Jassans (again)

I had a request to show some of my finished sculptural stuff, and I guess I've been stalling long enough. I find that I am quite slow at this clay sculpting, and also rather unsure of my results... I'm sure these are reasons for my hesitating in showing it.

I promise I will show some pics in my next post. The truth is I wrote this post to include both the Jassans followup, and my sculpture pix... but it seemed too much in one post so I edited that stuff out. Soon.

So, another Jassans related story.

You may recall (and it doesn't really matter if you don't) that some weeks ago I attended a lecture about the Catalan sculptor Josep Salvadó Jassans. The lecture was in Catalan so I did not get too much of it, but it was at that lecture that I met Jorge Egea, from whom I am now taking sculpture classes. The lecture was given by an older fellow called Dr. Octavi Fullat, and he had a book available for sale at the lecture (available in either Catalan or Spanish) which I elected not to buy at that time, as the book is all words (no pictures) and Dr. Fullat is a philosopher, and a quick glance revealed it would be a dense read, in Spanish.

So, remembering that the exhibition of Jassans' work at the MEAM is scheduled to come down this Sunday, I decided to go see it one more time last Friday. While entering the museum, I noticed that Dr. Fullat's book was available in the book shop, and I decided to give it a go (I would say I'm a little more "into" Jassans now than I was then, and at only €6, why the hell not!). As I went upstairs, the first sculpture I noticed was by Jassans' teacher, Rebull. It was a sculpture of Jassans' wife, Antonia Borras.

I thought to myself... "how interesting that Rebull would have sculpted her too. She is well-represented in the museum." You might remember that I posted a photo of Jassans' wood portrait of her previously in this blog. Here is another picture of that same piece...

When I went upstairs to view Jassans' work again, I noticed even more portraits of her. I noticed her strong jaw-line, present in every sculpture.

(Please note that not all of these sculptures are credited as being portraits of her, but to me it is obvious that she was, at least, the model)

I took a few more pictures of the Jassans exhibit and headed upstairs to the 2nd floor, where I noticed that Jorge has quite a prominent presence, including these portraits which I like a lot. 

Feeling finished with the museum, I came back to the Jassans work on the 1st floor for one last look. As I meandered around, I suddenly recognized Dr. Fullat! And who was with him but... Sra. Antonia Borras! I felt like a bit of a geek as introduced myself and asked him to autograph his book. I also introduced myself to Ms. Borras and told her how much I loved her husband's work. She graciously shook my hand, and then politely moved away. Then when I mentioned my self-guided Jassans field-trip to Reus, and the fact that I was a friend of Jorge's, she came over again, even more warmly, signed my book with a lovely inscription, and invited me to her home! Wow, talk about mediterranean warmth! Yes, perhaps I'm a sculpture nerd, but it was quite exciting for me. Jorge and I have a tentative plan to visit Sra. Borras at her home some time soon.

From left to right: A sculpture by Rebull, Sra. Antonia Borras, Me, Dr. Octavi Fullat.

And yes, Dr. Fullat's book is a dense read. He explained to me that he was forced to retire at age 70, but that at 89 he is still writing and going strong. It reminded me of my grandfather Arno Ristow, who at 102 is still writing and going strong. We should all be so lucky.