{"id":9801,"date":"2023-10-15T12:50:22","date_gmt":"2023-10-15T11:50:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/juliogonzalez.org\/?p=9801"},"modified":"2023-11-24T13:58:17","modified_gmt":"2023-11-24T12:58:17","slug":"julio-roberta-joan-gonzalez-in-popular-ivam-centre-julio-gonzalez-through-april-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juliogonzalez.org\/en\/2023\/10\/julio-roberta-joan-gonzalez-in-popular-ivam-centre-julio-gonzalez-through-april-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Julio, Roberta & Joan Gonz\u00e1lez in “Popular”, IVAM Centre Julio Gonz\u00e1lez, through April 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Works by Julio & Roberta Gonz\u00e1lez at the entrance of “Popular”<\/h2>\n\n\n

Julio, Roberta and Joan Gonz\u00e1lez are currently featured in the IVAM Centre Julio Gonz\u00e1lez\u2019s collective
exhibition \u201cPopular\u201d, an expansive show that explores the complex notion of the \u201cpopular\u201d, as under-represented communities find a voice through symbolic representation.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Visitors are greeted with various depictions of countrywomen by Julio and Roberta Gonz\u00e1lez, rendered in
paintings, drawings and sculptures.\u00a0 Country life was the most frequently represented theme in Julio Gonz\u00e1lez\u2019s work, and was also explored at length by his daughter, Roberta, during her formative years.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Gonz\u00e1lez\u2019s depictions of country life through the late 1920s are peaceful scenes of agricultural work
and sociability in a bucolic countryside, as visible in his drawings in the second column from the right, \u201cCountrywomen with two chickens\u201d (1926), and \u201cThe encounter\u201d (c. 1920-1930), where a male agricultural worker and two kerchief-wearing women meet in a lush orchard.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

During the Spanish Civil War, the countrywoman comes to symbolize Gonz\u00e1lez\u2019s solidarity with his
compatriots under attack.\u00a0 His iron sculpture \u201cLa Montserrat\u201d (1937, pictured right), a courageous, defiant Catalan peasant mother, holding her baby like a shield and wielding a sickle, is displayed in the Republican Pavilion in the 1937 World\u2019s Fair in Paris to garner international support for democratic
Spain.\u00a0 As fascism takes hold in Spain and beyond, the resistant countrywoman becomes a terrified victim, as seen in Gonz\u00e1lez\u2019s drawings of imploring or screaming distorted female faces (second column from left), or his bronze sculptures of a right and left hands (1942, center), raised in fear or protest.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The shadow of war remains present in Roberta Gonz\u00e1lez\u2019s work even after the end of WWII, as seen in her two untitled paintings (1946, left) depicting peasant women protecting themselves from imminent danger.\u00a0 Their fragmented volumes further accentuate the threat of violence.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dessins de Joan Gonzalez, expos\u00e9s dans “Popular”<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Joan Gonz\u00e1lez\u2019s drawings displayed here represent seemingly fashionable parisiennes in popular
entertainment venues synonymous with turn of the century Paris, including bars (top right), \u201ccaf\u00e9-concerts\u201d (middle row), a place to have a drink and see a show, art galleries (lower left), or strolling down the sidewalk (lower right).\u00a0 These candid snapshots of Belle \u00c9poque Paris, featuring working class women donning the latest fashions of the day, highlight the glamor and insouciance of the times, while also hinting at the artifice, dissimulation and socio-economic inequalities of modern urban life.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Joan Gonz\u00e1lez accompanied his younger brother, Julio, from Barcelona to Paris at the turn of the 20th
century in the hopes of transitioning from the decorative arts to painting.\u00a0 Like so many foreign artists before him, Joan was captivated both by the spectacle of modern Parisian life.\u00a0 His insightful work was
displayed at various Parisian salons, when his promising career was cut short in 1908 when he succumbed to his poor health.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The contemporary nature of Joan Gonz\u00e1lez\u2019s drawings is evident in this display alongside later 20th<\/sup> c. works, including Ralph Steiner\u2019s photograph \u201cGypsy Rose Lee and her Girls\u201d (c. 1950-1951, top of left column) and Jacinta Gil\u2019s collage, \u201cUntitled (las cinco lobitas)\u201d, 1968 (right).<\/span><\/p>\n

This rich and diverse exploration of the \u201cPopular\u201d will remain on view at the IVAM Centre Julio Gonz\u00e1lez through April 14, 2024.<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Works by Julio & Roberta Gonz\u00e1lez at the entrance of “Popular” Julio, Roberta and Joan Gonz\u00e1lez are currently featured in the IVAM Centre Julio Gonz\u00e1lez\u2019s collectiveexhibition \u201cPopular\u201d, an expansive show that explores the complex notion of the \u201cpopular\u201d, as under-represented communities find a voice through symbolic representation. Visitors are greeted with various depictions of countrywomen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":9797,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[693,640,696],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exhibition-2","category-exhibition","category-expositions-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juliogonzalez.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juliogonzalez.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juliogonzalez.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juliogonzalez.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juliogonzalez.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9801"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/juliogonzalez.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9802,"href":"https:\/\/juliogonzalez.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9801\/revisions\/9802"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juliogonzalez.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juliogonzalez.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juliogonzalez.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juliogonzalez.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}