Josep Maria de Sucre, Activist and Visionary Artist
By Charlotte Stace
Fundacio Vila Casas’ new exhibition is on the work of Catalan activist and visionary, Josep Maria de Sucre. Born in Barcelona in 1886, he was not only an artist, but also a poet, critic and agitator. His career was crucially placed in the transition from Noucentism towards the avant-garde in 20th-Century Catalunya.
Ahead of his time, Sucre used faces, masks and portraits to look at the inner self, anticipating later neo-expressionist approaches. His figures carry an unsettling psychological intensity that still speaks directly to the viewer. This exhibition pays tribute both to his own artistic production and to his role as a “spiritual patron” for a generation of artists in the early post-war years.
Through painting, writing and cultural activism, Sucre became a key figure for younger creators navigating the bleakness and isolation of Franco-era Spain. Rather than presenting him as a neat art historical category, the show embraces his many lives - visionary, organiser, thinker, supporter and maker.