Desconsol by Josep Llimona: Modernist Sculpture at MNAC
Desconsol Sculpture: Key Details
- Cataloging Author: Josep Llimona i Bruguera (1864-1934)
- Title: Desconsol (Grief/Disconsolation)
- Timeline: 1907
- Location: National Museum of Catalan Art (MNAC), Barcelona
- Style: Modernisme and Symbolism
- Dimensions: 67 cm (width) x 76 cm (length) x 67 cm (height)
- Material: Marble
- Technique: Carving
- Form: Free-standing
- Type: Seated figure
- Color: Monochrome (natural marble)
- Condition: Good
Formal Analysis of Desconsol
The sculpture depicts a half-kneeling woman, her body rendered smoothly as a female nude. The artist hides her face amidst her arm and flowing hair, avoiding specific, descriptive details. Her hands are intertwined in a clear gesture of dejection, conveying an attitude of weakness and fragility. The hands are at maximum rest, indicating a total absence of movement. She kneels upon three steps.
A clear structural contrast exists between the rounded volume of the woman’s body, where smooth, curved lines predominate, and the straightness and rigidity of the three steps forming the base. There are no distinct differences in the treatment of the upper body muscles, contributing to the overall impression of softness. The body is completely bent forward, creating a pronounced curve also visible from the side view. The torso is perfectly sculpted, symbolizing the female anatomy, though not rendered in a strictly realistic manner.
The work powerfully expresses absolute depression and grief. Effects of light and shadow play across the smooth forms of the body. Uniform light slides over the figure, creating areas of soft chiaroscuro with subtle contrasts. The finish of the hair, hands, and feet is rougher compared to the smooth body.
Key features include:
- Hidden Face: Emphasizes emotion through posture rather than facial expression.
- Texture Contrast: The smoothness of the body’s wavy profiles and the polished marble (characteristic of Modernisme) contrasts sharply with the more rectilinear and rough texture of the rocky base. This contrast serves expressive purposes.
- Modeling: The soft, almost ‘vanished’ modeling, reminiscent of Auguste Rodin, with smooth and imprecise contours, enhances the expression of life and emotion.
Desconsol shows the influence of the great artist Auguste Rodin. Its composition, particularly the soft modeling, the effort to convey movement and maximum expression, and the skillful use of light, recalls Rodin’s Danaïde (dated 1885).
The figure is asymmetrical and closed in upon itself. The breasts, abdomen, legs, and arms are carved with great precision and detail, showcasing the vitalism of the figure despite the overall theme of despair.
Interpretation and Context
Through the posture and gesture of the body, Llimona conveys profound meaning, demonstrating his ability to imbue his sculptures with life and sensitivity. The feelings of gloom and pain transmitted by the sculpture are believed to reflect Llimona’s own state of mind at the time, following the loss of his wife and suffering from illness. His nude young female figures often possess an aura of chastity and purity, devoid of overt sensuality.
Josep Llimona’s fame was partly due to his treatment of the female figure emerging from the marble block, a technique reminiscent of Michelangelo. In Desconsol, the raw source block can still be seen in the largely unworked base upon which the woman rests.
Presented at the Fifth International Exhibition of Fine Arts in Barcelona in 1907, Desconsol earned Llimona an award of honor.
The sculpture was originally part of a larger sculptural group intended for a wealthy family’s funeral pantheon but later became recognized as an independent work.
Style and Artist’s Independence
Josep Llimona’s style represents the expression of an independent artist who freed his work from purely architectonic constraints, although Modernist sculpture (like that of his contemporary Miquel Blay) was often intended for architectural settings. Modernist sculpture embodied the artist’s freedom from academic classicism and adorned houses, public buildings, streets, and cemeteries.
About the Artist: Josep Llimona i Bruguera
Josep Llimona i Bruguera (Barcelona, 1864-1934) was a prominent Catalan sculptor. While studying in Rome on a grant from the city of Barcelona, he made sketches for the equestrian statue of Ramon Berenguer the Great in 1881 (erected later, still standing in Barcelona).
His early works were academic, but after a stay in Paris, he was significantly influenced by Rodin, and his style evolved towards Modernisme. He produced an extensive body of work, exhibiting in Catalonia, Madrid, Paris, Brussels, and Buenos Aires. He sculpted funerary works for several mausoleums, notably The Exterminating Angel for the cemetery of Comillas. Llimona received numerous commissions for public monuments.
In 1892, he co-founded the Cercle Artístic de Sant Lluc (Artistic Circle of St. Luke) with his brother, the painter Joan Llimona.