Les petits gens de Paris (1952). At the beginning of RIU SERRA's humanistic drawing

In 1952, the sculptor Julià Riu i Serra (1921-2006), using RIU SERRA as the signature, was awarded a grant in Paris by the Maillol Circle grant program of Barcelona’s French Institute of Barcelona (a very important institution in the artístic scene of Catalonia in the post-war period). In addition to being impregnated with the city and following his collections of ancient, modern and extra-European art, he also created the series of drawings called Les petit gens de Paris, which are presented here. Exposed in 1953 and remaining long time unknown, these are simple, pen-line works that capture street scenes with humble protagonists who walk, work or wander, and are intertwined with social realism, documentary photography, and humanism that infused many visual and literary productions from the mid-twentieth century.