Josep Clarà I Ayats (1878-1958) - Rhythm (1911)

Bronze cast with an antique green patina. Signed "J. Clará" on the base. Reproductions of this work, from the same edition, are held at the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid, the National Art Museum of Catalonia in Barcelona, and in the room dedicated to the sculptor at the Garrotxa Museum. This work is widely cited in art and specialist literature, contemporary catalogs of the sculptor, period photographs and postcards. It is on permanent display in room 70 of the MNAC (010967-000), the second most important museum in Spain, alongside a selection of Catalan sculptures from the first quarter of the 20th century. It was also presented at the 6th International Art Exhibition in Barcelona in 1911, where it was acquired by the State. "Rhythm," a double portrait of the revolutionary dancer Isadora Duncan, both motionless and in motion, represents the culmination of the friendship between the sculptor Josep Clará and the American artist. Clarà's obsession with the classicist synthesis of the female form is well known, as amply demonstrated in plaster, marble, and all manner of sculptural mobiles. Interested in the nature of dance, Clarà made dozens of sketches dedicated to Duncan's prodigious figure, which crystallize in this superb bronze. Transitional Catalan sculpture of the 20th century, with the exception of a vast production of religious subjects dominated by stylistic eclecticism, represents a return to the statue's Mediterranean origins in Greece and Rome. A deeply intellectual, bourgeois cultural elite allowed the development of a distinct school, whose main sources were Rodin and Maillol. Clarà, immersed in the artistic milieu of his time, met the great European masters during his youthful travels and devoted himself to the creation of monumental feminine volumes that adorn the streets and avenues of elegant modernist Barcelona. The Montbaron Gallery now offers its clients one of his most beautiful works. - Partial bibliographic selection specific to the work: GAYA, JA "Josep Clarà", Barcelona, Galerías Layetanas, 1948, p. 40; GACETA DE BELLAS ARTES DE BARCELONA, no. 14, Barcelona, 1926, pp. 4-5; VARIOUS AUTHORS, Gran Enciclopedia Espasa, Espasa-Calpe, Madrid, 1920, plate "José Clarà".- Dimensions of the work: 56.5 x 30.7 x 33.8 cm- From a private collection in Madrid.- Good general condition.- Galerie Montbaron includes a technical sheet drawn up by a certified art historian with all its lots. This sheet is sent digitally upon request.