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Considered one of the finest sculptors of [[Modernisme|Catalan Modernism]] sculpture, Llimona joined the [[Symbolism (arts)|Symbolism]] movement during the first few years of the twentieth century after a phase in which he had adopted an idealism deeply rooted in his solid religious convictions. Llimona contributed to the founding of the [[Cercle Artístic de Sant Lluc|Artistic Circle of Sant Lluc]], the intention of which was to preserve art from the excesses of contemporary artists. Female nudes were prohibited in the Circle's initial statutes, but later the prohibition was lifted; Llimona did not depict the female nude until then. It was then that he sculpted ''Desolation'', a work he exhibited for the first time in 1907 and which demonstrates the artist's ability to communicate feelings that reflect a deep humanity through a naked female figure.
Considered one of the finest sculptors of [[Modernisme|Catalan Modernism]] sculpture, Llimona joined the [[Symbolism (arts)|Symbolism]] movement during the first few years of the twentieth century after a phase in which he had adopted an idealism deeply rooted in his solid religious convictions. Llimona contributed to the founding of the [[Cercle Artístic de Sant Lluc|Artistic Circle of Sant Lluc]], the intention of which was to preserve art from the excesses of contemporary artists. Female nudes were prohibited in the Circle's initial statutes, but later the prohibition was lifted; Llimona did not depict the female nude until then. It was then that he sculpted ''Desolation'', a work he exhibited for the first time in 1907 and which demonstrates the artist's ability to communicate feelings that reflect a deep humanity through a naked female figure.


''Desolation'', a paradigm of ''[[Modernisme]]'' sculpture, magisterially represents the formal traits of Symbolism as adopted by the more outstanding [[Catalan people|Catalan]] sculptors of the day. These traits include undulating lines and softened contours, features that derive from ''[[Danaid (Rodin)|The Danaide]]'' by [[Auguste Rodin]]. Even so, a notable difference exists between the resigned, melancholic and chaste attitude of ''Desolation'' and the vitality, strength and sensuality of the French sculptor's work. With ''Desolation'', Llimona brought his process of sculptural renewal to a peak while also summing up the Symbolist aesthetic of one of Catalan art's most brilliant periods.<ref>[http://www.mnac.es/colleccio/col_modern.jsp?ambit=70&lan=003 MNAC's artwork at their Online Collection]</ref><ref>[http://www.spanisharts.com/history/del_impres_s.XX/modernismo/i_modernismo.html Modernismo]</ref><ref>[http://www.musee-rodin.fr/en/collections/sculptures/danaid Danaid at the Rodin Museum]</ref>
''Desolation'', a paradigm of ''[[Modernisme]]'' sculpture, represents the formal traits of Symbolism as adopted by the more outstanding [[Catalan people|Catalan]] sculptors of the day. These traits include undulating lines and softened contours, features that derive from ''[[Danaid (Rodin)|The Danaide]]'' by [[Auguste Rodin]]. Even so, a notable difference exists between the resigned, melancholic and chaste attitude of ''Desolation'' and the vitality, strength and sensuality of Rodin's work. With ''Desolation'', Llimona brought his process of sculptural renewal to a peak while also summing up the Symbolist aesthetic of one of Catalan art's most brilliant periods.<ref>[http://www.mnac.es/colleccio/col_modern.jsp?ambit=70&lan=003 MNAC's artwork at their Online Collection]</ref><ref>[http://www.spanisharts.com/history/del_impres_s.XX/modernismo/i_modernismo.html Modernismo]</ref><ref>[http://www.musee-rodin.fr/en/collections/sculptures/danaid Danaid at the Rodin Museum]</ref>


== Description ==
== Description ==
[[File:La Virtut Josep Llimona.JPG|thumb|A ''Virtue'' by Llimona hold at the [[Art Museum of Cerdanyola]], in [[Catalonia]].]]
[[File:La Virtut Josep Llimona.JPG|thumb|A ''Virtue'' by Llimona hold at the [[Art Museum of Cerdanyola]], in [[Catalonia]].]]
''Desolation'' is a nude version of a figure produced for a burial vault in the [[Montjuic Cemetery]]<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oZR1FazL94 MNAC Audio Guide for '''Desolation''' by Josep Llimona]</ref> The sculpture´s measurements are 67&nbsp;cm x 76&nbsp;cm x 67&nbsp;cm (26.4 in x 29.9 in x 31.5 in).<ref>[http://www.slideshare.net/mcarmearanda/1josep-llimona-desconsol Desconsol by M.Carme Aranda]</ref>
''Desolation'' is a nude version of a figure produced for a burial vault in the [[Montjuic Cemetery|Montjuic Cemetery.]]<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oZR1FazL94 MNAC Audio Guide for '''Desolation''' by Josep Llimona]</ref> The sculpture´s measurements are 67&nbsp;cm x 76&nbsp;cm x 67&nbsp;cm (26.4 in x 29.9 in x 31.5 in).<ref>[http://www.slideshare.net/mcarmearanda/1josep-llimona-desconsol Desconsol by M.Carme Aranda]</ref>


