Francesc Llop i Marqués (Campredó, 1873-Barcelona, 1970)

With the artist Francesc Llop i Marqués, Campredó has its most distinguished cultural figure. He was born on 24 August 1873 in the orchard area known as Els Clots, located near the hamlet of Raval del Pom. The son of farming parents, he received his primary education in the nearby village of L’Aldea. However, due to the harsh living conditions in the area, his parents were forced to move to Barcelona, where he was able to develop his artistic career more fully.

Llop was a master of watercolour painting, as several art encyclopedias attest. He was influenced by the Impressionist movement, whose most distinctive feature was the representation of light above colour, giving a much more vivid appearance to the scenes depicted. He devoted his entire life to artistic pursuits and lived among many renowned artists, which allowed him to maintain a respected position within the Catalan intellectual circles of his time.

At an early age, he began studying at the Ateneu Barcelonès and attended the classes of the prestigious teacher Nicanor Vázquez, who had a significant influence on the direction of his artistic career. Once established in his own studio, he worked for long periods as a draftsman and bookbinder while continuing to refine his design techniques through evening classes.

In 1901, he embarked on a Mexican adventure that lasted an entire decade. There, he collaborated with art and cultural magazines, thanks to his extensive knowledge of Mediterranean painting, and also worked as a restorer. Later, attracted by the beauty of the city and its vibrant artistic atmosphere, he moved to Paris, where he lived for more than two years. He became acquainted firsthand with various artistic styles and formed a close friendship with the Mallorcan painter Hermenegild Anglada Camarasa, known for his landscapes and depictions of Valencian and Romani folklore. Nevertheless, Llop always followed his own artistic path and was not influenced by the emerging movements of the time, such as Cubism or Surrealism.

Upon returning to Catalonia, he continued the somewhat bohemian lifestyle typical of artists and frequented Barcelona’s most prestigious artistic circles. The celebrated gathering at Els Quatre Gats, which brought together the leading figures of Catalan intellectual life, and the association L’Arca de Noé, dedicated to promoting the work of its members, left a profound mark on his career. This is described by Joan Basté, author of an outstanding monograph on the Campredó-born painter, published in 1989 by the art dealer Vicenç Coromina of the Quatre Cantons Gallery in Olot.

Llop developed a fruitful friendship with the prolific playwright and painter Santiago Rusiñol, who helped him establish himself professionally. During the 1920s and 1930s, he enjoyed numerous exhibitions, benefiting from the vibrant artistic atmosphere that flourished in Barcelona, particularly around the time of the 1929 International Exposition.

At the Barcelona International Fine Arts Exhibition in 1944, he presented a painting entitled Threshing. At the exhibition Barcelona Seen by Its Artists, he exhibited an oil painting, Plaça de Palau, which earned him an honorary mention. The Museum of Modern Art of Barcelona acquired two of his works, Cold in Farena and The Dawns, on the occasion of the Barcelona International Exhibition.

He also maintained a very close friendship with the sculptor Innocenci Soriano Montagut from Amposta, who organised a heartfelt tribute in 1963 to celebrate Llop’s ninetieth birthday. Throughout his life, Llop made several visits to the land of his birth, where he was honoured on various occasions by the Artistic Circle of Tortosa, which acquired several of his works.

Two exhibitions of his work were held in Campredó in 1988 and 1995, while the most recent took place in January 2007.

Today, Campredó commemorates him through a street and a cultural centre bearing his name. A plaque also marks the house where he was born. Furthermore, the cultural association Friends of Francesc Llop i Marqués was established with the aim of promoting the study of his work. With the support of experts familiar with his artistic production, the association has acquired original works to create an art collection for the town of Campredó, highlighting both Llop’s artistic excellence and the creative potential of rural communities.

His works are now dispersed among museums and private collections in Paris, Mexico, Barcelona, and Tortosa. He remains a painter remembered in various artistic manuals and studies of contemporary painting.

