Enric Clarasó

Enric Clarasó i Daudí (1857 - 1941) was a modernist Catalonian sculptor His early works have a character of anecdotal realism, after spending a season in Paris, his sculpture was transformed into more sensitive forms, qualifying as a modernist artist

He had as master the sculptor Joan Roig i Solé, at the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona He shared a workshop, first with the painter Carbonell Selva and later with Santiago Rusiñol, with whom he united a great friendship, together with Ramón Casas, formed a well-known trio within the Barcelona bohemia of the early 20th century, made numerous exhibitions together in The Sala Parés, also thanks to the gatherings that organized was created the famous Museum Cau Ferrat of Sitges

He was born into a family of artisans When he was only two, his family moved to Barcelona where he later became an apprentice in a perfume store After a bout with yellow fever in 1869, he found a position in the workshop of sculptor Joan Roig i Solé While there, he studied drawing and clay modeling at the Escola de la Llotja In 1880, he shared his first studio with the painter Miquell Carbonell When Carbonell moved to Madrid, Clarasó had studios in several different locations, including a space he briefly shared with Santiago Rusiñol that later became the Cau Ferrat Museum

It was during this period that he had his first exhibit at the Sala Parés He also provided decorations for the Teatre Principal He also displayed some minor works at the 1888 Barcelona Universal Exposition and took a brief study trip to Paris, where he absorbed some of the new influences entering the art world at that time He returned to Paris in 1890 and enrolled at the Académie Julian, where he studied with Henri Chapu After returning to Barcelona, he began participating in a wide variety of exhibitions, including the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago His modernist tendencies first expressed themselves during this period

Paradoxically, it was also at this time that he became a "confirmed Catholic", which was reflected in his works This seems to have resulted from a combination of his father's death and his 1896 marriage to Pilar Serrat, who was extremely devout Shortly after, he lost a contract for work on a memorial in the main cemetery of Seville, but was awarded one for an allegorical group at the Palace of Justice in Pamplona He also became a member of the Cercle Artístic de Sant Lluc, a group that was noted for its defense of Catholic morality By 1904, he had become sufficiently successful to build his own home in Sarrià, which he called "La Torre de Sant Francesc"

Over the following three decades, he largely abandoned the smaller pieces that had characterized his work, choosing to focus on public commissions and works for religious organizations Perhaps his most notable work, an equestrian statue of James I of Aragon in Palma, dates from this period Many of his works may be seen in the Montjuïc Cemetery

He participated in 1892 in the National Exhibition of Madrid, in the Universal Exhibition of Chicago (1893), in 1888 in the Universal Exhibition of Barcelona and obtained a gold medal in the Universal Exhibition of Paris (1900)

In 1932, he built a large studio next to his home but, the following year, stopped accepting public commissions and creating works for exhibition, concentrating instead on writing his memoirs, which were published in 1934 He ceased working entirely a few years later, near the end of the Civil War, when a group of Rojos broke into his workshop and destroyed the figures of saints he had stored there He was buried next to his father in the Sant Gervasi Cemetery on Tibidabo

He made funerary sculpture, having made pantheons in the cemeteries of Barcelona and Zaragoza

Works Highlights:
1890 female portraits Museo Nacional de Arte de Cataluña Barcelona
1890 Siles
1890 The two friends
1890 A modern Bacchus
Resignación 1891 Museum Víctor Balaguer
1896 Smith Cau Ferrat Museum Sitges
1900 Memento Homo Gold medal in Paris
1904 Eva Museo Nacional de Arte de Cataluña Barcelona
1927 Monumento a Jaime I Palma de Mallorca
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