The renowned
Catalan painter Montserrat Gudiol Corominas was born in 1933 in Barcelona,
daughter of the art historian Josep Gudiol Ricart, she taught herself and
arrived at her artistic language through her preoccupation with Catalan Gothic
art combined with Surreal elements and influenced by Picasso's blue and pink
periods. Gudiol uses an ancient painting technique: she applies colors in fine
layers onto wooden panels grounded in plaster.
In 1950, she
studied restoration of old paintings and focuses specifically on painting on
wood and paper. It sets out in Spain but also in South Africa, the United
States, Russia and Canada. In 1981 she became the first woman admitted to the
Real Academia Catalana of Fine Arts of San Jordi. In 1998 she received the
Cross of St. George.
Formed with his
father, one of the most eminent teachers in the study of Catalan Art and grow
within a family where art and music were a vital, necessary and everyday,
Montserrat Gudiol has struggled since its inception to find a personal
pictorial language and most sincere person who voluntarily avoids any style or
fad.
He knows that in
matters of art, like everything, there is no middle. What matters above all,
it's only beauty . And from this point of view, it is not safe to proclaim that
the art of Montserrat Gudiol is timeless and beautiful, because it is true and
sincere. Because only wants to express the feelings of the artist and because
he expressed that he has gained expertise with an intense fight, with great
effort, with a relentless tenacity.
The paintings and
drawings Montserrat Gudiol impeccable reveal also the strong personality of a
woman, her ability to work and struggle, her infinite tenderness of a mother,
but also the extreme problems of human beings. Because, at the bottom of his
creations are always a silence deep, mysterious and unsettling time, an
emotional affection and also a certain anxiety, an unspeakable peace and a very
human anguish. For this reason, the dialogue of his creations enriches us and
makes us love so much and feel that so and so affectionate.
