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Xavier Corberó i Olivella (13 June 1935 – 24 April 2017) was a prominent Catalan artist, best known for monumental public sculpture and his palatial house complex in
Esplugues de Llobregat Esplugues de Llobregat () is a municipality of the Barcelona metropolitan area. Formerly in the ''Barcelonès'', since 1990 it has been part of the Comarques of Catalonia, comarca of Baix Llobregat. During recent decades Esplugues has evolved fro ...
near
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 ...
. He has been described as "widely considered the most important Catalan artist since Gaudí," as "one of Spain’s most celebrated sculptors" and as having "perhaps influenced Barcelona more than any artist since Gaudí."


Family background

Corberó's patrilineal family has its roots in
Lleida Lleida (, ; ; '' see below'') is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital and largest town in Segrià county, the Ponent region and the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It ...
, in the home region of Saint Peter Claver whose 16th-century mother was born Ana Corberó. The family held a tradition of metalworking, especially in
bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...
. Corberó's grandfather Pere Corberó i Casals (1875-1959) was an entrepreneur and artist whose works included the bronze memorial on the birthplace of
Enrique Granados Pantaleón Enrique Joaquín Granados Campiña (27 July 1867 – 24 March 1916), commonly known as Enrique Granados in Spanish or ''Enric Granados'' in Catalan, was a Spanish composer of classical music, and concert pianist from Cat ...
, also in Lleida. He was a cofounder of Barcelona's association for the promotion of decorative arts, a precursor to the
Design Museum The Design Museum in Kensington, London, England, exhibits product, industrial, graphic, fashion, and architectural design. In 2018, the museum won the European Museum of the Year Award. The museum operates as a registered charity, and all fund ...
, now known as the '. The Corberó foundry produced sculptures by prominent Catalan sculptors of the time such as Pablo Gargallo, and . It was also an industrial and commercial business that sold bronze doors, chandeliers, fountains, and other decorative items, with a showroom in downtown Barcelona at
Rambla de Catalunya Rambla de Catalunya (; ) is a major street in the ''Eixample'' district of central Barcelona, Spain. It is one of the city's trendiest streets, with many international fashion shops, and is lined with lime trees. The street stretches from Pla ...
105, in a building designed by , and a workshop nearby at Carrer Aribau 103. Pere's son and Corberó's father, Xavier Corberó i Trepat (1901-1981), also worked in the family bronze workshop. Together with his brother , a noted interior designer and decorator, he was one of the co-founders of the ' art school 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 ...
. 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 ...
Xavier Corberó i Trepat fought in the
Spanish Republican Armed Forces The Spanish Republican Armed Forces () were initially formed by the following two branches of the military of the Second Spanish Republic: * Spanish Republican Army (''Ejército de la República Española'' (1931–1936) and ''Ejército Popular ...
and was thus separated from his family. Corberó's mother Montserrat, born Olivella i Vidal, passed away in 1936 while giving birth to his younger brother, who in turn died from smallpox a few years later.


