Joan Brossa

Joan Brossa (Catalan pronunciation: [ʒuˈam ˈbɾɔsə]; 19 January 1919 – 30 December 1998) was a Catalan poet, playwright, graphic designer and visual artist.[1] He wrote only in the Catalan language.

Joan Brossa
Joan Brossa
Photo taken
10 September 1998
Born
Joan Brossa i Cuervo

(1919-01-19)19 January 1919
Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Died30 December 1998(1998-12-30) (aged 79)
Barcelona, Catalonia
NationalitySpanish
Known forPoetry, Theatre, Sculpture, Plastic Arts, Graphic Design
Movementsurrealism, dada, Dau al Set,
"Homenatge a Joan Brossa" in Barcelona

He was one of the founders of both the group and the publication known as Dau-al-Set (1948) and one of the leading early proponents of visual poetry in Catalan literature. Although he was in the vanguard of the post-war poets, He also wrote hundreds of formally perfect sonnets, sapphic odes and sestinas as well as thousands of free and direct poems. His creative work embraced every aspect of the arts: cinema, theatre (more than 360 pieces), music, cabaret, the para-theatrical arts, magic and the circus.

Life and work

For him, expression had priority over content, and he managed to give his poetry the appearance of plays on words. His lyrical work is connected with the theatre while the totality of his literature (more of 80 books, all written in the Catalan language) is impregnated with the theatrical dimension as he always employed a broad and interdisciplinary vision of culture, the arts in general and the performance arts in particular. This vision was expressed in his literary and visual works which often appeared as satirical, cutting, ironic and critical or, on other occasions, irreverent yet playful. In the latter years of his creative life, he received a number of awards such as the National Prize for the Visual Arts (1992), the National Theatre Prize (1998) and the UNESCO Picasso Medal. He has been posthumously awarded doctorate honoris causa from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (1999). He was a member and then Honorary Member of the Associació d'Escriptors en Llengua Catalana (Association of Catalan Language Writers). His visual poetry (poesia plàstica), obviously placed beyond all linguistic borders, is recognized as a reference the world over.

"Joan Brossa: Barcino" (the ancient Roman name for Barcelona), by the wall ruins near the Cathedral of Barcelona

He collaborated in the foundation of the Espai Escenic Joan Brossa (The Joan Brossa Theatrical Space) in the Born district of Barcelona, this being the initiative of the theatre director and actor Hermann Bonnín and the magician Hausson, who continued along the theatrical lines espoused by Brossa.[2]

Dau al Set

Members of Dau-al-Set included:

Brossa's sculptural typography in Barcelona is featured in Eye magazine (No. 37, Vol. 10, Autumn 2000) along with the work of Josep Maria Subirachs.[3]

  • "Joan Brossa: Transitable visual poem in three times", in Velodrome's Park, Barcelona
  • "Joan Brossa: Lying A with a fish", the City Hall of Mollet del Vallès
  • “The grasshopper, Headquarters of the Association of Technical Architects of Barcelona (1993). Designed by the artist and designer Josep Pla-Narbona from Joan Brossa’s idea of the whole facade

See also
  • Espai Escènic Joan Brossa

Notes
  1. Escolteu aquest silenci. Fundació Joan Brossa. 2013. ISBN 978-84-933081-9-3.
  2. "Fundació Joan Brossa". www.fundaciojoanbrossa.cat. Retrieved 2019-01-20.
  3. Eye, Number 37, Volume 10, Autumn 2000.
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