González, Julio

González, Julio (1876–1942). Spanish sculptor, metalworker, painter, and draughtsman, the leading pioneer in the use of welded iron (see IRON AND STEEL) as a sculptural medium. He learnt to work metal under his father, a goldsmith and sculptor, but his early career was spent mainly as a painter. In about 1900 he moved to Paris and formed a lifelong friendship with Picasso, whom he had earlier met in his native Barcelona. In his early years in Paris he supported himself mainly by making metalwork and jewellery, but he also exhibited paintings and made sculpture. It was not until the late 1920s, when he was already in his 50s, that he devoted himself wholeheartedly to sculpture and turned to welded metal as a material ( Picasso sought his technical advice about metal sculpture, and in helping him González liberated his own imagination). His best-known work, Montserrat (Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 1937), is a fairly naturalistic piece, showing a woman with a child in her arms, and commemorates the suffering of the Spanish people in the civil war (Montserrat is a holy mountain in Spain). More usually, however, his sculptures are semi-abstract skeletal figures, as in his series of Cactus People—formidable pieces with some of Picasso's savage humour. His work had great influence, notably on Picasso, who made use of the welding facilities in González's studio, and on a generation of British and American sculptors exemplified by Reg Butler and David Smith. George Heard Hamilton writes that ‘since 1945 it has proved so rich a source of inspiration for younger artists working in brazed and welded metals … that it is difficult to recall how truly original it was in its time.’

His brother Joan González (1868–1908) was a draughtsman and painter, active in Barcelona and Paris. He died young of tuberculosis and his work was virtually unknown until the late 1950s, when his niece Roberta González discovered a collection of his drawings (and a few paintings) in the attic of the family home. She presented numerous works by both Julio (her father) and Joan to the Tate Gallery, London, in 1972.