The literary universe of Carmen Kurtz and Odile Kurz / Exhibitions / Visit us / Start
Date Start: 05/16/2025 Final date: 06/23/2025
Place:
Zero space
Hours:
Monday to Friday, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Commissariat:
Isabel Gável and Iris Torregrossa. Bibliographic unit. Manuscript section. Anna Nicolau. Graphic unit
Carmen and Odile, mother and daughter, writer and illustrator. Two women who share a childhood and postwar childhood, and a professional bond: children’s and youth literature.
Carmen by Rafael Marés, better known as Carmen Kurtzshe took her husband, Kurz, adding a “t” as a literary surname. Of American, Mexican and Cuban descent, he was born in Barcelona in 1911 and lived in France between 1935 and 1943.
Duermen bajo las aguasthe first novel and the beginning of its literary career, won in 1954 the City of Barcelona Award; Then came the Planeta Prize, in 1956, for I unfamiliar. 1962 comes to light Óscar cosmonautthe first book of a successful series among the youngest audience.
Although in the first stage he combined the adult novel with children’s and youth literature, most of his work is dedicated to the youngest audience.
As a result of the marriage with Pierre Kurz, in 1936 his daughter was born Odile Kurz de Rafael (Melun, France, 1936 – Barcelona, 2020). The outbreak of World War II and the father’s imprisonment by the Germans took Odile to Barcelona, at the maternal grandparents’ home, until in 1943 his parents returned to the country. A graduate in Fine Arts, illustrator and painter, in 1962 she founded with Carlos Álvarez-Solís, her husband, the “Study Solís-Kurz”, an art studio where she taught classes and where many architects and designers were formed.
Odile is an inseparable part of his mother’s children’s and youth work. He illustrated many of his stories and novels for children and adolescents, the best known of which are the series “Óscar” and “Veva”.
We would like to thank Carolina Álvarez Kurz for their generosity in giving the Library of Catalonia the documentation of his mother and grandmother, Odile and Carmen.
