Catalan sculptor Josep Reynés i Gurguí trained at the La Lonja school under the brothers Agapit and Venanci Vallmitjana. In 1873 he moved to Paris to continue his education. There he worked at the studios of Rossend Nobas, where he met Manuel Fuxà and Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux. Carpeaux was interested in Baroque art, which he had studied in Rome, and he taught Reynes the naturalistic Baroque style of movement and expression, thus helping to make his work less formal and academic. Reynes returned to Barcelona in 1876 and spent most of his career on monumental works and interior decoration.
His work is characterised by its French influence and by his attention to anecdotal detail and decorative motifs. It cannot really be regarded as modernist, but it does show clear modernist influences. Gaya Nuño believed that Reynés' return to Barcelona and his need to keep more conservative patrons happy greatly limited his creative potential.
In 1890 he won the First Prize medal at the National Exhibition for his sculpture Violinist, which Gaya Nuño sees as influenced by Carpeaux, while Judit Subirachs considers it strictly realistic. Almost all his works are in Barcelona. They include Roger de Llúria (1885); Cervantes (Library of Catalonia, 1885); Barcelona rep les nacions (winner of the Silver Medal at the Universal Exposition of 1888); Statue of Maria Christina on Horseback (1891); and Gerro amb nens (1893), a much-liked work influenced by the Rococo style that stands in the city's La Ciutadella park. He was also commissioned to produce numerous funeral monuments for Montjuic cemetery.
Catalan sculptor Josep Reynés i Gurguí trained at the La Lonja school under the brothers Agapit and Venanci Vallmitjana. In 1873 he moved to Paris to continue his education. There he worked at the studios of Rossend Nobas, where he met Manuel Fuxà and Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux. Carpeaux was interested in Baroque art, which he had studied in Rome, and he taught Reynes the naturalistic Baroque style of movement and expression, thus helping to make his work less formal and academic. Reynes returned to Barcelona in 1876 and spent most of his career on monumental works and interior decoration.
His work is characterised by its French influence and by his attention to anecdotal detail and decorative motifs. It cannot really be regarded as modernist, but it does show clear modernist influences. Gaya Nuño believed that Reynés' return to Barcelona and his need to keep more conservative patrons happy greatly limited his creative potential.
In 1890 he won the First Prize medal at the National Exhibition for his sculpture Violinist, which Gaya Nuño sees as influenced by Carpeaux, while Judit Subirachs considers it strictly realistic. Almost all his works are in Barcelona. They include Roger de Llúria (1885); Cervantes (Library of Catalonia, 1885); Barcelona rep les nacions (winner of the Silver Medal at the Universal Exposition of 1888); Statue of Maria Christina on Horseback (1891); and Gerro amb nens (1893), a much-liked work influenced by the Rococo style that stands in the city's La Ciutadella park. He was also commissioned to produce numerous funeral monuments for Montjuic cemetery.