| NOUCENTISME:
ANTONI, JOSEP AND ENRIC SERRA ABELLA. THE SECOND GENERATION
OF CERAMISTS
The next generation, the Antoni Serra's sons: Antonio,
(1905-85), Josep (1906-89) and Enric (1908-86) Serra
Abella, start another phase. This generation carried
on the work of their father but with a completely new
sense of orientation. first , the family company was
founded and consolidated in (1928) and was set up as
a workshop of ceramic products, that will remain until
today in the same location, Can Serra, which we can
visit today. In the second place, apart from the collaboration
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with
artists, the spirit which better defines the contribution
made by this generation is their wish to make ceramics
an art, despite
all the difficulties that this imposed.
A
very important phase in their training was attending
the Escuela Superior de Antiguos Oficios (1914-1924),
where their father lectured a Noucentisme
institution created by the community of Catalonia dedicated
to the promotion of the artistic profession and the
training of technical drawing.
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The
first works were impregnated with the spirit of the
school and of Noucentisme: Techniques and resources
which were inspired on the autochthon past were recouped;
because of this fact the colours and the blues of the
XVII century were used, together with a popular iconography's
inpiration and plain forms of a desired archaism.
With
the passing of time the forms of art amplified, both
technically and ornamentally. For example: in harmony
with the evolution of artistic fashions, the Serras
incorporated, amongst others, the impact of the art
of Decó. Directly or indirectly, the major
part of the designs of the twenties and thirties responded
to this decorative style which spread in Catalonia,
especially due to the 1929 exhibition in which the Serras
participated with the adornment of the pavilion of reunited
artists, which had an unmistakable air of the art of
Decó.
Thus, whatever the motifs and forms of art, the figurines,
especially those made by Antoni Serra Abella,
were identified with a certain atmosphere of art Decó.
RAFAEL
SOLANIC. CERÀMICA I ARQUITECTURA
The
professional and artistic biography of the Serras is
interrelated with the history of Catalan art. On the
one hand, the same artists, had an ambition which went
beyond the limits of traditional ceramics and on the
other hand, with a close relationship, they collaborated
in
projects which involved a great variety of artists.
Perhaps
the most fruitful relationship was that with Rafael
Solanic (1895-1990) who had a family link with the Serras
- and who set up
his own studio in the can Famades studio.
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Rafael
Solanic, recognised as one of the most notable sculptors
of the Noucentisme, was an innovator who worked
with metals, crystal, with stone and wood sculptures,
smelting ….and, naturally, worked widely with ceramics;
ranging from, sculpture (terracotta and clay), applying
ornamental ceramics to architecture, interior design
and enamel ceramics, always
in collaboration with the Serras.
Another
significant aspect is the collaboration of the Serras
and Rafael Solanic, who was responsible for the design
of architectural projects. Amongst many others, he participated
with the architect Lluís Bonet Gari.
What
did ceramics contribute to architecture? Perhaps nowadays
we are in a position to appreciate the contribution
because we are recovering the notion of adornment, against
which until recently there existed a prejudice. Now
we once again find a sense of applying ceramics to architecture
( be they enamelled modules which cover columns, arches,
cornices,etc…. or be they volumetric items such as fountains,
flights of steps, etc…). Ceramics in architecture means
recovering an autochthonic tradition – reinitiated in
the modernism with an outburst of artistic activity-,
but it represents, above all the enrichment in a very
wide sense of the architectural aim and identity, at
a symbolic level, a functional level.. In the words
of Solanic, ceramics in architecture may be expressed
as "for the service, the environmental decoration and
utility for the community"; that is to say to beatify
the environment taking into account the functional aspects
with an ethical component of service to society.
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