Nou acte d’homenatge a Manuel Pérez Bonfill

Dilluns 19 de juny es complia el cinquè aniversari del traspàs de Manuel Pérez Bonfill (Tortosa, 1927 – 2018), el nostre professor de sempre i emblema del nostre centre. Xiquet de la guerra, va ser catedràtic de llengua i literatura castellanes durant més de 30 anys, fins a la seua jubilació al juny de 1991. La seua gran passió, però, era la llengua i la literatura catalanes.
Des del col·lectiu DiLlums al forn, amb la col·laboració de l’Institut Dertosa, de l’Ajuntament de Tortosa, del Campus extern de la URV i d’Òmnium Cultural, va organitzar-se un nou acte d’homenatge al carrer de Hemingway, un indret on convergeixen tota mena de fets culturals i literaris: els carrers Cervantes i Despuig, l’antic cinema Fèmina i el refugi antiaeri número 4.
L’acte va consistir amb la lectura de parts de La fira de sempre, el gran conte de la guerra i la postguerra a Tortosa. Posteriorment, es varen realitzar recitacions poètiques i lectures de narrativa ben representatives de l’autor. Una actuació d’alguns membres de la Tuna Folk, amb interpretacions ben lluïdes de dos cançons emblemàtiques del republicanisme: Ai Carmela i Bella Ciao, van donar el toc final a un homenatge molt sentit.
Quant a membres de l’institut hi van intervindre: el professor Emigdi Subirats, els exprofessors Manel Ollé, Jordi Mulet i Pep Pinyol; el professor en excedència i alcalde de Tortosa Jordi Jordan; i els alumnes Pablo Moreno, Jordi Vidiella i Gemma Llorca. També hi era present la directora del centre, Francina Prades.

Xerrada dels músics del grup Obscens per al grup de 1r de batxillerat G

L’alumnat del 1r de batxillerat G, l’escènic, va rebre la visita de tres membres del grup de rock ebrenc Obscens, el passat dilluns 2 d’octubre. Els músics Ernest Redó, Adolfo Aixalà i Jordi Mendoza els van fer cinc cèntims de llur trajectòria musical en conjunts molt diversos i estils musicals ben heterogenis al llarg dels anys, des de música clàssica a rock & roll. Van resultar molt didàctiques i interessants les seues explicacions sobre el seu grup actual, i també la funció de cada músic com a guitarrista, teclista, baixista o cantant. Justament el proper 27 d’octubre presenten el seu nou disc Sota un cel sord al Casal tortosí.
Posteriorment, alguns dels alumnes van fer-los partícips de les seues inquietuds musicals o dansaires. També van poder gaudir d’una emotiva demostració de ball per part de l’alumne Isaac Artells, així com al final de classe van escoltar un parell de cançons per part dels músics.

Learning Situation ‘Art for life foundation’

Since 1988, Art for Life https://artforlife.org/ has focused on creating programmes that help kids who are undergoing physical, emotional or mental crisis to use art as a way of helping them work through and with their illness. They empower kids from an early age through their teens to embrace art as a way of expressing how they feel during what is a very scary and difficult time for them. All their programmes focus on different aspects of the healing process. From their award-winning ART WHILE YOU WAIT PROGRAMME in Emergency rooms to Oncology, Cardiology, Pallative Care and children’s Hospice programmes that use art as a way of healing families who have lost a child. Art for life is there. Somewhere every day through their network of programmes nationwide they are helping kids and their families to use art as a form of self-expression and in doing so they find a way of moving through their illness into wellness.
Our students (in Group F) in the second year of High School ‘Batxillerat’ (Catalan A-levels) have been carrying out a large number of activities related to a Learning Situation called ‘Art for life foundation’.
We asked them a question. What do you reckon of their work? What does it imply for our society?
This learning scenario intends to develop SDG 4 (Quality Education) of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Students will need to determine whether this goal can be reached given the current approach of pupils to art throughout the world. To do this they will need to find information on the way art has been taught at schools (since the mid 20th century up to the beginning of the 21st century, particularly in Europe), and develop critical thinking to see if things have changed, remain the same or have worsened, as well as to infer what should be done.
The development of this LS includes two initial activities (a brainstorming and a discussion), two development activities (with listening, speaking and reading comprehension), one consolidation activity (a book club) and two implementation activities (a booktuber video and a
discussion essay), one of which is used for summative assessment. This will also allow them to work on narrative essays, connectors, past tenses and -ed & -ing adjectives.

