Sargadelos and the aesthetic formation of Galician identity

Abstract

Sargadelos, a porcelain design company in Galicia notable for its geometric patterns and primary colors, was an outstanding example of the industrialization of Galicia in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Its legacy was recovered and reinvigorated in the twentieth century with the initiatives of the Laboratorio de Formas de Galicia, led by two prominent anti-Franco Galician artists in exile, Isaac Díaz Pardo and Luis Seoane. After the Spanish Civil War, Sargadelos became the embodiment of the ideological and aesthetic positions of the intellectuals engaged with the Laboratorio, an institution of design and a project for the revival of historical memory in Galicia. The hand-painted and factory-made ceramic pieces, using a traditional porcelain formula, together with Sargadelos’ parallel publishing initiatives, have nothing quaint or old-fashioned about them. This chapter explores how these artifacts have contributed to reshaping Galician national identity through a visual language of decorative art forms.