JOSEP GUARDIOLA BONET (Barcelona, 1869 - 1950).
Glazed ceramic dish. 1929.
Signed and dated on the reverse.
Very slight lack of polychrome on the sides.
Measurements: 24.5 cm (diameter).
A painter, draughtsman, sculptor and ceramic decorator, Guardiola began his training as an apprentice in the Verdaguer lithography workshop in Barcelona. Not satisfied with this discipline, he soon abandoned it to devote himself to copying landscapes, taking up painting with Luis Rigalt and Ramón Amadó. At the age of sixteen his membership of the Centre of Watercolourists opened his horizons to drawing and painting from life, and shortly afterwards he became one of the founders of the Artistic Circle. He was later admitted to the La Lonja School, where he trained for four years under the tutelage of Antonio Caba. In 1891 he went to Madrid to study the great masters of the Prado Museum, where he stayed for five months. On his return to Barcelona, however, he had to face the problem of how to earn an independent living, so he went to work in a mural painting workshop. There he spent two years as an apprentice and another two established in the company, before finally working for twenty-two years as a wall painter, working on his own. However, during this time he did not neglect his artistic facet, dedicating himself in parallel to the illustration of books and the publication of albums with his drawings, as well as collaborating with "La Renaixença" and "El Poble Català". He also appears as an editor in "De tots colours", and presents exhibitions at the Círculo Artístico and the Sala Parés. In 1918, he also began to write art pages for "La Vanguardia", a collaboration that continued until his death. He also produced, almost in secret, sculptures of great quality, including a bronze relief portraying his son, a work that always presided over his studio in memory of little Jordi. In fact, after his son's death in 1919, he would frequently sign his work as "Josep-Jordi Guardiola". His definitive success would finally come in his facet as a ceramist, thanks to his pieces decorated with all kinds of brightly coloured and richly coloured scenes. Economically settled, Guardiola travelled to Paris in 1922, leaving for Italy the following year. On his return he continued his exhibition activity and won several awards in Madrid (1924), Paris (1925), Philadelphia (1926) and Barcelona (1929). He also worked at the manufactory in Sèvres between 1934 and 1937.