Albert Ràfols-Casamada (Barcelona, 1923 - 2009) is a poet and painter. He studied architecture but soon abandoned the field to devote himself full time to the plastic arts, an endeavour in which he was initiated and helped by his father, Albert Ràfols i Cullerés. After an early stage of post-impressionism, he then started to work in a poetic-abstractionist vein grounded in everyday life. In 1980 he received the National Prize for the Plastic Arts for his painting and has subsequently received numerous other awards, both within and outside of Catalonia.

As a poet, Ràfols-Casamada has published several books, notable amongst which are Angle de llum (Angle of Light, 1984) and El color de les pedres (The Colour of Stones, 1989). In 2000 he brought his poems together in the volume Signe d'aire: obra poètica, 1939-1999 (Air Sign: Poetic Work, 1939 - 1999), which was published by Proa. He has also written essays and reflections on art and literature, including the volumes Sobre pintura (On Painting, 1985) and Correspondències i contrastos (Correspondences and Contrasts).

His passion for books has made of him an intensely-engaged illustrator of the Catalan literary classics, among them Mercè Rodoreda's novel Mirall trencat (A Broken Mirror).

He was an Honorary Member of the Association of Catalan Language Writers (AELC).


Web page: Xulio Ricardo Trigo for AELC.
Photographs: AELC files.