Joan Prats (

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, 1891 -

, 1970 ) was a

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

art promoter and a close friend of Joan Miró.

Life

Joan Prats was born in 1891 to a family who sold hats. He was trained as an artist in the Llotja School, where he first met Joan Miró, who was also training there. Prats organised exhibitions for leading Iberian artists including

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarre images in ...

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

Alexander Calder Alexander Calder (; July 22, 1898 – November 11, 1976) was an American sculptor known both for his innovative mobiles (kinetic sculptures powered by motors or air currents) that embrace chance in their aesthetic, his static "stabiles", and hi ...

and his good friend Miró. He was also associated with

Paul Klee Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented ...

Max Ernst Max Ernst (2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German (naturalised American in 1948 and French in 1958) painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealis ...

, Josep Vicenç Foix and

Joan Brossa Joan Brossa (; 19 January 1919 – 30 December 1998) was a Catalan poet, playwright, graphic designer and visual artist. He wrote only in the Catalan language. He was one of the founders of both the group and the publication known as Dau-al-Se ...

. Prats together with rationalist architect

Josep Lluis Sert Josep is a Catalan masculine given name equivalent to Joseph (Spanish ''José''). People named Josep include: * Josep Bargalló (born 1958), Catalan philologist and former politician * Josep Bartolí (1910-1995), Catalan painter, cartoonist and ...

and avant-garde photographer

Joaquim Gomis Joaquim Gomis Serdañons (1902 in Barcelona – 1991) was a Catalan photographer, collector, entrepreneur, and promoter of the arts. Gomis was born in Barcelona on September 19, 1902 to a wealthy family. His father owned a business in the cotton tr ...

, founded the ADLAN (Amics de l'Art Nou, i.e. Friends of New Art) association, which brought together a variety of different people interested in new trends in the arts. The association lasted from 1932 to 1936 and the beginning of the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...

. Miró formed his foundation with Prats, which eventually led to the museum / exhibit hall in Barcelona known as

Fundació Joan Miró The Fundació Joan Miró ( ; "Joan Miró Foundation, Centre of Studies of Contemporary Art") is a museum of modern art honoring Joan Miró located on the hill called Montjuïc in Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain). History The idea for the foundation ...

. Prats admired Miró's ability to make things from found objects like those in '' The Caress of a Bird''. Prats said: "When I take a stone, it is just a stone. When I grab a stone, it is a Miró."

References

*" John Prats Valles . "Encyclopaedia. Barcelona: Catalan Encyclopaedia Group . *Letters to JF Garcia, 1917/1958 . Library of Catalonia , 1993, 109 -. ccessed: 29 August 2011 *Cirici. Catalan Contemporary Art . Edicions 62, 1970 ccessed: 29 August 2011 *Record of John Prats: exposure Foundation ... 20 December 1995-3 March 1996 . Foundation, 1995 * ccessed: 29 August 2011 *Five Catalan artist in homage to John Prats: Galería Joan Prats ew York, October 1982 The Polígrafa, 1983 ccessed: 29 August 2011 *Information about the work the Foundation website . " Foundation, 2011. ccessed: 18 August 2011

Sources

*AA.DD.. The golden book of Catalan art. Ediciones Primera Plana, Barcelona, 1997. *Clavero, J. George. Foundation. Guide to the Foundation. Barcelona: Ediciones Polígrafa, 2010. DL B.10.061.2010. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Prats, Joan 1891 births 1970 deaths People from Barcelona