The sculpture belongs to a group of works created specifically for new pantheons built during the early 1900s. Artists created sculptures of angels or ''Virtues'' that included consoling women overcome by the weight of their grief and allegorical figures reflecting sublime thoughts and feelings relating to death such as despair, grief, or resignation. In short, they modeled desolate, meditative, and mysterious women with no regard to their beauty. The characteristics these works had to have in order to illustrate the general spiritual state led artists to adopt languid, bowed female figures with long hair dressed in tunics that sprang straight from the skin. Although this style wasn't adopted in all the works, female figures predominate and their formal characteristics passed into the artistic language used by modernist sculptors in the works they produced for collectors, without those elements more suited to funerary images associated with death.<ref>Doñate, Mercè. ''Modernisme in the MNAC Collections''. Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya and Lunwerg, Spain 2012.</ref>
The sculpture belongs to a group of works created specifically for new pantheons built during the early 1900s. Artists created sculptures of angels or ''Virtues'' that included consoling women overcome by the weight of their grief and allegorical figures reflecting sublime thoughts and feelings relating to death such as despair, grief, or resignation. In short, they modeled desolate, meditative, and mysterious women with no regard to their beauty. The characteristics these works had to have in order to illustrate the general spiritual state led artists to adopt languid, bowed female figures with long hair dressed in tunics that sprang straight from the skin. Although this style wasn't adopted in all the works, female figures predominate and their formal characteristics passed into the artistic language used by modernist sculptors in the works they produced for collectors, without those elements more suited to funerary images associated with death.<ref>Doñate, Mercè. ''Modernisme in the MNAC Collections''. Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya and Lunwerg, Spain 2012.</ref>


''Desolation'' is full of feeling, an aspect in the Symbolist vein. The most notable characteristic of the work is the ease with which it transmits inner emotions. The Hermeticism and mysterious nature the sculpture evokes have to do with its posture. The hidden gaze, the closed composition of the body, and its curved contours seem to enclose the figure within its own silence.<ref>[http://www.artecreha.com/Historia_de_la_Belleza/j-llimona-qdesconsolq.html History of beauty-Desconsol] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120214042754/http://www.artecreha.com/Historia_de_la_Belleza/j-llimona-qdesconsolq.html |date=2012-02-14 }} (in Spanish)</ref><ref>[http://www.huntfor.com/arthistory/c19th/symbolism.htm Symbolism- Art History]</ref>
''Desolation'' is full of feeling, an aspect in the Symbolist vein. The most notable characteristic of the work is the ease with which it transmits inner emotions. The hermetic and mysterious nature the sculpture evokes has to do with its posture. The hidden gaze, the closed composition of the body, and its curved contours seem to enclose the figure within its own silence.<ref>[http://www.artecreha.com/Historia_de_la_Belleza/j-llimona-qdesconsolq.html History of beauty-Desconsol] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120214042754/http://www.artecreha.com/Historia_de_la_Belleza/j-llimona-qdesconsolq.html |date=2012-02-14 }} (in Spanish)</ref><ref>[http://www.huntfor.com/arthistory/c19th/symbolism.htm Symbolism- Art History]</ref>


== History ==
== History ==
[[File:Desconsol de Josep Llimona, davant el Parlament.jpg|thumb|Replica in front of the [[Parliament of Catalonia]] ({{coord|41|23|16|N|2|11|17|E|type:landmark_source:kolossus-cawiki|display=inline}})]]
[[File:Desconsol de Josep Llimona, davant el Parlament.jpg|thumb|Replica in front of the [[Parliament of Catalonia]] ({{coord|41|23|16|N|2|11|17|E|type:landmark_source:kolossus-cawiki|display=inline}})]]
The sculpture can be found at The National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC).<ref>Llimona, Mercè ''Escales. Josep Llimona i Joan Llimona: Vida y Obra''. Ediciones de Nuevo Arte Thor, Barcelona. (1977)</ref> The work earned a [[gold medal]] in the ''V Exposition of Fine Arts of Barcelona'' in the year 1907. That same year, a photograph of the work was published in the catalog of the ''International Exhibit of Art'' in Barcelona. In 1909, ''Desolation'' was purchased by Barcelona's Major Domènec Sanllehy who donated or gifted the statue to The [[Museum of Modern Art of Barcelona]]. The statue was later moved to the Modern Art gallery of The National Museum of Contemporary Art of Catalonia.<ref>Llimona, Mercè ''Escales. Josep Llimona i Joan Llimona: Vida y Obra''. Ediciones de Nuevo Arte Thor, Barcelona. (1977)</ref>
The sculpture can be found at The National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC).<ref>Llimona, Mercè ''Escales. Josep Llimona i Joan Llimona: Vida y Obra''. Ediciones de Nuevo Arte Thor, Barcelona. (1977)</ref> The work earned a [[gold medal]] in the ''V Exposition of Fine Arts of Barcelona'' in 1907. That same year, a photograph of the work was published in the catalog of the ''International Exhibit of Art'' in Barcelona. In 1909, ''Desolation'' was purchased by Barcelona's Major Domènec Sanllehy who donated the statue to The [[Museum of Modern Art of Barcelona]]. The statue was later moved to the Modern Art gallery of The National Museum of Contemporary Art of Catalonia.<ref>Llimona, Mercè ''Escales. Josep Llimona i Joan Llimona: Vida y Obra''. Ediciones de Nuevo Arte Thor, Barcelona. (1977)</ref>