CHALLENGE: During lockdown (in spring 2020) both art and music took a major role as far as people’s (all ages) entertainment at home was concerned. Nowadays most hospitalised children have access to all kinds of online resources related to artistic development as well. How can we all help to expand art among sick children, as much in hospital as at home?
They have created an online magazine with all the stories they have written about the relationship between art and healing kids’ illnesses, which we are going to display on our school website.

Visita de l’exalumna Cinta Conesa, estudiant de disseny a la UB

Cinta Conesa, estudiant de disseny de la Universitat de Barcelona, i exalumna del batxillerat artístic del nostre centre, va impartir una xerrada molt didàctica a l’hora de tutoria per a l’alumnat de 2n de Batxillerat F, l’escènic, el passat dilluns 6 de febrer. Va fer-los cinc cèntims de les seues inquietuds artístiques, així com del model de carrera universitària que està seguint. A part d’explicar-los el currículum acadèmic, va entrar en detalls molt interessants respecte a algunes de les assignatures.

Va fer un repàs de la seua pròpia evolució personal, atès que havia tingut problemes acadèmics amb l’assignatura de Dibuix tècnic mentre que avui dia se’n surt prou bé amb projectes de disseny força evolucionats. Va demanar-los atenció a l’assignatura de Cultura audiovisual, ja que aquest aprenentatge els pot ser molt útil en propers estudis.

Sobretot, va remarcar que cursava una carrera molt pràctic, amb molt de treball de camp fora l’aula, així com la relació amb diverses empreses interessades amb projectes de disseny.

Seguidament, el nostre alumnat li va fer saber les inquietuds personals en àmbits diversos.

 

 

Traducció del 4t ESO professionalitzador del conte The old man at the bridge, d’Ernest Hemingway

L’HOME VELL I EL PONT

Un vell amb ulleres de muntura d’acer i roba molt ampla estava assegut al costat de la carretera. Hi havia un pont de pontons que creuava el riu pel qual travessaven carros, camions, homes, dones i nens. Els carros, tirats per mules, anaven pujant agitats per la riba escarpada des del pont amb els soldats que ajudaven a empènyer els radis de les rodes. Els camions van anar a terra i marxaven fora de tot,mentre que els camperols avançaven amb la pols fins al turmell. Però l’home vell va quedar-se assegut allí sense moure’s. Estava massa cansat per anar més lluny.

La meua feina era creuar el pont, explorar el cap de pont més enllà i esbrinar fins a quin punt havia avançat l’enemic. Vaig fer aquesta tasca i vaig tornar pel pont. A hores d’ara no hi havia tants carros i molt poca gent a peu, però el vell encara hi era.

“D’on ve vostè?”, li vaig preguntar.

“De Sant Carles”, va contestar amb un somriure.

Era el seu poble natal, per això tenia el goig de fer-ne esment.

“Em dedicava a cuidar animals”, va explicar.

“Oh”, vaig dir, sense entendre-ho del tot.

“Sí”, va dir, “em vaig quedar, ja ho veu, cuidant animals. Vaig ser el darrer en sortir del poble de Sant Carles”.

No tenia aspecte de pastor, per la roba negra polsosa i el rostre gris polsós i les ulleres amb muntura d’acer. Li vaig preguntar:

“Quin tipus d’animals eren?”

“Diferents”, va dir, mentre capejava.

– Vaig haver de deixar-los”.

Estava guaitant el pont i el país d’aspecte africà del Delta de l’Ebre, mentre em preguntava quant de temps passaria abans que poguéssim veure l’enemic, i escoltava tot el temps els primers sorolls que assenyalarien aquest esdeveniment sempre misteriós anomenat contacte. El vell encara estava assegut allà.