Biography

Corberó lived his childhood through the turmoil and scarcity of the civil war and early years of
Francoist Spain Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death i ...
. In 1950 he enrolled at ''Escola Massana'', and in 1953 volunteered for military service in the
Spanish Air Force The Spanish Air and Space Force () is the aerial and space warfare branch of the Spanish Armed Forces. History Early stages Hot air balloons have been used with military purposes in Spain as far back as 1896. In 1905, with the help of Al ...
. In 1955 he lived briefly in Paris and Stockholm, then until 1959 in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
where he was the first-ever Spanish student at the
Central School of Arts and Crafts The Central School of Art and Design was a art school, school of fine arts, fine and applied arts in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1896 by the London County Council as the Central School ...
. He then went on to work for a while in
Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...
. In Barcelona in the early 1960s he befriended
Ricardo Bofill Ricardo Bofill Leví (; 5 December 1939 – 14 January 2022) was a Spanish architect from Barcelona. He founded Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura in 1963 and developed it into a leading international architectural and urban design practice. ...
,
Antonio Gades Antonio Esteve Ródenas or Antonio Gades (14 November 1936 – 20 July 2004) was a Spanish flamenco dancer and choreographer. He helped to popularize the art form on the international stage. He was born in Elda, Alicante, and was the father ...
, Luis Marsans, and . In 1962 he moved to
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
at Viola's suggestion. There he spent time with such prominent artists as
Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, ; ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, Futurism and conceptual art. He is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Pica ...
,
Max Ernst Max Ernst (; 2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German-born painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and surrealism in Europe. He had no formal artistic trai ...
and
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, before moving back to Barcelona in the mid-1960s. In the ensuing years he immersed himself further in the artistic community of Barcelona and Cadaqués, developing a close friendship with
Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (11 May 190423 January 1989), known as Salvador Dalí ( ; ; ), was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, ...
(whom he described as his "first patron") as well as with Jorge Castillo, ,
Josep Llorens i Artigas Josep Llorens i Artigas (16 June 1892 – 11 December 1980) was a Spanish ceramic artist known for his collaboration with Joan Miró. He is credited with relaunching ceramics as a European art form. Life Artigas was born in Barcelona on 16 June ...
,
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,
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 ...
, Elsa Peretti, Joan Ponç, and
Josep Lluís Sert Josep Lluís Sert i López (; 1 July 190215 March 1983) was a Catalan architect and city planner established in the USA after 1939. Biography Born in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, Sert showed keen interest in the works of his uncle, the painte ...
among others. By the early 1970s he was printing etchings on behalf of Miró and producing jewelry for Peretti in his Esplugues workshop. Around that time he also met the British landscape architect
Russell Page Montague Russell Page OBE (1 November 1906 – 4 January 1985) was a British gardener, garden designer and landscape architecture, landscape architect. He worked in the UK, western Europe and the United States of America. Biography Montague ...
, of whom he viewed himself as a disciple. From the mid-1970s he again spent extended periods in New York, where his circle included
Claes Oldenburg Claes Oldenburg (January 28, 1929 – July 18, 2022) was a Swedish-born American sculptor best known for his public art installations, typically featuring large replicas of everyday objects. Another theme in his work is soft sculpture versions ...
,
Richard Serra Richard Serra (November 2, 1938 – March 26, 2024) was an American artist known for his large-scale Abstract art, abstract sculptures made for Site-specific art, site-specific landscape, urban, and Architecture, architectural settings, a ...
,
Donald Sultan Donald K. Sultan (born 1951) is an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker, particularly well known for large-scale still life paintings and the use of industrial materials such as tar, enamel, spackle and vinyl tiles. He has been exhibiting ...
,
Bryan Hunt Bryan Hunt is an American sculptor who was born in Terre Haute, Indiana on June 7, 1947. His family moved to Tampa, Florida in 1955. He worked at the Kennedy Space Center as an engineer's aide and draftsman, 1967–1968, during the NASA Apollo pro ...
, Beverly Pepper, Vincent Desiderio, Kenneth Frampton, and Robert Hughes. Corberó married actress Mary-Ann Bennett in 1958. Their daughter Ana Corberó was born in 1960. They separated in the early 1970s, at a time when Corberó was in a relationship with Italian model Elsa Peretti whom he had helped become a jewelry designer. In 1983 he married Maria Luisa Tiffón. In his later life he was in a relationship with Maria Dolors (Midu) Rica, whom he had known in 1973. Corberó died in April 2017, aged 81, and was buried at
Montjuïc Cemetery Montjuïc Cemetery, known in Catalan as Cementiri del Sud-oest or Cementiri de Montjuïc, is located on one of the rocky slopes of Montjuïc hill in Barcelona. History It was opened on 17 March 1883 by the city of Barcelona as its main cemeter ...
in Barcelona.


