Leandre Cristòfol

Leandre cristòfol (Os de Balaguer, 1908 - Lleida, 1998) was a Catalan sculptor He is considered a pioneer of surrealist sculpture in Catalonia was a self-taught sculptor non-figurative works, portraits and works of religious themes Rejects traditional sculpture trying to build a poetic universe with experimental spirit, receiving influences the movement Dada and surrealist, like his contemporaries local Enric Crous-Vidal, Josep Benseny, Josep Viola and Antonio Garcia Lamolla

In 1936 he participated in the exhibition organized by the Logicofobista ADLAN Barcelona in 1952, a grant from the Cercle Maillol allowed him to move to Paris to study art teacher was the school of the Circle of Fine Arts Lleida in 1983 he received the Creu de Sant Jordi in the hands of the Government of Catalonia in 1990 received the National prize of Plastic Arts prize in 1991 and José González Peña de la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando

Part of his work was exhibited permanently in the Leandre Cristòfol Hall of Lleida, opened in 1995 and in operation until 2007, when it became part of the exhibition space of the museum also has works Morera exhibited at the MNAC

You can find similarities between his work and Man Ray, but did not ever get to know the result of these similarities Cultural Cooperation Department of the Generalitat of Catalonia organized a traveling exhibition called "Man Lyrical Constructions ray / Leandre Cristòfol dada object and spirit "the exhibition was curated by Pilar Parcerisas and produced by the Museu d'Art Jaume Morera Lleida and the State Society for Cultural Commemorations of the Ministry of Culture the exhibition was see museums in Catalonia between 2009 and 2011

In June 2012 the House of Lleida City Council approved the signing of a framework agreement • co-operation with the City of Os de Balaguer to join efforts in spreading the life and work of Leandre Cristòfol However, this co-operation takes • time back since 2011, technical Museum Morera inventoried thirty sculptures, drawings and objects from the artist's brother sculptor, Francisco Cristòfol, was still it gave in October of that year to the City of Os de Balaguer coinciding with the opening of the birthplace of the artist, who has been renovated by the local council this building where today you can see some of the works that were part of the donation, was born with the objective of not only becoming a new tourist attraction, but also a center for the dissemination of the figure of the creator Lleida

Leandre Cristòfol Peralba was born in Os de Balaguer (Lleida) on 8 June 1908 within a peasant family in 1922 but moved to the city of Lleida to learn the trade as a carpenter began his training artistic academy Justo Almelo professor of average education and painter Sorolla ancestry

Christopher participated for the first time in an exhibition of artists collective bargaining • The Others group consisting Ramon Roca (presented drawings and watercolors • s), Josep Sanàbria (drawings and oils) and the same Christopher (drawings, watercolors • the oils and sculptures), the Museu d'Art Jaume Morera Lleida October 1930

Christopher formed the group "Student Art" along with Sanabria, Francesc Charles Pardell, and Antoni Garcia and Josep Tufet Lamolla, which served as a framework for exchanging experiences and training, and which was discussed and polemics Within this group of art established close ties with Lamolla, later to become partner in the adventure garde

In March 1932, the group "Student Art" organized an exhibition of their members to the Independent Casino, which then move to the Galeries Laietanes Barcelona in October, sponsored by the Generalitat of Catalonia Moment coincides with the birth Adlan and the launch of his first actions

In 1933, Christopher is linked to the group intelligence • intellectuals grouped around the magazine Art, edited and directed by Enric Crous-Vidal, modern and unorthodox trend clearly exhibited for the first time Christopher individually Independent Casino 24 September and 8 October; presented in the exhibition, along with new figurative sculptures, the first non-figurative work, lyrical thing, a tiny first version of what later would be called the air in the air, starting a line of creative experimentation personal

Christopher presented a lyrical piece Building Spring Contest organized by the City of Lleida in May 1934 in which 34 artists participated Lleida; following the jury's verdict, Enric Crous, Antoni G Lamolla (who was awarded a Mention) and Christopher decided to pick up his work, which led to a confrontation with the city resulting in a fine and their disqualification to expose the local competitions for three years

