JOAN HERNÁNDEZ PIJUAN

Biography

Joan Hernández Pijuan (*1931 in Barcelona, †2005 in Barcelona) studied from 1952 to 1956 at the Academy of Arts in Barcelona. Since 1967, he took part in international exhibitions offering an overview of Spanish art. He took part in the Biennial in Venice in 1960 and 1970. In 1989, he held a professorship at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Barcelona. At the Seville Expo in 1992, he served as a representative in the Spanish pavilion. In 1993, a comprehensive overview of his work was shown at the Museo Nacional Reina Sofía in Madrid. Numerous exhibitions at international museums ensued, stabilising and expanding his international reputation as one of the most prominent Spanish artists of the second half of the 20th century. The Metropolitan Museum and the Museum of Modern Art, New York, purchase his works. In 2005, the year of the artist’s death, a special presentation with Agnes Martin is given at the 51st Biennial in Venice. A process of gradual reflection prompts the artist to make landscapes his central focus. The overriding consideration is to occupy the space from the painting, “…not a space of imitation, but one acting as a living part of the painting” (Hernández Pijuan). The drawn motif belongs to the landscape space, this leads to an interaction between what is presented and the surface as a space. From this results the parallel development of the works on paper. „Pijuan’s surfaces are physical. They have meaningful underneaths. Their physical thickness facilitates the metaphysical depths that belongs to the work“. (Arthur C. Danto)