== Replicas ==
== Replicas ==
Line 60: Line 60:
{{commons category|Escultura Desconsol (MNAC)}}
{{commons category|Escultura Desconsol (MNAC)}}
* [http://art.mnac.cat/fitxatecnica.html;jsessionid=e6e1101fb4db40d47dd40fe411614a7c203dcff0abf74be69bdd5857afb30d83?inventoryNumber=010861-000 The artwork commented at the Museum's website]
* [http://art.mnac.cat/fitxatecnica.html;jsessionid=e6e1101fb4db40d47dd40fe411614a7c203dcff0abf74be69bdd5857afb30d83?inventoryNumber=010861-000 The artwork commented at the Museum's website]
* [http://www.googleartproject.com/collection/museu-nacional-dart-de-catalunya/artwork/desolation-josep-llimona/573530/ Desconsol Google Art Project]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GVDWOptNDY/ MNAC YouTube Video]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GVDWOptNDY/ MNAC YouTube Video]


Revision as of 05:34, 24 February 2022

Desolation
Desolation
ArtistJosep Llimona
Year1907
Typesculpture
Dimensions66.4 cm × 78.8 cm (26.1 in × 31.0 in)
LocationMuseu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona

Desolation is a 1907 sculpture by Josep Llimona in the collection of the National Art Museum of Catalonia in Barcelona.[1]

Background

Considered one of the finest sculptors of Catalan Modernism sculpture, Llimona joined the Symbolism movement during the first few years of the twentieth century after a phase in which he had adopted an idealism deeply rooted in his solid religious convictions. Llimona contributed to the founding of the Artistic Circle of Sant Lluc, the intention of which was to preserve art from the excesses of contemporary artists. Female nudes were prohibited in the Circle's initial statutes, but later the prohibition was lifted; Llimona did not depict the female nude until then. It was then that he sculpted Desolation, a work he exhibited for the first time in 1907 and which demonstrates the artist's ability to communicate feelings that reflect a deep humanity through a naked female figure.

Desolation, a paradigm of Modernisme sculpture, represents the formal traits of Symbolism as adopted by the more outstanding Catalan sculptors of the day. These traits include undulating lines and softened contours, features that derive from The Danaide by Auguste Rodin. Even so, a notable difference exists between the resigned, melancholic and chaste attitude of Desolation and the vitality, strength and sensuality of Rodin's work. With Desolation, Llimona brought his process of sculptural renewal to a peak while also summing up the Symbolist aesthetic of one of Catalan art's most brilliant periods.[2][3][4]

Description

A Virtue by Llimona hold at the Art Museum of Cerdanyola, in Catalonia.

Desolation is a nude version of a figure produced for a burial vault in the Montjuic Cemetery.[5] The sculpture´s measurements are 67 cm x 76 cm x 67 cm (26.4 in x 29.9 in x 31.5 in).[6]

The sculpture belongs to a group of works created specifically for new pantheons built during the early 1900s. Artists created sculptures of angels or Virtues that included consoling women overcome by the weight of their grief and allegorical figures reflecting sublime thoughts and feelings relating to death such as despair, grief, or resignation. In short, they modeled desolate, meditative, and mysterious women with no regard to their beauty. The characteristics these works had to have in order to illustrate the general spiritual state led artists to adopt languid, bowed female figures with long hair dressed in tunics that sprang straight from the skin. Although this style wasn't adopted in all the works, female figures predominate and their formal characteristics passed into the artistic language used by modernist sculptors in the works they produced for collectors, without those elements more suited to funerary images associated with death.[7]

Desolation is full of feeling, an aspect in the Symbolist vein. The most notable characteristic of the work is the ease with which it transmits inner emotions. The hermetic and mysterious nature the sculpture evokes has to do with its posture. The hidden gaze, the closed composition of the body, and its curved contours seem to enclose the figure within its own silence.[8][9]

