Around the 40s, several artists, including Joan Brossà, Àngel Ferrant and Joan Mirò, created a new kind of sculpture which broke the academic art’s strict rules: the New Avant-Garde sculpture was born. It then developed following the contributions of artists, such as Josep Maria Subirachs, Moisés Villèlia, Marcel Martí and Francesc Torres Monsó, with three cornerstones in their aesthetic: objects, totems and materials.

The ready-made art, created with everyday objects, which already existed but were just put together by the artist, had been a pillar in Surrealism and Dadaism, and resumed in the  Avant-Garde in the post war. The primitive sculpture, characterised by totemic shapes, symbols and materials inspired from African art, was very much appreciated. The aim was to reply subversively to the official art’s dogmas, replacing its noble material and shapes, with new objects and ordinary and humble materials, even including garbage in works of art.

Eventually, the last section of the exhibition focuses on the abstractionism, the style that many emerging Catalan sculptors adopted between the 40s and the 50s. However you will see that each artist, though, contributed in a very different way, creating a great diversity in the the artistic scene of the time.

Prepared to be overwhelmed by the richness of each artist' style, which is a great way of learning about the variety and the complexity of Catalan art.

Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya