C0106

Ceramic frieze at the Celler Cooperatiu del Pinell de Brai. Section on a wine-related theme – 3

Ref Num.: C0106

Date: 1920-1921

Typology: Ceramics

Technique: Painted ceramics

Dimensions: –

Signed: No signed and dated

Terra Alta, Pinell de Brai

From 1920 to 1921 Xavier Nogués worked on the decorations for the façade of the cooperative winery and olive press, the Celler i Cooperativa Agrícola de Pinell de Brai (Terra Alta, Tarragona), consisting of different ceramic panels and friezes on wine-related themes and about olive oil production. The building had been planned and designed by the architect Cèsar Martinell and became known as the “cathedral of wine”. The frieze on the winery façade is the longest and features scenes about the wine-making process, a theme Nogués was particularly fond of and revisited throughout his life.

Following on from the ceramic frieze on a wine-related theme, and separated by a rectangular panel featuring a glass of wine, there is another shorter narrative ceramic frieze on the left of the third door on the façade (the one on the right). This frieze show two men standing and talking, glass in hand; further to the right, inside a series of arches, like the ones you would find in a cellar, we see two men, one standing next to a barrel of wine, and another rolling a barrel. Lastly, on the right, we see a man busy working, holding a hammer and finishing making a wine barrel. Image rights: Dani Rovira. With kind permission of the Cooperativa del Celler Pinell de Brai.

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Rafael Benet, Xavier Nogués. Caricaturista y pintor, Ediciones Omega, Barcelona, 1949, cat. Porcelana, ceràmica, p. 93 and p. 14. J. Barbeta, A. Casanovas, M. Gil and C. Vidal, Exposición Xavier Nogués, Barcelona 1873-1941, Palacio de la Virreina, March-April 1967, Ayuntamiento de Barcelona, Museos de Arte, Barcelona, 1967, cat. no. 548, p. 59 and cat. no. 1269, p. 97. Cèsar Martinell, Destino, no. 1272, 23rd December 1961. Cecília Vidal Maynou (dir.), Xavier Nogués (1873-1941), Alfa Books, Fundació Xavier Nogués, Barcelona, 2021, pp. 193-197.