Work and recognition

Corberó had his first metal sculptures exhibited in 1955 at the third Hispano-American Biennial Exhibition. He participated in successive sessions of the avant-garde ' exhibition in Barcelona and won awards there in 1960 and 1961. He had his first individual exhibition in Munich in 1963, for which he received a Gold Medal from the State of Bavaria. Later solo exhibitions included shows at the
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...
(1964), Staempfli Gallery in New York (1966, 1975, 1980), Meadows Museum in
Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
(1980), and McNay Art Museum in
San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...
(1985). Corberó's monumental sculptures can be seen in many places of Catalonia that include
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 ...
,
Esplugues de Llobregat Esplugues de Llobregat () is a municipality of the Barcelona metropolitan area. Formerly in the ''Barcelonès'', since 1990 it has been part of the Comarques of Catalonia, comarca of Baix Llobregat. During recent decades Esplugues has evolved fro ...
,
El Prat de Llobregat El Prat de Llobregat (), commonly known as El Prat , is a municipality of Spain located in the ''comarca'' of Baix Llobregat in Catalonia. The Josep Tarradellas Barcelona–El Prat Airport largely lies within the municipal limits. It is part of ...
,
Sabadell Sabadell () is a city and municipality in Catalonia, Spain. It is in the south of the ''comarca'' of Vallès Occidental, where it is one of the two capitals, the other being Terrassa. It is located on the River Ripoll, north of Barcelona, a ...
,
Terrassa Terrassa () is a city in central-eastern Catalonia and in the province of Barcelona (Spain). It is one of the two capitals of Vallès Occidental county, being the larger in both area and population. The name ''Terrassa'' derives from Latin ''Te ...
, Cassà de la Selva. Others are in
Palma de Mallorca Palma (, ; ), also known as Palma de Mallorca (officially between 1983 and 1988, 2006–2008, and 2012–2016), is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is ...
,
Santa Cruz de Tenerife Santa Cruz de Tenerife (; locally ), commonly abbreviated as Santa Cruz, is a city, the capital of the island of Tenerife, Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and one of the capitals of the Canary Islands, along with Las Palmas. Santa Cruz has a ...
,
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
,
Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...
,
Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...
,
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
, as well as in numerous museums such as the Meadows Museum in
Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
, the Nassau County Museum of Art, the
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (; Municipal Museum Amsterdam), colloquially known as the Stedelijk, is a museum for modern art, contemporary art, and design located in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
, the
Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...
, and the
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
. While sculpture was Corberó's dominant medium, together with architecture for his house, he also produced whimsical drawings, abstract paintings, and poems in Catalan. Following the return of democracy in Spain and the corresponding blossoming of cultural activity in Barcelona, culminating in the
1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...
, and jointly with New York art dealer Joseph A. Helman, Corberó successfully encouraged his prominent artist friends to donate monumental sculptures as a participation to the city's renewal, at almost no cost to the city other than that of the sculptures' materials. That initiative brought
Roy Lichtenstein Roy Fox Lichtenstein ( ; October27, 1923September29, 1997) was an American pop artist. He rose to prominence in the 1960s through pieces which were inspired by popular advertising and the comic book style. Much of his work explores the relations ...
's ''" El Cap de Barcelona"'' on the '' Port Vell'' waterfront,
Claes Oldenburg Claes Oldenburg (January 28, 1929 – July 18, 2022) was a Swedish-born American sculptor best known for his public art installations, typically featuring large replicas of everyday objects. Another theme in his work is soft sculpture versions ...
's "Matches" in '' Vall d'Hebron'',
Richard Serra Richard Serra (November 2, 1938 – March 26, 2024) was an American artist known for his large-scale Abstract art, abstract sculptures made for Site-specific art, site-specific landscape, urban, and Architecture, architectural settings, a ...
's "Wall" on ''Plaça de la Palmera'', Beverly Pepper's ''"Cielo caído"'' and ''"Espiral arbolada"'' in the ',
Bryan Hunt Bryan Hunt is an American sculptor who was born in Terre Haute, Indiana on June 7, 1947. His family moved to Tampa, Florida in 1955. He worked at the Kennedy Space Center as an engineer's aide and draftsman, 1967–1968, during the NASA Apollo pro ...
's "Rites of Spring" in the ', and
Anthony Caro Sir Anthony Alfred Caro (8 March 192423 October 2013) was an English abstract sculptor whose work is characterised by assemblages of metal using ' found' and industrial objects. He began as a member of the modernist school, having worked with ...
's "Alto Rhapsody" in the '. He was also the designer of the 1992
Olympic medal An Olympic medal is awarded to successful competitors at one of the Olympic Games. There are three classes of medal to be won: gold medal, gold, silver medal, silver, and bronze medal, bronze, awarded to first, second, and third place, respect ...
s, for which on his insistence real gold was used for the first time. In 1992 he received the Creu de Sant Jordi Award from the
Generalitat de Catalunya The Generalitat de Catalunya (; ; ), or the Government of Catalonia, is the institutional system by which Catalonia is self-governed as an autonomous community of Spain. It is made up of the Parliament of Catalonia, the President of the Govern ...
, in recognition of his role in Barcelona's public sculpture program. In 2000 he became a member of the '' Reial Acadèmia Catalana de Belles Arts de Sant Jordi''.


