Gonzalez

The Spanish artist Julio Gonzalez (1876-1942) has been described as one of "the most important unknown sculptors of the 20th-century".

His development of sculpture in iron, often employing found pieces of industrial scrap metal, was both technically innovatory and, in it's handling of schematic and abstract forms, stylistically avant-garde.

Gonzalez came to sculpture, from a decorative metalworking and jewellery tradition.

In the late 1920s he instructed Picasso in the methods of ironworking, and from that time began to experiment with sculpture himself.

This video, directed by Barrie Gavin, combines new biographical insights with a survey of work, to present a picture of Gonzalez's achievements.