Catalonia 1939-1962
On October 1, 1939, Enric Adserà Riba was born in Cabra del Camp, a small agricultural mountain village in the province of Tarragona in Catalonia. Already in kindergarten his predisposition to drawing is observed. With clay of the land, he begins to model and with charcoal from the fireplace he draws on the walls in his “casa pairal”, the centuries old house of the Adserà family. Summer guests from Barcelona, including the ladies Quintana and Escandell, convince Enric’s parents of their son’s fledgling talent.
At the age of nine, Enric received the first teaching in perspective from the architect Martinell, a friend of his father, and Gaudí’s collaborator. Just twelve years old he becomes a pupil of the sculptor Busquets. Two years later he leaves for Barcelona. He studied at the Escola de Belles Arts de Barcelona, where Picasso also received his education. For his lifelihood, he works as an illustrator at Publicidad Arpón and at the graphic artist Pla Narbona.
Because Enric has a particularly good singing voice, he joins the mixed choir Orfeo Laudate. The choir makes many concert trips abroad. In 1959, during a major classical singing, dance and music festival in Llangollen, Wales, he met Korrie de Boer of the youth choir Internos from Haarlem, The Netherlands. A year later, Enric comes to the Netherlands at the invitation of Korrie’s parents. He joins van Manen In Amsterdam as an Illustrator. In the evening he attends classes at the Hendrick de Keijzerschool with visual artist Toon Pluijmers.
At the beginning of 1961 Enric was called up for Spanish military service. Because he had been outside dictatorial (Franco) Spain for a while, and could therefore possibly pose a risk to the state, he was stationed in Africa. Insubordination would put his family in Catalonia at risk.
The Netherlands 1962-2012
In the summer of 1962, he returned to the Netherlands for good. During the day he works as a designer and illustrator at advertising agency Interad. At the Rijksacademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam he continues his training with a/o Huub Loontjens and Wim Vaarzon Morel.
In 1963 he married Korrie de Boer. Gosse was born in 1965 and Miquel in 1968. In 1970 he settled with his family in Zaandam. Enric continues as a freelance illustrator for books, magazines and newspapers such as NRC Handelsblad for which he makes political drawings. As an advertising designer and illustrator, he works for Gerzon, Grenswisselkantoor, Roxi, Van Nelle, ABN and the Twentsche Bank.
Around 1975, a studio house was bought in Barberà de la Conca, Catalonia, a little village near Enric’s home village. Shortly thereafter, Enric and Korrie decided to continue as a free artist. Years of very intensive experimentation follow. He works in his Catalan studio and in the huge studio in the centre of Zaandam on making graphics, sculptures, paintings and monumental work such as the CUBl, MOSAICUS and GOTA AMB GOTA.
He also carries out major assignments for the cruise ships Pride of Rotterdam, Pride of Hull and Queen Mary II.
Since 1970 his work has been shown in galleries and museums in the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, France, Spain and the USA. In 2004, on the occasion of his 65th birthday, Enric presented an extensive retrospective exhibition at the Zaans Museum, in which the monograph “Enric Adserà Riba, de gretigheid van het kunstenaarschap” (the eagerness of artistry), written by Ad van der Blom, with a translation into English, is presented. At the same time, new work is being shown in the Kunstcentrum Zaandam. In 2005 his first grandson Roger was born in Catalonia.
The Museu d’Art Modern (MAMT) in Tarragona asks Enric to organize three exhibitions on the occasion of his 70th birthday in 2009. However, during their preparations, successive violent dramas strike in the family, including the birth in 2007 and the death in 2008 of his second Dutch/Catalan grandson Vicenç Pau, bringing everything to a standstill.
In 2010, after being resuscitated from drowning, Enric picks up the thread again. Locking himself away in his studios in Zaandam and Catalonia he starts working. What has happened in previous years has definitely changed him and also his work.
The MAMT resumes preparations for the three exhibitions: A large 50-year oeuvre review at the Museu de Valls in Valls, at the Museu d’Art Modern in Tarragona with new work, and a large overview of graphics int Tinglado 1 at Marina Port Tarraco in Tarragona. The first two inaugurations take place in December 2011, the third in January 2012. The new work in the MAMT moves and stuns: The series of paintings “dreams” turns out to have become a series of “nightmares”. The three exhibitions end in March and April 2012.
The monograph “Enric Adserà Riba, 50 anys de trajectòria artística” (Enric Adserà Riba, 50 years of artistic career), written in Catalan by Raquel Medina and J.M. Rovira i Valls and with an English and Spanish translation, shows a clear picture of artistic development.
Negotiations for promising contracts and purchases will be concretized. However, this time an alarming message from Zaandam: His son Gosse was urgently admitted in the hospital in Zaandam. A hasty departure from Catalonia, with abandonment of everything, is the result. Surrounded by his immediate family, Gosse dies on May 18, 2012.
And again, everything stands still. The planned activities on the occasion of Enric 50 years in the Netherlands will be cancelled and several important agreements will also not take place in Catalonia.
Nederland en Catalonië, vanaf 2013
Begin 2013 wordt besloten voorzichtig de contacten weer aan te halen en worden er o.a. enkele tentoonstellingen gepland in Nederland en Catalonië. Hieronder volgt een beknopte opsomming van enkele activiteiten.
2013: “De Bekroning”, een stalen beeld ter gelegenheid van het 75-jarig jubileum van de Rotary Club Zaandam, geplaatst in het Czaar Peter Plantsoen, Zaandam.
2014:”Aspecten van Adserà Riba”, tentoongesteld in het Molenmuseum, Koog aan de Zaan.
2015: Diverse portretten van personages in Nederland en Catalonië.
2016: “La màgia de les ombres” (de magie van de schaduwen), schaduwbeelden aan de gevel van El Museu de la Vida Rural de l’Espluga de Francolí, Catalonië.
Biombo “Een greep uit het leven”, een kamerscherm met olieverf tekeningen voor de biënnale van de Nederlandse Kring van Tekenaars in de Pulchri Studio, Den Haag.
2017: “Wilgenlaantje”, een een wandobject met gewassen tekeningen voor de tentoonstelling van de Nederlandse Kring van Tekenaars in Pictura, Dordrecht.
2018: Diverse portretten en opdrachten in Nederland en Catalonië.
2019: “Oda al Passat”, een monumentaal kunstwerk op één van de wijn-silo’s binnen de “wijnkathedraal” van de wijn-coöperatie van Barberà de la Conca, Catalonië.
“La Festa del Trepat de Barberà de la Conca “, het wijn-, kunst- en muziekfeest met ouder werk getoond in het gemeentehuis.
Deelname aan de expositie “45 jaar Artzaanstad”, in de categorie “Ouwe Helden”.
2020: Onthulling van monumentaal kunstwerk “Carilló” (carillon) in de tuin van het Museu de la Vida Rural in L’Espluga de Francolí, Catalonië.
2021: “La Festa del Trepat de Barberà de la Conca “, het wijn-, kunst- en muziekfeest met ouder werk getoond in het gemeentehuis.
2023: “Enric Adserà Riba, un artista polifacètic” (“Enric Adserà Riba, een veelzijdig kunstenaar”), een kunstexpositie in het Museu Comarcal de la Conca de Barberà in Montblanc, Catalonië.