Christopher held his second solo exhibition at the Centro Commercial in September 1935, the list of which is prefaced by Josep Viola, which presents a collection of all his works, oils and drawings, and sculptures, both figurative tendency expressionist (among which was Nausea) as experimental, with the presence of six works are not figurative (Fish on the beach, Monument, Relief, relief, Cosa water and construction lyric) and six drawings from the series morphology forging a strong relationship this time between the young poet and surrealist theorist, Viola and the sculptor

In 1936, Cristòfol i Lamolla Logicofobista participate in the exhibition in Barcelona organized by the Association of Friends of the Art Nouveau (ADLAN); Christopher presents works fish on the beach, Night Moon, the astral aura unmoved and is about to go out and window Spanish Civil War and despite the current difficulties Christopher does not stop creative activity, although occasionally participate in rescue and recovery efforts artistic heritage with Crous and Lamolla

In 1938 he was called to serve the republican army in the rear morphology Christopher is part of the international exhibition of Surrealism in Paris and Tokyo, thanks to steps taken by Viola and Benjamí Peret

Looking up the pieces and Anticipation ontic date from 1939 After the Civil War, Christopher pierced the French border and was interned in refugee camps Perpignan and Argeles Soon, however, he returned to Spain, which caused his stay in different camps in the state and even in a labor camp in Morocco once he could return to Lleida, with all his fellow exiles edge, Allah • Christopher settles in Barcelona to a few months later in 1943 and in Madrid Finally, he returned to Lleida, where he worked on the sculpture commission and the office of the cabinet

In 1946 together with Christopher Marià Gomà, Josep Benseny, Charles and Abad Gil Pardell initiated the procedures for creating Lleida Circle of Fine Arts, whose school got its start in autumn 1947 Leandre Cristòfol exert teacher Since then drawing artistic work of Christopher was present in many collective exhibitions • teaching end of this school year

In 1949, Christopher resumed his exhibition season with a solo show at the Institute of Lleida Studies show its figurative production of popular topics, but accompanied the works Monument, Night Moon, static volumes and two photos of the astral aura unmoved and is about to go out and fish on the beach

In 1950 and once recovered its exhibition presence in Lleida, Christopher sought its connection to artistic events outside more general Spurred by Sebastià Gasch, participates in the October Salon III in Barcelona works calm and rural Testa, works in tune with the general trends of figurative country ruled by political oppression and social vanguard options

He was selected to participate in the Hispano-American Biennial of Art in 1951, also with figurative work, that theme repeated in its presence in the October Salon IV works in Barcelona Bust peasant and market presence of figurative work was common in their participation in previous editions of these artistic events

In 1952, he participated in the exhibition collective bargaining • Circle Maillol Barcelona, ​​which allowed him to obtain a scholarship to Paris the following year in 1953, was granted a scholarship by the French Institute to go six months in Paris, when it useful to make a short stay in Italy This trip will serve to reunite with his fellow avant-garde and Lamolla Crous, exiled in France

Christopher held a new solo exhibition in March 1955 the Savings Bank of Lleida, figurative and focused exclusively on the iconography of the crucified, topics closely related to their usual craft, but pass through the sieve of his powerful personality popular roots

In 1956, he presented a solo again, now sponsored by the Circle of Fine Arts, in which he reviewed his career figurative, though, as on many other occasions, were included in the exhibition some of their non-figurative pieces thirties from some of the works presented in this exhibition last individual plus some others from exposure crucified, Christopher presented solo exhibitions in both 1957 Circulo Catalan de Madrid and the Centro Commercial Industrial and Agricultural Zaragoza

