Josep Llorens i Artigas (16 June 1892 – 11 December 1980) was a Spanish ceramic artist known for his collaboration with Joan Miró. He is credited with relaunching ceramics as a European art form.

Life

Artigas was born in

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 ...

on 16 June 1892. He went to Escola superior d'arts i indústries i belles arts. He worked as an art critic on the Barcelona-based newspaper '' La Veu''. Artigas went to France and he wrote a thesis on Egyptian pottery and their blue glazes at the Sorbonne. In 1924 he had a studio on the rue Blomet in Paris. There he joined the

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

joining a group originally started by

Gustave Courbet Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( , , ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and ...

. He met Albert Marquet,

Raoul Dufy Raoul Dufy (; 3 June 1877 – 23 March 1953) was a French Fauvist painter. He developed a colorful, decorative style that became fashionable for designs of ceramics and textile as well as decorative schemes for public buildings. He is noted ...

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 ...

Luis Buñuel Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish-Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico, and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians, and directors to be one of the greatest and ...

and Georges Braque. In 1930 Buñuel created the surrealist film ''

L'Age d'Or ''L'Age d'Or'' (french: L'Âge d'Or, ), commonly translated as ''The Golden Age'' or ''Age of Gold'', is a 1930 French surrealist satirical comedy film directed by Luis Buñuel about the insanities of modern life, the hypocrisy of the sexual m ...

'' which included actors who were to be famous artists like Max Ernst. Llorens Artigas plays a governor who lays a foundation stone. In 1936 he returned to Barcelona during 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 ...

. He earned his living by teaching ceramics. In 1941 he began to extend his influence over ceramics when he became a teacher at the Escuela Massana in Barcelona. In 1944 he started his, and his families, long partnership with Joan Miró initially creating vases.Joan Miró and Josep Llorens Artigas
. Guggenheim, retrieved 10 May 2014 In 1953 Miró and Artigas worked at Artigas's studio in

Gallifa Gallifa is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Comarques of Catalonia, ''comarca'' of the Vallès Occidental in Catalonia, north-eastern Spain.Panareda Clopés, Josep Maria; Rios Calvet, Jaume; Rabella Vives, Josep Maria (1989). ''Guia d ...

near Barcelona. There they created "firestones" which they exhibited under their joint names including in 1956 a joint exhibition in New York. The following year the two worked on a mural for the UNESCO headquarters and for the

University of Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher l ...

. It was Artigas's role to render Miro's designs into the 585 ceramics plates. The tiles that made up the two murals for the UNESCO building were created in Gallifa and Miro supervised their installation in Paris. The murals are called "The Wall of the Sun" and "The Wall of the Moon".MIRO, Joan (1893-1983), with José Llorens ARTIGAS
UNESCO, retrieved 11 May 2014 They were originally displayed outside but they are now contained within a building built to preserve them. Miro was to win a Guggenheim Prize for one of the murals in 1958. The two worked together until Artigas's failing health meant that his son, Joan Gardy Artigas, took over his role.Josep Llorens Artigas
Biografia Vidas, retrieved 11 May 2014 Llorens i Artigas died in 1980 in his home city. In 1989 his son set up a foundation in the name of his father which exists to improve both artists and their art.Foundation
, Josep Llorens i Artigas, retrieved 10 May 2014

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Llorens i Artigas, Josep 1892 births 1980 deaths Joan Miró People from Barcelona Spanish ceramists 20th-century ceramists