In spite of the strong influence of his father the painter Alejandro Ferrant, Ángel Ferrant decided to specialise in sculpture when he enrolled at the School of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid. In 1910 he took part in the National Fine Arts exhibition, where he won a second-place medal. Three years later he travelled to Paris, where he made contact with the avant garde. This soon changed the way in which he thought of the concepts of creative art and of art objects. On his return he taught at the Arts and Crafts School in La Coruña from 1918 until 1920, when he moved to Barcelona. He lived there until 1934, except for some time spent in Vienna under a grant from the Board for the Extension of Studies. Barcelona led him to switch from a more classical to a more modern style, with forays into abstraction, and opened him up to the use of new sculpture techniques.
In 1930 he was one of the founders of the ADLAN group (Amics de l’Art Nou - 'Friends of Art Nouveau') and in 1936 he took part in an exhibition by Grupo Logicofobista in Madrid, where he was seen as a link with the surrealist poetry of the object. In 1945 he began to work with found objects, within the poetry of objets trouvés, and to explore prehistoric art. He used stones, sticks and shells, which he brought together in works that he referred to as 'non-utilitarian expression'. He played a key role in setting up the I Semana de Arte ['1st Art Week'] at the Altamira School in 1949, and the lectures at the Decena de Arte Abstracto ['Ten Days of Abstract Art'] event in Santander in 1953. His copious output also includes articulated sculptures and mobiles, which reflect his concern for movement and occasionalism, and his exploration of graphic art as a source of new ideas. In 1960 he won the Special Prize for Sculpture at the Venice Biennale.
More recently, several exhibitions have sought to highlight his role in the history of art. They include exhibitions at the Joan Miró Foundation (Barcelona, 1980), the Palacio de Cristal (Madrid, 1983), the Pablo Gargallo Museum (Zaragoza, 1997) and the Reina Sofía Museum (Madrid, 1999).
In spite of the strong influence of his father the painter Alejandro Ferrant, Ángel Ferrant decided to specialise in sculpture when he enrolled at the School of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid. In 1910 he took part in the National Fine Arts exhibition, where he won a second-place medal. Three years later he travelled to Paris, where he made contact with the avant garde. This soon changed the way in which he thought of the concepts of creative art and of art objects. On his return he taught at the Arts and Crafts School in La Coruña from 1918 until 1920, when he moved to Barcelona. He lived there until 1934, except for some time spent in Vienna under a grant from the Board for the Extension of Studies. Barcelona led him to switch from a more classical to a more modern style, with forays into abstraction, and opened him up to the use of new sculpture techniques.
In 1930 he was one of the founders of the ADLAN group (Amics de l’Art Nou - 'Friends of Art Nouveau') and in 1936 he took part in an exhibition by Grupo Logicofobista in Madrid, where he was seen as a link with the surrealist poetry of the object. In 1945 he began to work with found objects, within the poetry of objets trouvés, and to explore prehistoric art. He used stones, sticks and shells, which he brought together in works that he referred to as 'non-utilitarian expression'. He played a key role in setting up the I Semana de Arte ['1st Art Week'] at the Altamira School in 1949, and the lectures at the Decena de Arte Abstracto ['Ten Days of Abstract Art'] event in Santander in 1953. His copious output also includes articulated sculptures and mobiles, which reflect his concern for movement and occasionalism, and his exploration of graphic art as a source of new ideas. In 1960 he won the Special Prize for Sculpture at the Venice Biennale.
More recently, several exhibitions have sought to highlight his role in the history of art. They include exhibitions at the Joan Miró Foundation (Barcelona, 1980), the Palacio de Cristal (Madrid, 1983), the Pablo Gargallo Museum (Zaragoza, 1997) and the Reina Sofía Museum (Madrid, 1999).