«Maillol, originally from Banyuls, is one of the most sincere artists of our time and one of the greatest sculptors of our era.»
Manolo Hugué (quoted by Josep Pla, Life of Manolo, 1929)
To Àlex Susanna, in memoriam
The exhibition we present, organized in collaboration with the Dina Vierny Gallery in Paris and Leandro Navarro in Madrid, stems from our commitment to our mutual friend Àlex Susanna, who wished to bring together these two artists—Aristide Maillol and Manolo Hugué—in a single show, the subject of his study throughout his career.
The exhibition features a selection of sculptures by each artist, accompanied by a small group of drawings, and highlights the creativity of two pioneering figures within the context of the avant-garde movements.
During the First World War, they were in the Eastern Pyrenees—Banyuls and Céret—a temporary hub of the avant-garde, visited by Picasso, Braque, and Max Jacob. Despite modern ruptures, they upheld an essential, Mediterranean sculpture, with solid volumes, purified forms, and an absence of artifice.
The female body symbolizes harmony and permanence: sensual and robust in Maillol, essential and archaic in Manolo. Together, they forge an alternative within modernity—a pure sculpture that, amid the crisis of its time, affirms the permanence of form.
Dona eixugant-se i dibuix preparatori
1923
Study for the sculpture of a figure drying herself
1923
Standing nude seen from the back
1930
Portrait of Pierre Saque
Small dressed thinker
1902
The Couple o The Man and the Woman
1896
The Dying Warrior
c. 1925
Studies
Ceret, 1909 – 1914
Two women
1929
The Water Carriers
1898