Quiet Man with Welding Torch: A Portrait of the Sculptor Julio Gonzalez 1876-1942

Friend, instructor and student of Picasso, a welder at Renault, a painter and goldsmith – Julio González was all of these. The Catalonian gained fame as the father of modern iron sculpture and as the creator of linear sculptures. Using a welding torch, he began making sculptures from iron and developed a formal language reduced to basic elements. Film-maker Barrie Gavin travelled from Paris to the Riviera via Barcelona, re-tracing González’ footprints. He visited art experts such as Margit Rowell and friends such as Hans Hartung, and in doing so introduces us to the life and work of one of the greatest sculptors of the 20th century. Friend, instructor and student of Picasso, a welder at Renault, a painter and goldsmith – Julio González was all of these. The Catalonian gained fame as the father of modern iron sculpture and as the creator of linear sculptures. Using a welding torch, he began making sculptures from iron and developed a formal language reduced to basic elements. Film-maker Barrie Gavin travelled from Paris to the Riviera via Barcelona, re-tracing González’ footprints. He visited art experts such as Margit Rowell and friends such as Hans Hartung, and in doing so introduces us to the life and work of one of the greatest sculptors of the 20th century. Friend, instructor and student of Picasso, a welder at Renault, a painter and goldsmith – Julio González was all of these. The Catalonian gained fame as the father of modern iron sculpture and as the creator of linear sculptures. Using a welding torch, he began making sculptures from iron and developed a formal language reduced to basic elements. Film-maker Barrie Gavin travelled from Paris to the Riviera via Barcelona, re-tracing González’ footprints. He visited art experts such as Margit Rowell and friends such as Hans Hartung, and in doing so introduces us to the life and work of one of the greatest sculptors of the 20th century. Friend, instructor and student of Picasso, a welder at Renault, a painter and goldsmith – Julio González was all of these. The Catalonian gained fame as the father of modern iron sculpture and as the creator of linear sculptures. Using a welding torch, he began making sculptures from iron and developed a formal language reduced to basic elements. Film-maker Barrie Gavin travelled from Paris to the Riviera via Barcelona, re-tracing González’ footprints. He visited art experts such as Margit Rowell and friends such as Hans Hartung, and in doing so introduces us to the life and work of one of the greatest sculptors of the 20th century.