“Esperaré una estona”, “va dir-me, i després me n’aniré”.

“On van els camions?”

“A Barcelona”, li vaig contestar.

“No conec ningú en aquesta direcció”, “va afegir”, “però moltes gràcies. Moltes gràcies de nou”.

Em va mirar com si s’hagués quedat en blanc i cansat, després va dir, ja que volia compartir la seua preocupació amb algú:

“El gat estarà bé, n’estic segur. No hi ha necessitats d’inquietar-se pel gat. Però els altres. Ara, què pensa dels altres?

“Per què probablement se’n sortiran bé”. “No creu?”

“Per què no”, vaig dir, observant la vora més llunyana on a hores d’ara no hi havia carros.

“Però què faran sota l’artilleria, quan a mi em van dir que marxés a causa de l’artilleria?”

“Va deixar la gàbia de coloms oberta?” Vaig preguntar.

“Sí.”

“Llavors volaran”.

“Sí, segur que volaran. Però els altres? És millor no pensar en els altres”, va afegir.

“Si ja ha descansat, jo aniria tirant”, vaig instar-lo.

“Aixeques i intente caminar ara”.

“Gràcies”, va dir i va aixecar-se, va balancejar-se d’un costat a l’altre i després va asseure’s cap enrere a la pols.

“Estava cuidant els animals”, va dir amb to, però ja no a mi. “Només em cuidava dels animals”.

No hi havia res a fer amb ell. Era diumenge de Pasqua i els feixistes avançaven cap a l’Ebre. Era un dia gris ennuvolat amb un sostre baix, de manera que els seus avions no estaven enlairats. Aquesta situació i el fet que els gats saben cuidar-se de si mateixos va ser tota la sort que tindria aquell home vell.

Literaturweg mit den Abiturschülern im Tortosa Park/ Ruta literària amb els alumnes de batxillerat d’alemany

L’alumnat de 1r de batxillerat d’alemany va prendre part en la ruta literària “Auf einen sonnigen Junimorgen“, escrita i dissenyada pel professor Emigdi Subirats. El títol correspon a la primera frase de la famosa novel·la del segle XIX, Heidi, de Johanna Spiry, un clàssic de la literatura infantil de tots els temps. S’ha estructurat en diversos espais del parc municipal Teodor González: l’avinguda principal, la locomotora del Carrilet, el restaurant, la Llotja i l’Espai Gerard Vergés.

La ruta s’ha efectuat íntegrament en alemany, mitjançant la qual s’ha anat fent cinc cèntims sobre l’obra d’autors com Bertold Brecht o Goether, així com de poetes comarcals com Roc Llop i Convalia (Miravet, 1908 – Vitry-sur-Seine, 1997), que va romandre 4 anys al camp de concentració de Mauthausen-Gusen, i Gerard Vergés i Príncep (Tortosa, 1931-2014), un dels grans poetes de la literatura catalana contemporània i traductor de tots els Sonets de Shakespeare.

Una activitat molt ben aconseguida, ja que ha estat tot un goig comprovar com l’alumnat pot seguir una ruta literària en llengua alemanya.

La Jueva de Tortosa amb l’alumnat de 2n de batxillerat escènic

Durant un parell d’hores del matí de dilluns 7 de novembre, l’alumnat de 2n de batxillerat escènic va desplaçar-se a la plaça Menahem Ben Saruq de Remolins, al Call jueu de Tortosa i davant de la torre del Celio, per tal d’assistir a una xerrada molt didàctica i educativa per part de la cantant jesusenca Pili Cugat i del guitarrista Carlos Lupprian, impulsors des de fa uns quants anys d’una figura artística de notable interès “La Jueva de  Tortosa”. A partir de la figura de la Blanca, una jueva que va haver de marxar en l’expulsió dels jueus de 1492, es reviuen els sentiments dels expatriats que han de deixar enrere tot allò que tenen, sobretot el paisatge on han viscut.