''Espai Corberó''

In 1968, Corberó started acquiring land, including a former potato farm, bordering in the Barcelona suburb of
Esplugues de Llobregat Esplugues de Llobregat () is a municipality of the Barcelona metropolitan area. Formerly in the ''Barcelonès'', since 1990 it has been part of the Comarques of Catalonia, comarca of Baix Llobregat. During recent decades Esplugues has evolved fro ...
, not far from where his parents lived. He developed it into a highly elaborate complex of spaces, known as of 2022 as "Corberó's space" (). While Corberó was alive, the property was partly devoted to hosting artists-in-residence as well as his own home. The sprawling compound includes a significant share of his life's work and personal collections, and he kept building it up until his death. The Espai Corberó ensemble includes two historic houses, ' and ', the former of which he restored in 1970-1971 with the help of architect and builder Emilio Bofill, who was also involved in the early stages of construction of the main complex across Montserrat Street. Corberó's visually striking house has been featured as background stage in multiple occasions, including
Woody Allen Heywood Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American filmmaker, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades. Allen has received many List of awards and nominations received by Woody Allen, accolade ...
's film ''
Vicky Cristina Barcelona ''Vicky Cristina Barcelona'' is a 2008 romantic comedy drama film written and directed by Woody Allen. The film stars Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz, Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johansson in lead roles. The plot centers on two American women, V ...
'' in 2008 and ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
s "Goings on About Town" section in 2020. Lluís Lleó, an artist and acquaintance of Corberó, described it as "a self-portrait". In July 2022, it was reported that Corberó's heirs would sell the complex to the municipality of Esplugues for development as a cultural property. It opened to visitors on , on the occasion of
International Museum Day International Museum Day (IMD) is an international day held annually on or around 18 May, coordinated by the International Council of Museums (ICOM). The event highlights a specific theme which changes every year reflecting a relevant theme or ...
.


Gallery

Image: Corbero 04.jpg, ''"Ejecutores y ejecutados"'', Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1973) Image: 303 Homenatge a la Mediterrània, de Xavier Corberó, pl. Sóller.jpg, "Homage to the Mediterranean", Sóller Square, Barcelona (1983) Image: A Nicolau Maria Rubió i Tudurí.JPG, Monument to , Gaudí Square, Barcelona (1983) Image: La barca del Barça, de Xavier Corberó (1987) Recinte de la Masia del FC Barcelona, Barcelona (13671250184) (2).jpg, ''"La Barca del Barça"'', grounds of the
FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...
(1987) Image: Columnes de terme - 003.jpg, ''"Columnes de Terme"'', Kennedy Square, Barcelona (1988) Image: Al-legoria DSC03927.JPG, "Allegory of life",
Avinguda Diagonal Avinguda Diagonal (; in Spanish language, Spanish: Avenida Diagonal) is the name of one of Barcelona's broadest and most important avenues. It cuts the city in two, diagonally with respect to the grid pattern of the surrounding streets, hence th ...
, Barcelona (1988) Image: El Rei i la Reina - 2.jpg, "King and Queen", UAB Campus, Sabadell (1988) Image: The Broad Family sculptures, Broadgate, London.jpg, "The Broad Family",
Broadgate Broadgate is a large, office and retail estate in the Bishopsgate area of the City of London. It is owned by British Land and GIC (Singaporean sovereign wealth fund), GIC and managed by British Land. History The original developer was a joint ...
, London (1991) Image: A Josep Tarradellas P1440627.JPG, Monument to
Josep Tarradellas Josep Tarradellas i Joan, 1st Marquess of Tarradellas (; 19 February 1899 – 10 June 1988) was a Spaniard politician known for his role as the first president of the Government of Catalonia (Generalitat de Catalunya), after its re-establishmen ...
, Tarradellas Avenue, Barcelona (1999) Image: 231 Família Vapor, de Xavier Corberó, pl. Vapor Ventalló.jpg, ''"La Familia Vapor"'', Terrassa (2002) Image: Xavier Corberó Jardíns de Cap Roig.jpg, ''"Dos artistas flamencas"'', Jardíns de Cap Roig in Calella de Palafrugell (2003) Image: Corbero,Xavier Familia BCN artpublic 08019-938-1.JPG, ''"La Familia"'',
Poblenou ; ) is an extensive neighborhood of Barcelona’s Sant Martí (district), Sant Martí district that borders the Mediterranean Sea to the south, Sant Adrià del Besòs to the east, Parc de la Ciutadella in Ciutat Vella to the west, and Sant Andreu ...
, Barcelona (2003) Image: Trobada, obra de l'escultor Xavier Corberó.jpg, ''"Trobada"'', Esplugues de Llobregat (2005)


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Corberó, Xavier 1935 births 2017 deaths Sculptors from Catalonia Spanish male sculptors Spanish modern sculptors 20th-century Spanish sculptors 20th-century Spanish male artists Artists from Barcelona