Josep Pla-Narbona

The draughtsman, illustrator and sculptor Josep Pla-Narbona was born in Barcelona in 1928. In 1945 he began his art studies at the Escuela de Artes y Oficios de Barcelona and learning as well the techniques of lithography and engraving. In 1946 he undertakes for the first time a job in advertisement in the workshop of the artist Ricard Fàbregas, and from then on he establishes a close relationship with the advertisement world, collaborating with agencies like J. Uriach y Cia, S.A.; Reclamo; R. L. Dupuy (Paris) and Adolf Wirz (Zurich) at different stages in his life. Furthermore, Pla Narbona has developed great part of his career as poster designer and book illustrator.

In 1958 he establishes his own studio in Barcelona. In 1961 he is named teacher of advertisement aesthetics for the Massana School of Barcelona and at the same time was elected first president of Grafistas Agrupación FAD. In 1964 he becomes a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale, becoming the head of this organization in Spain. Pla Narbona has participated in numerous collective and solo exhibitions in different cities of Europe and the United States. Important collections of modern and contemporary art such as the Baltimore Museum of Art (Maryland), the Modern Art Museum of San Francisco, and the Museum of Modern Art of New York include works by Pla Narbona.