Josep Guinovart

Josep Guinovart i Bertran (20 March 1927 – 12 December 2007) was a Spanish painter best known for his informalist or abstract expressionist work.

Biography

In 1941, he began to work as a decorator. Three years later, he started his studies at the Escuela de Artes y Oficios de la Llotja (Art School of La Llotja) where he stayed until 1946.

He first exhibited his work in 1948 in Galerías Syla in Barcelona. In 1951, he produced his first engravings entitled 'Homage to Federico García Lorca'. Two years later, he was awarded a grant from the French Institute to study in Paris for nine months. Here he discovered the cubist works of Matisse and Picasso and travelled to Belgium, Holland and Germany.

On his return to Barcelona and after a period working as an illustrator and set designer, around 1957 he began moving towards abstract art. His work is highly unconventional and usually on a large scale, using a wide range of materials, three-dimensional objects and organic substances such as eggshell, earth and straw.

In 1962, he illustrated a book of poetry entitled Posies by Joan Salvat-Papasseit for the Ariel Editorial. He won many accolades for his work throughout the 1970s and 80s, including Spain's National Award for Plastic Arts in 1982.

In 1994, a museum foundation dedicated to his art was inaugurated in Agramunt, his mother's birthplace to which he always felt a special attachment.

In 2006 he designed the winery Mas Blanch i Jové in La Pobla de Cérvoles (Lleida) and created The Artists' Vineyard, a project intended to mix sculptures and other art works from different artists in the middle of a vineyard. The Artists' Vineyard was inaugurated after his death in 2010 with the unveiling of his sculpture The Countryside Organ: a music instrument, 6 meters height, for the wind to sing the vines. This winery also displays the 10.5 meters work In Vino Veritas and other artists' works.

He died on 12 December 2007 at the age of 80, a few days after suffering a heart attack. He is buried in the Sant Gervasi Cemetery, Barcelona.

Museums and public collections with his artwork Espai Guinovart, Agramunt, Catalonia – museum dedicated entirely to his artwork MACBA (Barcelona Contemporary Art Museum), Barcelona CaixaForum, Colección Fundación "La Caixa", Barcelona Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid The Guggenheim, New York City Casa de las Américas, Havana Fine Arts Museum of Long Island, New York City Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City Museo de Escultura al Aire Libre, Santa Cruz de Tenerife Museo de Navarra, Tafalla Museo Provincial de Vitoria-Gasteiz, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Basque Country Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende, Santiago Museum of Fine Arts, Alexandria, Egypt Museu d'Art Modern, Barcelona Biblioteca Museu Víctor Balaguer, Vilanova i la Geltrú, Catalonia Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, Bilbao, Basque Country Museo de Lissone, Milan Museu de Pintura de Sant Pol de Mar, Catalonia Museo de Maracay, Venezuela Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Caracas, Venezuela Museo Carrillo Gil, Mexico Museo de San Telmo, San Sebastián Kunstmuseum Bocchum, Germany Palacio de Justicia de Vitoria-Gasteiz, Vitoria-Gasteiz Colección Patriomio Nacional, Madrid Fundación Juan March, Palma (Mallorca) Generalitat de Catalunya Collection, Barcelona The Chase Manhattan Bank Collection, New York Caja de Ahorros de la Inmaculada Collection, Zaragoza Diari Avui (newspaper) collection, Barcelona Eina Art & Design School Collection, Barcelona Ajuntament de Barcelona / Barcelona City Council Collection Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Madrid Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Cáceres Museu d'Art Contemporani de Vilafamés, Castelló de la Plana Museu Eusebi Sempere, Alacant