History

Replica in front of the Parliament of Catalonia (41°23′16″N 2°11′17″E / 41.38778°N 2.18806°E / 41.38778; 2.18806)

The sculpture can be found at The National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC).[10] The work earned a gold medal in the V Exposition of Fine Arts of Barcelona in 1907. That same year, a photograph of the work was published in the catalog of the International Exhibit of Art in Barcelona. In 1909, Desolation was purchased by Barcelona's Major Domènec Sanllehy who donated the statue to The Museum of Modern Art of Barcelona. The statue was later moved to the Modern Art gallery of The National Museum of Contemporary Art of Catalonia.[11]

Replicas

In addition to the original, Josep Llimona produced replicas utilizing diverse materials.[12] The bronze replica is somewhat bigger in size than the original. It was presented at an art exhibition that commemorated the work of Josep Llimona at the Parés Salon in 1934. The stone replica is a variation of the original, in which the female figure is clothed. The sculpture is the same size as the original and it is part of a funerary monument dedicated to Mercedes Casas de Vilanova. The stone variant of Desolation can be found at the Southeast Cemetery in Barcelona.

In 1917 Josep Llimona produced a second marble replica, much bigger in size than the original, it measures 78.8 cm x 68.8 cm (31.0 in x 27.1 in.) The sculpture was damaged over time and was replaced by a plaster replica produced in 1984. The sculpture is the centerpiece of a pond situated in front of Parliament of Catalonia at the Ciutadella park.[13]

A replica is located in the Kelleher Rose Garden in the Back Bay Fens in Boston. It was presented to Boston – one of Barcelona's sister cities – in 1986.[14]

Analysis

Desolation represents a mysterious, delicate woman hiding her face in an attitude of despair and is one of the paradigmatic works of the Catalan Modernist movement. One of the principal points of reference for the Catalan modernist artists was the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. The artwork reflects the influence of Rodin's work Danaid but with a more melancholy, chaste approach.[15] The similarities between Llimona's Desconsol and Rodin’s Danaid lie primarily in the modeling technique used by the artist, the composition of the figure, and the thoughtful use of light and shadow.[16] Llimona's masterful work arises from a block of stone, but the softness and roundness of its forms contrasts strongly with the roughness of the material. The female figure evokes contained melancholy that can be perceived subtly; her pose hides much of the inner world of the character. Her face, covered by a thick mass of hair, is unknown. Only the gesture of the hands, slightly touching, give life to the sculpture.[17]

References

  1. ^ MNAC's website
  2. ^ MNAC's artwork at their Online Collection
  3. ^ Modernismo
  4. ^ Danaid at the Rodin Museum
  5. ^ MNAC Audio Guide for Desolation by Josep Llimona
  6. ^ Desconsol by M.Carme Aranda
  7. ^ Doñate, Mercè. Modernisme in the MNAC Collections. Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya and Lunwerg, Spain 2012.
  8. ^ History of beauty-Desconsol Archived 2012-02-14 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish)
  9. ^ Symbolism- Art History
  10. ^ Llimona, Mercè Escales. Josep Llimona i Joan Llimona: Vida y Obra. Ediciones de Nuevo Arte Thor, Barcelona. (1977)
  11. ^ Llimona, Mercè Escales. Josep Llimona i Joan Llimona: Vida y Obra. Ediciones de Nuevo Arte Thor, Barcelona. (1977)
  12. ^ MNAC Website, accessed 05 Jun 2012
  13. ^ Parc de la Ciutadella
  14. ^ St. Onge, Sarah. "Kelleher Rose Garden" (PDF). Urban Culture Institute.
  15. ^ MNAC Audio Guide for Desolation by Josep Llimona
  16. ^ "El Desconsol". Archived from the original on 2013-05-26. Retrieved 2012-06-10.
  17. ^ Barcelona Tourism

Further reading

  • Sculpture Guide Barcelona (English, Catalan and Spanish Edition) by Eduardo Tolosa and D. Romani (Jul 17, 2009)
  • Catalan Art: Architecture, Sculpture, Painting from the Ninth to the Fifteenth Centuries by Christian Zervos, ed. (1937)
  • Joan Llimona (1860-1926), Josep Llimona (1864-1932): Museu Nacional D'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona, 7 D'Octubre-14 de Novembre de 2004. Joan Llimona (1860-1926), Josep Llimona (1864-1932): Museu Nacional D'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona, 7 D'Octubre-14 de Novembre de 2004
  • Josep Llimona y Joan Llimona: Vida y obra (Spanish Edition) by Merce Escalas Llimona (Unknown Binding - 1977)
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Escultura Desconsol (MNAC).
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