Adrià Gual

Who was Adrià Gual?

Adrià Gual i Queralt was a Catalan playwright and theatre businessman, founder of the Escola Catalana d'Art Dramàtic and a pioneer of cinema in Barcelona.

He founded El Teatre Íntim. He was Director of the Catalan School of Drama and artistic director of the film production Barcinógrafo. Document important were his memoirs, published posthumously: Mitja vida de teatre. As a plastic artist, focused on a modernist style typical symbolist. He was one of the leading graphic artists of Modernism, emphasizing their posters. Finally devoted their efforts to the set of works assembled by him. It is well represented in the Library of Catalonia, where even the twelve panels are preserved in oil painted for the Wagnerian Association, around 1902.

He also dignify the Catalan drama, which he stood at the same level as in other modern nations. For this purpose he built a Catalan repertoire full of classics, contemporary and native size plays like Aeschylus, Molière, Shakespeare, Goethe, Pérez Galdós, Maragall, Àngel Guimerà o Santiago Rusiñol. At the same time, the creation of l'Escola Catalana d'Art Dramàtic, the current seed of l'Institut del Teatre, helped institutionalize the Catalan theater. It was the first organization dedicated to teaching the performing arts.