From the Belle Époque to modern sculpture: a family of pioneers
Julio González (Barcelona, 1876 – Arcueil, France, 1942) is considered the founder of modern iron sculpture and one of the leading sculptors of the 20th century. He influenced the technical and conceptual aspects of Picasso, with whom he was a friend and collaborator, and was also in contact with Juan Gris, Pablo Gargallo, and Modigliani. However, any understanding of Julio González's work would be incomplete without considering his connection to his older brother, Joan González (Barcelona, 1868 – 1908), the driving force of the family, whose artistic career was cut short by his premature death. The story would be equally incomplete if we overlooked the role played by his daughter, Roberta González (Paris, 1909 – Monthyon, 1976), not only as an artist but also as the intellectual and emotional executor of a complex artistic legacy.
Joan González , the eldest brother, was the head of the family and the one responsible for making decisions such as moving to Paris, leaving behind an intense period of work in the family's artistic metalwork workshop in Barcelona. Joan worked tirelessly for the mere eight years that his illness allowed him to dedicate to art, between 1900, the year he decided to move to Paris, and 1908, when he finally returned to his native Barcelona to die. Those eight years were enough to earn him the recognition, appreciation, and admiration of artists and critics such as Joaquín Torres Garcia, Alexandre de Piquer, a young Picasso, and Gaudí himself, who was fascinated by his work. Joan left behind a short but rich artistic legacy of post-Impressionist and Art Nouveau illustrations, and urban portraits, especially of young women.
From 1927 onwards, Julio González began working with iron; he cut and passed through the sieve of autogenous welding pieces of metal cut with shears or small iron rods, but always with such an elaborate idea of the final result that his drawings and sketches anticipated it on many occasions.
