Works :
In
Barcelona:
Vase
with children (Ciutadella
Park in
Barcelona 1882)
Marià Fortuny portrait (1884)
Eduardo Rosales portrait (1884)
Cervantes portrait (1885)
Barcelona rep les nacions
(Barcelona welcome the
nations - Frieze
on Triumph Arch 1887)
Roger de
Llúria statue (Lluís
Companys Promenade in Barcelona 1888)
Violinist
(1890)
Equestrian statue of Christine of
Habsburg
(MNAC Catalonian
National Art
Museum 1891)
The Justice
(Justice Palace)
Antoni Viladomat i Manalt
bust
(Catalonian
Parliament in Barcelona 1915)
Manuel Tremulles bust (Catalonian
Parliament in Barcelona 1915)
Young woman bust (Barcelona
City
hall
1st floor)
In Sitges:
El
Greco Monument
Doctor Robert Monument
In Barcelona:
Bonaplata Tomb
(Southwest
Cemetery 1886)
Cazes-Clavell
Tomb
(Southwest Cemetery 1897 -
in
collaboration with Fuxà)
Godó Tomb (Southwest
Cemetery 1898)
Collaso Tomb (Southwest
Cemetery 1901)
Gener Tomb
(Southwest
Cemetery 1904)
Casa
Ortembach Tomb
(Southwest
Cemetery 1907)
In Sitges:
A.
Serra Ferrer Tomb
(Cemetery 1902)
M. Robert Aldufeu Tomb
(Cemetery
1902)
Life:
Born in
Barcelona in 1850.
He trained as sculptor in the School of Llotja of Barcelona with the
brothers Venanci
and Agapit Vallmitjana,
in the atelier of Rosend Nobas, in which he met Manuel Fuxà, and later in
Paris (1873-76), in the atelier of the sculptor Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux.
During this stay in Paris in 1873, he again encountered
Fuxà, with whom he developed
a deep friendship.
Although Reynés' career spanned the modernist era, his sculpture is
distinctive for its eclectic naturalistic realism and its tendency towards
decorativism - a good example of this is the
vase with children and flowers in
Barcelona's Ciutadella Park, which dates from early in his career (1882).
Despite being a youthful work, it is considered to be one of his best
sculptural pieces, reflecting his delicate sensibility and revealing some
light but characteristic aspects of
modernism (Catalan Art Nouveau).
In his later works, such as the female bust that is found in Barcelona's
City Hall, the bust of Cervantes (1885) and the equestrian statue of the
queen regent Maria Christina Hapsburg (1891) in the city's Museum of Modern
Art, his style is characterized more by an emphatic and virtuous treatment,
reflecting a flavor still deep-rooted in the era and which betrays the
influence of his Parisian training.
This is also evident in his architectural sculpture in Barcelona, an
excellent example of which is the multi-figure relief frieze "Barcelona rep
les nacions" (Barcelona Welcomes the Nations), on the front of the Arc de
Triomf (1887), which compliments perfectly the more academic frieze at its
rear by the young Josep Llimona
(Recompense). Built as the main gate of the Universal Exhibition of 1888,
its sculptures by
Reynés
and Llimona (as well the subsidiary decorative details by other sculptors)
provide the arc with a monumentality that the architecture of the structure
itself lacks.
Reynés also produced notable public statues representing illustrious
personages, including those dedicated to
El Greco and
Doctor Robert in
Sitges, and
Roger de Llúria in Barcelona.
In addition to his work as sculptor, for which he became renowned and
received great prestige, he was also dedicated to the decoration of
interiors.
Josep Reynés died in Barcelona in 1926.
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| Vase with children | Doctor Robert | El Greco | Roger de LLúria | The Justice |
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| Frieze on the upper part of the Triumph Arch in Barcelona (1897) | ||||
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| Antoni Serra Ferrer Tomb (1902) Main statue and General view | M. Robert Aldufeu Tomb (1902) | |
