Montserrat Gudiol’s figurative paintings will leave you feeling that you’ve somehow missed an important era within art, her paintings at once being reminiscent of something you’ve seen, followed swiftly by the realisation that it’s new. It has a timeless feel to it, and with the simplicity of colours, the rough backdrops and a purposefully unpolished finish, it gives a sense of earlier times in art, and yet the work is far more advanced in its approach. A reason for this confusion is that Gudiol searched to create something that wasn’t set to a time or movement, but was her own signature, making each image instantly recognisable as her own and not so easily compared to one movement or style, but just an influence of the past.
Montserrat Gudiol. Unknown Date & Name.
What’s most striking in the collection of Gudiol’s paintings are those that are filled with a cool warmth; with just a few chosen colours her palette creates a sense of past wealth, as if the richness of them has faded over the years, the colours muted. But in their selection and simplicity they are brought back to life, as are the figurines, their faces pulling out from the backdrop or appearing faintly within them. In Gudiol’s art she mainly painted women, imbuing them with a sense of connection and empathy, and by only painting in the face and hands of her figurines she placed an emphasis on their soul – the physical removed by taking away the form of the body. Their outline appearing as just a hint, to nothing at all, which added a layer of spirituality to the work; the women aren’t tangible but something far beyond that, contemplative even.
Montserrat Gudiol. Unknown Date & Name.
In Gudiol’s images she manages to evoke a sense of tenderness, along with conveying a depth of emotions even in their stillness and disconnection. There’s a raw simplicity to Guidol’s images, the rough surface much like the imagined texture of the model’s clothing. The final image having a similarity to an unfinished sketch – instilling Guidol’s work with the capturing of a fleeting scene; full of infinite thoughts and feelings, rather than the finite features and actions of its model. Montserrat Gudiol’s work is poignant, reflective and beautiful.
b.1933 – d.2015
