Manuel Hugué (Barcelona, 1872 - Caldas de Montbuy, 1945) was a Spanish painter and sculptor, a prominent representative of Catalan Noucentisme at the beginning of the 20th century.
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.
Encouraged by a dealer, Hugué moved to Céret in 1910, where he brought together a heterogeneous group of artists including Juan Gris, Joaquín Sunyer and Picasso himself.
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 down with various points of view according to their different body parts, without breaking the unity of the figure.
In 1930, the artist produced 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 inauguration of the work took place, in front of the University mansion. with the purpose of commemorating the end of the remodeling works of several streets of the historic center and the urban center of Oviedo.
In his work, the relationship with nature is essential, considering the human figure as an integrated element in it.
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.
selected works
Lina y el cisne
1912
Bronze relief