The Spanish sculptor Julio González (1876-1942) pioneered welded iron constructions and gave the medium an unprecedented expressiveness and range.

Julio González was born on Sept. 21, 1876, in Barcelona. He learned his craft from his father, a goldsmith and sculptor. González exhibited sculpture in metal at the Barcelona International Exposition in 1892 and at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. He studied painting as an evening student at the Barcelona School of Fine Arts.

In 1900 González moved to Paris, where he renewed his acquaintance with Pablo Picasso. At this time González devoted himself to painting. His brother Joan, also a painter, died in 1908. González, grief-stricken, abandoned all artistic activity for many months. When he recovered, he returned to his first love, sculpture, but his work was intermittent and dispirited. Anguish over his brother's death had abated, but Gonz...