity, Málaga, Carmen Thyssen Museum, 2020, cat. 67, p. 133.

Artist

Julio González

Barcelona, Spain , 1876 - 1876

On May 27, 1876, he was born in Barcelona into a family of craftsmen. In 1900 he moved with his family to Paris where he came into contact with other Spanish artists such as Gargallo, Sabartés, Hugué, and Picasso. During this period he was clearly in...

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