Souvenirs from Paris: the oscillating modernity of Damián Pradell as a paradigm of Modernista sculpture in Catalonia

Abstract

This article considers the almost unknown figure of Damián Pradell y Pujol (1867–1947), one of the many sculptors who worked during the Modernista period. The discussion focuses especially on his years of training in Paris, where he came across different artistic trends (the academic Denys Puech, the avant-garde Auguste Rodin) that marked the subsequent evolution of his art, constituting the most important period in his career. The article locates Pradell in this sculptural context and compares his career with those of his contemporaries, as his work became an example of the most cosmopolitan Catalan sculpture of its time. On the basis of this analysis, the argument concludes with a consideration of Pradell as a ‘Modernista sculptor’ and what this label really meant, based on the weight that French influences had on the configuration of this movement.