Tots dos els han fet cinc cèntims de la seua trajectòria artística i de la seua formació acadèmica en l’àmbit musical. Nogensmenys,  també de les dificultats inherents en els professionals de la música en comarques menudes, allunyades del rovell de l’ou cultural del país. Finalment, els han interpretat unes quantes cançons de raïl sephardí que han delectat els nostres xavals.

S’ha portat a terme un interessant debat, en el qual els i les alumnes van poder explicar igualment llur formació musical, així com els anhels que els mouen en l’àmbit artístic.

 

The Ghost Photograph, de Pau Antolí, premiada al Concurs de narracions de terror de l’Institut Despuig

The Ghost Photograph

A few years ago, a group of youngsters are said to have gone on an outing to the mountains. I am talking about Jonathan, an athletic and handsome man, his girlfriend Olivia an intelligent and gorgeous girl, and Jack an introvert and shameful teen.

Everything was going perfectly when suddenly they realized that they were lost in the middle of the grove.

They got very scared and started to spin nonstop without knowing what to do. They saw a woodcutter in the distance, and they came nearer to talk. The man told them that there was a town nearby called Lochley, and he could take them there.

Along the way, they talked about the woodcutter’s life. A married man with two children. His name was Harry. They gained a lot of confidence, and they decided to take a picture with Harry, even though he didn’t want to.

While entering the town with the car, they realized that the woodcutter was no longer there as he had disappeared. The group of frightened young people entered the first store they saw open and told the owners everything that had happened to them. A woodcutter named Harry had driven them there because they had gotten lost.

Pale as the owners were, they  told them that the man had died in an accident several years ago.

Immediately, the young people reviewed the photograph they had taken with the mobile and realized that Harry was not in the picture.

Spooky surprise Spooky halloween, d’Èric Serres, premiada al Concurs de narracions de terror de l’Institut Despuig

SPOOKY SURPRISE, SPOOKY HALLOWEEN

Moonlight was the only thing trying to illuminate my little house on Halloween night. The lights had gone off and I was in the middle of a creepy house I didn’t know at all. When I moved to Yellowmass a week ago, a friend of mine who  lives in a nearby city warned me about this village. He told me: “-People there are a little bit special, they are keen on celebrating traditions in the most realistic way”. Although I really wanted to start a rural life in Yellowmass, I quickly changed my mind after that Halloween. And there I was, lost inside the darkness after making a huge error.

The house was so new to me that I could not recognise any wall without illumination. Confused by darkness, I started to walk along a corridor. In the middle of my walk I felt the footsteps of someone above, the roof was shivering. I started to run towards the end of the corridor, where I thought there was one of the bedrooms. My plan was to hide under a bed and wait for the lights to return. My horror was getting bigger and bigger. All of a sudden, I noticed that the area was not a bedroom, it was a store room full of boxes. I had taken the wrong way.

I was about to start panicking when the moonlight of the window let me see a baseball bat on the floor. It was a bat I had had since I was eleven years old. I grabbed it to use it as a weapon and then, all of a sudden, an amorphous creature appeared behind the window. I started running following the initial route, my legs were moving on their own. While running through the kitchen, I saw a shape staring at me through the window that made me dash even faster.

Once I arrived at the bedroom, I heard the feet of someone hitting the treads of the stairs that lead to the corridor next to the room I was in. A little bit confused, I entered the bathroom of the chamber. I went directly to the bathtub, I thought it was a good place to hide. While I was walking, I thought about the fact that the house I was living in was haunted, terror was growing inside my mind. One second before my hand started moving the curtains of the bathtub, I remembered that I hadn’t closed the back garden gate.

After I had completely drawn the curtain of the bathtub, I recognized the figure of a child in front of me. That was the scariest moment of my life. I started screaming and I let the baseball bat fall. The child started laughing maliciously as well as two other young people that had entered the bathroom after the shock. In the middle of despair and chaos, one child said to me: “-If we ask for candy, you must give us candy. Make sure to buy some for next year. Did you enjoy this trick?” The three children ran away, leaving me petrified and surrounded by darkness.