Missions
Julio Gonzalez Administration strives to promote the work and legacy of Julio Gonzalez and his entire family, pursuant to the efforts of Roberta Gonzalez, Carmen Martinez and Viviane Grimminger.
History
Julio Gonzalez begins to make a name for himself as a pionnier of iron sculpture in the 1930s. However, his reserved and modest nature, compounded by the upheavals of the mid 20th century which interfered with his production and career, prevented him from achieving the recognition he deserved prior to his untimely death in Nazi-Occupied Paris in 1942.
From the postwar period, and until the end of her days, Roberta Gonzalez, Julio’s daughter, divides her time between her own artistic pursuits and the promotion of her father’s work and legacy. She collaborates with museums in France, Spain and abroad to organize retrospectives of her father’s work. She then makes a series of important donations of her father’s work and her uncle Joan’s drawings to prestigious collections. Roberta’s generous and selfless efforts are recognized by the French government, who discern her with the prestigious distinction of « Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres » in 1971.
After her death in 1976, her friends and heirs, Carmen Martinez and Viviane Grimminger, pursue her work, namely by completing the donations made by Roberta to museums in France and Spain. The most important of these culminates in the creation of the Institut Valencià d’art modern (IVAM Centre Julio Gonzalez), in close collaboration with eminent Spanish art historian Tomas Llorens, the museum’s first director. To recognize Gonzalez’s role as a precursor of contemporary art, the Julio Gonzalez Prize was created in 2001 by Viviane Grimminger and Kosme de Barañano, then director of the IVAM. This prize continues to be discerned annually to innovative and prestigious living artists.
The Collection
Julio Gonzalez Administration maintains an extensive collection of the Gonzalez family’s artwork, as well as unpublished archives relating to their life and artistic production.
Julio Gonzalez Administration’s collection showcases a vast range of Julio Gonzalez’s artistic creation, from his artisanal debut in Barcelona to his period of maturity in Paris from the 1920s, including politically charged works influenced by the Spanish Civil War. The nature of the artwork is varied, including jewelry, objets d’art, paintings, drawings and of course, sculptures.
Julio Gonzalez Administration also conserves a selection of Roberta Gonzalez’s paintings, drawings and illustrated books, dating from her early works strongly influenced by her father’s style, to her more personal production between figuration and abstraction which emerges in the 1950s. Also present in the collection are a selection of Joan Gonzalez’s paintings and drawings, as well as artisanal objets d’art by Concordio Gonzalez, Julio and Joan’s father.
Julio Gonzalez Administration’s archives are comprised of written and visual documentation, as well as personal objects belonging to the artists, including Gonzalez’s sculpting tools. Of particular interest are the record of Gonzalez’s casts as well as Roberta Gonzalez’s personal diaries, which shed light on her work as well as her efforts to promote her father’s legacy.
Activity
Today, Julio Gonzalez Administration devotes itself to three main activities: expertise, promotion and research.
Julio Gonzalez Administration is the sole entity authorized to judge the authenticity of works attributed to the Gonzalez family, and to deliver certificates of authenticity. The Administration works to promote and diffuse the works of the Gonzalez family through loans of its artwork and archives to museums and institutions. As such, Julio Gonzalez Administration has collaborated with the organization of major retrospectives held on several continents. Finally, Julio Gonzalez Administration seeks to encourage and facilitate research on Gonzalez and his family through making their archives available to researchers, curators and collectors.
Julio Gonzalez Administration is at the disposal of institutions and individuals interested in sponsoring projets related to the promotion of Julio, Roberta and Joan Gonzalez’s work and legacy.