In 1959, Christopher finally decided to resume his side nonfigurative This year he presented in his solo exhibition "abstract" the result of work resumed a few years earlier, induced air of artistic renewal that breathed in the city of the plain which deviated from the ostracism of the first postwar art and explores abstraction and informality This show is the setting for the presentation of the series idling • spatial and illustrated reflection about the artist movement and marked the beginning of the resumption of his most experimental creative work

The deployment of his work is not figurative occurs repeatedly in the coming years in its participation in fairs and exhibitions col • class held outside Lleida is the case of his participation in the II Salon de Mai in Barcelona in exhibitions organized by the Artistic Movement of the Mediterranean that time series are also non-figurative and surveying plans and Volumes

In 1960 was published the first publication dedicated to Christopher, who collected a series of texts by various authors, an interview and was accompanied by a selection of photographs representing his career, both as figurative aspect of non-figurative in this issue publicly gave another of his experimental series: the Two titrations of these works ,, intriguing pájaros Orillas and dreamy part of another solo exhibition of the artist held at the Barcelona Athenaeum in which returns to present a collection of his recent figurative work, some of his non-figurative works most emblematic and two idle

Between 1961 and 1973 he occupied the place of art education at the Institut Màrius Torres Secondary School 1963 presents the exhibition entitled "Scenarios and Approaches" at the Institute of Lleida Studies, which shows a portion of the his works between 1960 and 1963 some of these new pieces are named for the elements in which the iron recycling incoropra

In 1964 he presented an exhibition at the Circle of Fine Arts, "20 pictures and 8 photos," which consisted of portraits sculptures of their friends are published eight pictures of surveying Christopher New plast poems of Guillem Viladot, one of those Spanish first publications of concrete poetry

In 1965 he returned to exhibit individually at the Institute of Lleida Studies, entitled "23 ordinations" objects produced between 1961 and 1963, which reveal his attraction to industrial materials, with arpilleres order on line or on metal structures • Metal These arrangements point to another avenue of exploration, the construction of machines capable of moving recomposed poetically regardless of their utilitarian memory

In 1966, Christopher held a new exhibition at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Lleida, "Ritmos", where he presented a new series experimental pieces, entitled Rhythms

In 1967, he exhibited at the Barcelona Athenaeum a collection of his work is not figurative recent, conducted between 1962 and 1965

In 1969 he returned to exhibit individually at the Institute of Lleida Studies The sample was composed of six photographs figurative works made between 1960 and 1966 (mainly sculptures of female nudes) Dimensional six works from the series - produced between 1967 and Plan 1968, and eight non-figurative plaster sculptures under the name Evolution - essential, made between 1966 and 1969

In 1970 he participated with the work moonlit night in the exhibition tribute "ADLAN / Witness era" in Col • legi of Architects in Barcelona

In 1976 he presented a solo exhibition at the Circulo Catalan artistic career in Madrid, while his work is part of the exhibition "SpanischeAvantguarde 1920-1938" shows the forefront of collective bargaining • Spanish traveling to Cologne Basel and Munich returned to exhibit individually La Petite Galerie of the Alliance Française de Lleida, this time with a small sample that included a new experimental series, "Shape-consumption"; was a set of pieces on the network was a defining element of the plastic used to wrap food to the time within which objects enter his studio and has vertically on a wooden stand or suspended in vertical supports circular base

Lleida City Council, on the occasion of the exhibition Christopher Yard to the Town Council in 1981, takes over from the rank of the square and the artist donated one of his most emblematic of air air

Christopher presented in 1982 at the Institute of Lleida Studies sample that included his latest Alfa-Omega-Alpha series, which consisted of a total of seven sculptures which recovered umbrella ribs to create imaginary architectures on circular bases wood, integrating different objects are inside These sculptures share space with another group of six pieces collected under the generic title of "environmental Presence" also in 1982 appointed him an honorary member of the Study of the University Lleida

