Apel·les Fenosa

Apel·les Fenosa (Barcelona 1899 – Paris 1988) began his drawing studies at a Barcelona Municipal School, entering the studio of the sculptor Enric Casanovas at the age of fifteen. Determined to overcome the ideas of Noucentisme, he joined the group of "The Evolutionists" in 1919, and close within this group to the sculptor Josep Granyer. In 1921 he settled in Paris, where he came into contact with Picasso and the avant-garde groups. In 1924 he exhibited at the Galerie Percier together with Pere Pruna, with a catalog prefaced by Max Jacob, and in 1928 at Zborowski. Collaborator of Favorables París Poema, he was a friend of Supervielle and other writers. He alternates exhibitions in Paris with exhibitions in Barcelona, where he participates in the "Saló dels Evolucionistes" and in the Autumn Salon. Between 1929 and 1939 he lived in Catalonia and belonged to the circle of Joan Rebull. During the 1930s he celebrated several individual shows at the Sala Parés in Barcelona (1930, 1932 and 1933). He participates in the collective “Les Arts i els Artistes”, with which he will exhibit on other occasions. In 1934 he was part of the Organizing Board of the Salón de Montjuïc, and in 1936 he appeared in the Venice Biennale. In 1936 he participated in the Parisian exhibition of the SAI. After the civil war, during which he participated in the tasks of protecting the Catalan artistic heritage, he settled again in Paris (1939). His work is part of the renewal and avant-garde tasks of Catalan sculpture, exceeding the budgets of Noucentisme and later Cubism, although without forgetting these origins in small sculptures, in bronze and terracotta, which he endows with a special lyricism.