Manolo Hugue

Manuel Martínez Hugué (Barcelona, 1872-Caldas de Montbui, 1945) was a Spanish painter and sculptor, representative of the Catalan Noucentisme of the early 20th century. His work can be summarized as a synthesis of classicism and primitivism within modernity. He is widely cited under the colloquial name of Manolo. Born in Barcelona, his bohemian and marginal life and his visits to the Els Quatre Gats café in Barcelona earned him the friendship of Santiago Rusiñol, Joaquín Mir, Isidro Nonell and Pablo Picasso, among other artists. In 1900 he moved to Paris, where he lived for ten years. There he met Jean Moréas and Guillaume Apollinaire, in addition to working on the design of jewelry and small pieces of sculpture, among which La Llobera (1911, Barcelona, Museum of Modern Art, and Young Seated (1913, Paris, Center Georges Pompidou)).

Driven by a dealer, Hugué moved to Céret in 1910, where he brought together a diverse group of artists, including Juan Gris, Joaquín Sunyer and Picasso himself. In 1917 he left Ceret to reside in Caldas de Montbui, where he died in 1945.

In his last stage he combined painting with paintings such as: Landscape of Ceret (1926) or Vendimiadora (1927), with sculpture, where the work Bacante (1934, Barcelona, Museum of Modern Art) stands out, a female figure lying with different points of view according to their different body parts without breaking the unity of the figure.

In 1930 the artist made and dated a work known as Seated Woman, made in bronze, which the Oviedo City Council did not install until 1996, the date on which the work was inaugurated, in front of the University mansion. in order to commemorate the end of the remodeling works of several streets in the historic center and the urban center of Oviedo. The work is characterized by its rounded shapes and rough textures, the result of the artist's chiselling language.

In his work the relationship with nature is essential, considering the human figure as an integrated element in it. It is a characteristic of Noucentista classicism, but in the hands of Martínez Hugué they go beyond their limited origins.

Manolo Hugué's personal collection is kept in the Library of Catalonia.

In 1957, the Musée d'Art Moderne de Céret dedicated an anthological exhibition to him.