JOSEP VALLRIBERA was born in 1937 in Juneda (Lleida), Catalonia, Spain, during the spanish civil war, the son of a photographer from Barcelona and a farmer's daughter from Juneda. At the end of the war, the family moved to les Borges Blanques where at the age of six he was send to a capuchin school. In 1945, the family moved once more, this time to Barcelona. There, he attended the Academía Catalunya, a private high school, where Josep Vallribera was also given drawing lessons. However, nothing kept his father in the city, he preferred to retreat with his Family to the island of Eivissa (Ibiza), with at that time had not vet been overrun by tourists. Josep Vallribera was 14 years old at that time. He was now attending the high school on Eivissa. At the age of 18, he enlisted voluntarily in the armed forces in order to finish early and thus be able to complete additional training at the photography school Schwerer in Hamburg He began by travelling to Sweden at the end of 1958. He stayed there until the beginning of 1959 when he went to Hamburg. SinceJosep Vallribera had already received very good training in photography from his father, the school in Hamburg was actually unnecessary for him. He used the time mainly to work as a free-lance photographer and do photographic laboratory work in order to increase his pocket-money. In 1963, Josep Vallribera returned to Eivissa where he opened the "Galería Gráfica". At the same time, He continued to make photographs and paintings, which were resented for the first time in 1966 under the litle "Arte Figurativo en Ibiza" as a part of an exhibition touring through europe. At this time, Eivissa was an artists' refuge. It was a meeting-oasis for all kinds of international artists such as the members of the grupo el Paso: Viola, Saura, etc., Emilio Vedova, Corneille (Cobra Group), Heinz tröckes, Orson Welles, Françesc Parserisas, E. Broner, the architect Sert as well as many others. Together with his father, he opened in 1967 the "Galería Vallribera" and in 1969 "The Inside Out Art Galery" with the french artist M. Macréau's pieces of art. He concentrated to an ever increasing extent on improving his own art. Between 1963 and 1973, he made one-month trips to Paris in the spring and fall of each year for study purposes. In 1973, Josep Vallribera left Eivissa. At first, he travelled for aproximately one year to Aarhus, Denmark. After that, he spent six months in Munich and then travelled to Austria where, until 1980, he divided his time between Innsbruck, Hall in Tirol, Steyr and Linz.Afterwards, he returned again to Germany, this time for 18 months in Wetzlar. In the summer of 1982, he felt again the urge to go south. He spent one year in France during which time he worked very hard and had some exhibitions. his studio was located in les Hautes Alpes. Thereafter, he travelled back and forth between France and Spain until 1984. In 1984, Josep Vallribera decided to move back to Spain; this time, however, to the mediterranean coast. His work is internationally recognized: |