Julio González Pellicer

BIOGRAPHY

Julio González Pellicer (Barcelona, 1876 – Arcueil, France, 1942) was a remarkable Spanish artist who began his career in painting and drawing but went down in history as the great father of modern iron sculpture.

In his early years in Barcelona and Paris, Julio González created beautiful pastel and oil portraits and landscapes in an intimate style. However, his true artistic revolution came when he decided to apply his goldsmithing skills to monumental sculpture.

Thanks to his mastery of industrial welding and following his collaboration with Pablo Picasso, he began using iron rods and sheets to fuse Cubism with abstraction.

His greatest achievement was learning to draw in space with metal, creating iconic, powerful works that forever changed the course of 20th-century sculpture.

JULIO GONZÁLEZ

Charcoal on brown paper.
39 × 29 cm.
Certificate by Roberta González on the reverse.
The work is registered in the artist’s photographic archive under number FG2463-57.
Bibliography:
Julio González Catalogue Raisonné. IVAM 1907. No. 367. p. 345.

Pastel on paper.
The reverse bears a dated inscription and confirmation of the work’s authenticity by the artist’s daughter, Roberta González.
38.5 × 32 cm.
Provenance:

* Roberta González, the artist’s daughter.
* Carmen Martínez and Viviane Grimminger, the artist’s heirs.
* Private collection, Switzerland.

The work is registered in the artist’s photographic archive under number FW620.

Bibliography:
Gilbert, 1975. *Scènes paysannes*. p. 42.
*Julio González Catalogue Raisonné*. IVAM 1910. No. 1199. p. 352.