Which sculptor led work on Sagrada Família's Passion façade scenes from 1987?

Josep Maria Subirachs led work on the Sagrada Família’s Passion-façade scenes from 1987.

Subirachs was a Catalan sculptor whose major late project was the sculptural decoration of the Passion façade. He and his team began work in 1987, creating scenes from the final events of Jesus’s life, including the Last Supper, the Kiss of Judas, the denial of Peter, the crucifixion and the burial.

His sculptures use rigid, angular and often elongated forms. That modern, expressionist style sharply contrasts with the more naturalistic and exuberant sculpture on the Nativity façade, which was created under Gaudí’s direct influence. The difference led to controversy in Barcelona, with critics arguing that Subirachs’s work did not match the older façade. Its defenders point out that the severe geometry suits Gaudí’s intention for the Passion side to appear skeletal, harsh and dramatic.

J. Busquets was involved in earlier sculptural work at the basilica, while Etsuro Sotoo is chiefly associated with sculpture on the Nativity façade and related restoration. Llorenç Matamala also worked on earlier Gaudí-era sculpture, not Subirachs’s 1987 Passion-façade commission.