A biographical note
Xavier Caba i Company was born in Castellar del Vallès on the 27th of July 1928. As a child he would soon take up painting beside his father, Simeó Caba i Genescà. In 1953, as a disciple of Raimon Roca, he took part in the production of a series of great murals in Calella de Palafrugell, Oviedo and Barcelona.
At the age of thirty he left for Paris, where he was to remain for eight years. It was during this time that he began a period as illustrator, working for several publishers and magazines. In Paris he also took up photography, an art which he later continued to explore with his father, a partnership which achieved many awards.
In 1968, on his return to Catalonia Xavier Caba began portraiture. Soon after he was to meet Josep Maria Brull and fell in love with ceramics. In 1970 he attended several courses on ceramics at the Escola d’Arts i Oficis at Sabadell. During 1971 he spent durations at Sant Miquel de Cuixà with ceramic artist Paulí who introduced him to high temperature firing. In 1973 he became a professor at the Sabadell Escola d’Arts i Oficis, replacing Josep Maria Brull. From then on, he was to alternate between painting and ceramics
In 1974 he finally abandoned illustration and began to exhibit his painting and ceramic work throughout Catalonia. Using both low- and high-temperature firing methods, he worked clays, grès and refractories in murals and on the wheel, as well as experimenting with and applying a great variety of finishes.
Reflecting on Caba’s painting, Sebastià Gasch remarked in an article published in Destino magazine in 1957 “On the one hand sensitive and colourist and on the other harsh and intensely expressive, Xavier Caba seeks at the intersection of both vectors a point of equilibrium, the foundation for his work. Caba lifts away the dead leaves from his subjects, leaving only the elements upon the painted surface in a dense plastic synthesis. His palette is gay and luminous, the strokes thick; forceful graphism, energetically encircling the chromatic mass, accentuating the feeling of peace and meditation given off by his enormously attractive canvasses.”
Xavier Caba passed away in Castellar del Vallès on the 16th of July 1996.