Black head

The participation of Salvador Martorell at the International Exhibition of Barcelona of 1929 resulting in him being awarded the Gold Medal for his work Cap de Negre. In this work, the sculptor, already familiar with the incidence of African art in cubism, assimilates and projects in the form of a synthesis certain formulations of cubism. In awarding this prize, the jury intrinsically valued the innovative creativity of Martorell with which he incorporated within a single work the Greek sculptural tradition and the constructive formulae of cubism. Salvador Martorell Ollé (1895-1968) He commenced his training at the Arana i Bru Studio in Tarragona; in 1914 he moved to Barcelona where he studied for one year at the Llotja School and worked at the Gabriel Bechini company. With a scholarship from the Diputació of Tarragona, he stayed in Paris during 1918 and 1919, before returning to Barcelona. He worked as a lecturer at the Tarragona Studio-School of Painting and Sculpture (1934-1938) and at the Studio-School of Art of the Diputació of Tarragona (1947-1965). His work is formally associated with the noucentism movement, with a fine mastery of technique and a great sensibility in the treatment of the human figure. Text by Francesc Roig i Queralt