Josep Llorens i Artigas (16 June 1892 – 11 December 1980) was a Spanish ceramic artist known for his collaboration with

Joan Miró Joan Miró i Ferrà ( , ; ; 20 April 1893 – 25 December 1983) was a Catalan Spanish painter, sculptor and Ceramic art, ceramist. A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona ...

. He is credited with relaunching

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porce ...

as a European art form.

Life

Artigas was born in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

on 16 June 1892. He went to Escola superior d'arts i indústries i belles arts. He worked as an art critic on the Barcelona-based newspaper ''La Veu''. Artigas went to France and he wrote a thesis on Egyptian pottery and their blue glazes at

the Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. ** Sorbonne Chapel *The University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) **Its components/successor ...

. In 1924 he had a studio on the rue Blomet in Paris. There he joined the

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

joining a group originally started by

Gustave Courbet Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( ; ; ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and the ...

. He met

Albert Marquet Albert Marquet (; 27 March 1875 – 14 June 1947) was a French painter. He initially became one of the Fauve painters and a lifelong friend of Henri Matisse. Marquet subsequently painted in a more naturalistic style, primarily landscapes, bu ...

Raoul Dufy Raoul Dufy (; 3 June 1877 – 23 March 1953) was a French painter associated with the Fauvist movement. He gained recognition for his vibrant and decorative style, which became popular in various forms, such as textile designs, and public build ...

Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

Luis Buñuel Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish and Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians and directors to be one of the greatest and ...

and

Georges Braque Georges Braque ( ; ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century List of French artists, French painter, Collage, collagist, Drawing, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his alliance with ...

. In 1930 Buñuel created the surrealist film '' L'Age d'Or'' which included actors who were to be famous artists like Max Ernst. Llorens Artigas plays a governor who lays a foundation stone. In 1936 he returned to Barcelona during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. He earned his living by teaching ceramics. In 1941 he began to extend his influence over ceramics when he became a teacher at the Escuela Massana in Barcelona. In 1944 he started his and his family's long partnership with Joan Miró, initially creating vases.Joan Miró and Josep Llorens Artigas
. Guggenheim, retrieved 10 May 2014 In 1953 Miró and Artigas worked at Artigas's studio in

Gallifa Gallifa () is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Vallès Occidental in Catalonia, north-eastern Spain.Panareda Clopés, Josep Maria; Rios Calvet, Jaume; Rabella Vives, Josep Maria (1989). ''Guia de Catalunya'', Barcelona: Caixa de Catalunya. ...

near Barcelona. There they created "firestones" which they exhibited under their joint names including in 1956 a joint exhibition in New York. The following year the two worked on a mural for the UNESCO headquarters and for the

University of Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher learni ...

. It was Artigas's role to render Miró's designs into the 585 ceramics plates. The tiles that made up the two murals for the UNESCO building were created in Gallifa and Miró supervised their installation in Paris. The murals are called "The Wall of the Sun" and "The Wall of the Moon".MIRO, Joan (1893-1983), with José Llorens ARTIGAS
UNESCO, retrieved 11 May 2014 They were originally displayed outside but they are now contained within a building built to preserve them. Miró was to win a Guggenheim Prize for one of the murals in 1958. The two worked together until Artigas's failing health meant that his son,

Joan Gardy Artigas Joan Gardy Artigas (born 18 June 1938) is a Spanish ceramist and sculptor. He and his likewise ceramist father were close collaborators with Joan Miró. Life Artigas was born on 18 June 1938 in Boulogne-Billancourt (near Paris) and his father w ...

, took over his role.Josep Llorens Artigas
Biografia Vidas, retrieved 11 May 2014 Llorens i Artigas died in 1980 in his home city. In 1989 his son set up a foundation in the name of his father which exists to improve both artists and their art.Foundation
, Josep Llorens i Artigas, retrieved 10 May 2014

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Llorens i Artigas, Josep 1892 births 1980 deaths Joan Miró Artists from Barcelona Spanish ceramists 20th-century ceramists