Communication with the purpose of culturally promoting artists included in the Fundación María Cristina Masaveu Peterson Collection, works protected by intellectual property rights. Their total or partial reproduction or processing by any means, or their transmission or cession in any form is forbidden without the authorisation of the holder of the rights to the works
Paula
Author: Jaume Plensa (Barcelona, 1955)
Title: Paula
Year: 2013
Technique: wooden sculpture
Size: 177 x 66 x 65 cm
This beautiful version of the renowned “Paula” by Jaume Plensa was acquired by the María Cristina Masaveu Peterson Foundation at the 2013 International Contemporary Art Fair (ARCO) in Madrid. It is an outstanding example of the humanist vision of this Catalan artist, who is one of the most important living sculptors in Spain, and who has established his unusual aesthetic coherence and unique sculptural perspective which is both poetic and emphatic.
The work has the compositional characteristic rhythm of Jaume Plensa with stylised heads reminiscent of Mannerism and an overwhelming inner energy. Nude wood with visible nude veins, alternating the past and the present of contemporary sculpture and shaping the fragile expression of the girl subject, which contrasts with the solidity of the material and weight of this vast piece. As a pretext, the face of this Barcelona girl, with seemingly Latino features and hidden oriental eyes, pays homage to the universality of art. With her eyes closed, perhaps to create an intimate ritual under the totemic aura; an intensive dialogue with the viewer who, between reality and fiction, comes closer to the meaning of that true art which remains eternally unchanged.