The exhibition at the Institut Valencia d'Art Modern explores the decisive change of course that lead from ancient to contemporary sculpture. The exhibition shows an art of free forms differentiating itself from the historical European art of the nineteenth century, and reflecting the emergence of the avant-garde at the beginning of the twentieth century with two protagonists and their artistic interaction.
Julio González La Montserrat (1876-1942) and David Smith (1906-1965) were two artists who, despite the differences in age or culture and geographic distance, together mark a turning point in the understanding of contemporary sculpture. They share a number of key beliefs, at least when viewed from the perspective of the twenty-first century.
Julio González lived in an early exile in Paris with his premonition of the Spanish civil war. Like his friend Picasso, he soon broke away from figurative and realistic aesthetic of the time-honored craftsmanship with new techniques. He began with iron sculptures, masks, reminiscent of ethnic African art. This was followed by Cubist, compact designs. Later, he occupied himself with the idea of the open sculpture.
David Smith, born 30 years later in Indiana, first went through a hard apprenticeship in an industrial welding production line. His artistic education began only with the Art Students’ League in New York. Along with Arshile Gorky and Willem de Kooning, he was soon counted among the artists of the second European avant-garde. In 1933, David Smith became a sculptor and experimented with forms of welded iron. He discovered the iron sculptures of Julio González, and it is to González he owes his "technical liberation." For Smith, González was "the first master of the torch." Years later, David Smith considers Julio González as the creator of abstract iron sculpture. David Smith's new art is based on the unloaded linear metal sculptures, a kind of “three-dimensional calligraphy”. He was regarded as a classic representative of American sculpture of his century.
The works on exhibition include both designed and built work, defying gravity with its slim, free materiality. They are sculptural drawings in space, complementing the three-dimensional work with a volatile, elusive dimension.
20 January – 1 May 2011
IVAM Institut Valencia d'Art Modern, Guillem de Castro 118, 46003 Valencia, Spain
