Pablo Gargallo

Pablo Emilio Gargallo (January 5, 1881 – December 28, 1934) was a Spanish sculptor and painter. Born in Maella, Aragon, he moved to Barcelona, Catalonia, with his family in 1888, where he would begin his training in the arts. Gargallo developed a style of sculpture based on the creation of three-dimensional objects from pieces of flat metal plate, and he also used paper or cardboard. Some of these sculptures have a form of minimalism. For example, only one half of a face may be shown, and it may have only one eye. He also made more traditional sculptures in bronze, marble and other materials. He is considered to be one of the most significant artists of the Aragonese avant-garde.

He spent a significant part of his life in the Montparnasse Quarter of Paris, France, where in 1903 he lived in the artists commune Le Bateau-Lavoir with Max Jacob, Juan Gris and other "starving" artists, including his friend Pablo Picasso whose head he modelled as a sculpture. The following year, Juan Gris introduced him to Magali Tartanson, whom he married in 1915.

Among Gargallo's works are three pieces based on Greta Garbo: "Masque de Greta Garbo à la mèche," "Tête de Greta Garbo avec chapeau," and "Masque de Greta Garbo aux cils."Together with Dídac Masana, Gargallo sculpted the great arch over the front of the stage of the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona. The work depicts the ride of the valkyries in Richard Wagner's opera "Die Walküre" ("The Valkyries").

Gargallo suffered from fulminating bronchial pneumonia and died in Reus, Tarragona. He is considered to be one of the most significant artists of the Spanish avant-garde, and in 1985 the Pablo Gargallo Museum in Zaragoza opened in the former Argillo Palace.

"Further reading"

P. Courthion: L'Oeuvre complet de Pablo Gargallo (Paris, 1973) [with catalogue raisonnee by P. Anguera-Gargallo]
A. Cirici: Gargallo i Barcelona (Barcelona, 1975)
J. Anguera: Gargallo (Paris, 1979)
Gargallo (exhib. cat., Paris, Mus. A. Mod. Ville Paris, 1981
Gargallo: Exposicio del centenari (exhib. cat. by M.L. Borras and others, Barcelona, Ajuntament, 1981)
Gargallo (exhib. cat., Paris, Gal. Marwan-Hoss, 1983; 1989)
El Museo Pablo Gargallo (Saragossa, 1985)
Gargallo (exhib. cat., London, Gimpel Fils, 1986)
Gargallo (exhib. cat., New York, Arnold Herst & Co. Gal., 1987)
Catalogo del Museo Pablo Gargallo (Madrid, 1991)
Gargallo (exhib. cat., Pontoise, Mus. Pontoise, 1992)