In 1983 he presented a selection of figurative work, forty-four sculptures and landscapes and studies of figures, the Museu d'Art Jaume Morera A set of six sculptures of Christopher exhibited in the basement of the Town Council and was chosen piece attempt want to be monumentalitzada and install • installed in the Plaza of Human Rights in the neighborhood of la Bordeta Lleida received the Creu de Sant Jordi award 1983 awarded by the Generalitat of Catalonia

In 1986 Margit Rowell selected Night moon and the Monument to Christopher for the exhibition "Qu'est-ce that sculpture moderne?" the Center Georges Pompidou in Paris, in a sign that he wanted to highlight the major international contributions to twentieth-century sculpture

In 1988, part of his work was part of the exhibition "Surrealism in Catalonia 1924-1936" held at the Center d'Art Santa Monica (show later moved to Madrid), a tribute to the Catalan avant-garde generation of the thirties

The completion of the retrospective exhibition at the Miró Foundation in Barcelona in 1989 restored the true dimension of the work of Christopher beyond the horizon of surrealism, and placed as one of the main sculptors of the twentieth century in Spain This exhibition then travel to Lleida and then to the Valencian Institute of Modern Art That same year he received the National Prize of Plastic Arts

Christopher made a donation to the City Council in 1989, in exchange for a life, a set of 64 sculptures and 22 drawings and objects, over the years, integrated into the collections of the Museum • Collections National art Museum of Catalonia Since 1990 his work took part in many major retrospective of the art of the twentieth century Christopher made a donation to the City of Lleida in 1990, in exchange for another life, a set of 80 sculptures, objects, reliefs and drawings

In 1991, his work was included in the exhibition "Picasso, Miró, Dalí" organized by the Frankfurt Shirn Kunsthale and "constant current Catalan art" which housed the Museum Rufino Tamayo of Mexico, the Museo de Arte Moderno Monterrey and finally the Center d'Art Santa Monica

Christopher Morera received Medal, the highest honor artistic city of Lleida in 1995 also opened a room with his name where he presented the donation of part of his legacy that he had made in the city of Lleida in 1990

Leandre Cristòfol died on August 19, 1998 in Lleida heirs gave Christopher cabbage • private collection, archive and library were in the studio and home of the artist in Lleida Paeria one year after his death in 2009, the family of the artist made a second donation of materials, found by chance in Os de Balaguer among these several personal photos of Leandre Cristòfol and his works, dating from the 30s and 40 of the twentieth century what was especially attractive these photographs is that there was no record of some of the works that appear, so that work could be kept in private collections or collective • missing for various reasons

Work:
A distinctive feature of all his work is the reflection of the artist about his work gets moving everyday objects and transforms them into works of art, showing the fascination of the author and machinery moving, trying to unravel the viewer a critical or just a smile in his work are wit, imagination and poetry

The series titrations connects perfectly with ideas that originated the object-idling, even pointing to a direction that dispenses with the continuous movement of these drawing and delivered volume in space These are structures made of metal • Metal rods galvanized, to find correspondence in some works molded plaster series surveying compositions are straight wood on a background of burlap and wood and set plans and volumes continue experiencing this direction is not figurative but now his work from three dimensions

In works entitled Elements Christopher uses iron recycled material structuring their wooden sculptures, reaching its highest stage with works that already properly entitled Situations recovers tools and utensils rural transformed poetically denying them their original function

The series Rhythms placed wooden elements that evoke organic forms on arpilleres or wood plates, forming rhythmic compositions, or in other cases filamentous has elements of steel or metal wires networks • Metal drawer space and ordering a nearly two-dimensional sense of this movement and its journey is continuing in other parts, route centrifugal orbital route, or route centripetal endless journey, which take off and define the rhythmic volumetrically

The '23 arrangements are objects that have legislation on arpilleres background or on metal structures • Metal creative process that Christopher applied to situations with the tools in the field of iron found continuity in these other pieces, arising from the attraction that brought instruments and materials physics and chemistry lab disused Institute where he worked (1961-1973) These point to the construction of machines capable of moving recomposed poetically regardless of their utilitarian memory
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