Arts Global

Pedro A. Serra Bauzà was born in Soller, Majorca in 1928. He is Chairman of Grupo Serra, which comprises ten publications, six radio stations and a television station, M7 Televisió de Mallorca. His newspaper Ultima Hora has the largest circulation of any paper in the Balearic islands. Other publications include the daily Diari de Balears, Ultima Hora Ibiza, Ultima Hora Menorca and the English-language Majorca Daily Bulletin (founded in 1961), and five weekly papers: Mallorca Magazin (published in German), Brisas, Venta y Cambio, Ruedas y Velas and Soller, first published in 1885. Of the radio stations, Ultima Hora Radio stands out.

Pedro Serra began his career as a journalist with the newspaper Baleares in 1947, after graduating from the Official College of Journalism in Barcelona. Throughout his career he has been editor-owner of such publications as Baleares, Iberian Daily Sun, Lealtad, El Mundo de los Toros, Holiday in Majorca, Semana Mallorquina, Mallorca Magazin, Mallorca Deportiva and Fiesta Deportiva.

He founded Editorial Atlante in 1953, in order to publish novels, plays and art books. Lorenzo Villalonga's novel Bearn was released in five languages became a film. Other major projects were a book in the Catalan language in 1957 on the artist Anglada Camarassa, by Camilo José Cela La Familai de Pascual Duarte, and El Vol de l'Alosa which includes twenty one original drawings by Joan Miró and texts by nineteen Majorcan poets. Pedro Serra has been Editorial Director of La Gran Enciclopedia de Mallorca, Enciclopedia Práctica de Medicina y Salud de Baleares, Los Reyes de Mallorca and La Gran Enciclopedia de la Pintura i L'Escultura a les Balears. In 2000, he directed the translation into Catalan of Die Balearen by the Archduke Ludwig Salvatore.

As an author, he wrote Miró y Mallorca (1984), the fruit of his long and enduring friendship with the artist. The book has been published in Catalan, Spanish, English, French, German and Japanese. He is also the author of Vinos y Dioses (1985), lithographs on Enrique Broglia and De Guillem de Torrella a Juli Ramis (1986), lithographs on Juli Ramis, Brujas la Bella and Brujas la Muerta (1956), 101 Pintors: Memòries d'una Col-lecció (2000), 1001 Escultures a la Vall de Soller (1995) and co-author of a book of interviews Díganos Vd Algo (1952). His work L'Ombra del Garrover: Escrits sobre Art (1957-2003) was published by Lleonard Muntaner in the collection Llibres de la Nostra Terra/57 (2003). The Editorial Ensiola published Memòries d'un Museu-Diàlegs en Es Baluard in February 2007, coinciding with the third anniversary of the opening of the Es Baluard Museum. He has written presentations for exhibitions by numerous artists.

Amongst the decorations and prizes awarded to Pedro Serra are the Gold Plaque of Merit in Tourism for the Iberian Daily Sun; Silver Medal, City of Palma Prize of Prizes; Honorary Plaque of Small and Medium-sized Balearic Enterprises; Silver Medal of European Merit; Honorary Siurell (an ancient whistle, usually in the shape of a man on horseback and a symbol of Majorca), as Majorcan of the Year from Ultima Hora; Silver Siurell of Balearic Blood Donors; Silver Stick of the Círculo Mallorquin; Liderman of Spanish publishers; Gold Shield of the Spanish Association of Radio and TV Professionals; Oscar of Communications; Gold Medal of the Spanish Cycling Federation; Gold Medal of the Círculo de Bellas Artes; Gold Medal of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture; Gold Medal of the Balearic Football Federation; Patron of the Pilar and Joan Miró Foundation; Tanit of the International University of the Mediterranean in its Tenth Edition; Honorary Member of the Casa Catalan in the Balearics; Honorary Member of Balearic Public Relations; Diploma of Honour of the Balearic Government and National Adviser of Antena 3 TV.

In February 1993, he was awarded an honorary degree in fine arts by Dowling College, Oakdale, New York. The Catalan Government awarded him the Cross of Sant Jordi (St George) in 1996. He was honoured in 1998 as Corresponding Academician, Competent in Art, by the Royal Academy of San Fernando, and received the Gold Medal of the Palma City Council for his contributions to culture through the publication of the Gran Enciclopèdia de Mallorca, the Enciclopèdia de la Pintura i la Escultura, the pull-out Els Reis de Mallorca, the newspaper Diari de Balears and his work on the creation of Palma's new Modern and Contemporary Art Museum, Es Baluard.

His Es Baluard museum project was announced at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid in 1999 and the first stone was laid at the Baluard de Sant Pere early in 2000 by the President of the Balearic Government, the Mayor of Palma and the President of the Council of Majorca, in the presence of the Spanish Minister of Education and Culture.

In 1999, His Majesty the King, upon the recommendation of the Minister of Education and Culture and after deliberation by the Council of Ministers, awarded Pedro Serra the Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso X el Sabio, for his promotion and encouragement of culture.

In 2000, he was named Illustrious Son of Soller, and the Council of Majorca awarded him the Medal of Honour and Gratitude. In 2002 he was awarded the Cross of Military Merit with White Distinctive and was named Patron of the Camilo José Cela Foundation. That year he was also awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz Band (Cross of Commander of Merit) by German President Johannes Rau in recognition of his special achievements in that country. In 2003 The Association of Press, Radio and Television Professionals awarded him their Microphone of Professionals, Press Section. He also received the Gold Insignia of the Bartomeu Enseñat School of Music and Dance, the Gold Medal of the Austrian Friends of Majorca Association and was invited to become President of the Botanical Garden Foundation of Soller. In 2004 he received an Honorary Key of Sant Carles Castle, and the Gold Medal of Merit in Work, awarded by the Balearic Government at the recommendation of the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs. In 2005 Pedro Serra was invested as a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Republic of France in a ceremony led by the Consul General of France in Barcelona on board the French frigate Cassard. Also in 2005, he was named an Honorary Member of the board of the Circular de Belles Arts of Madrid. Later that year the Spanish Government awarded Pedro Serra the Gold Medal of Merit in Tourism "for being a reference point in journalism and tourist information in the Balearics and for being a pioneer in Spain in the press, specifically for tourists in their own language." His Majesty King Juan Carlos presented the award in the Palacio de Congresos of Madrid, coinciding with the celebration of the centenary of the first tourism ministry in Spain.

In 2006, he received the Quattrino d'Oro Medal from the President of the Banca di Teramo, and the Andrés Sánchez bullfighting club recognised his support of bullfighting spanning twenty five years as Director and Publisher of the magazine Mundo Taurino. Also that year, the Soller Railway Company presented him with a gold plaque in recognition of his selfless aid in the creation of the Picasso Ceramics Space, and the Institute of Balearic Studies (IEB) paid tribute to him as the first publisher of Bearn o la Sala de las Muñecas, presenting him with the Bronze Letter in recognition of "the work by those people who have served Balearic culture." In 2007, on the occasion of the opening of the exhibition Diari de Balearis: 10 Anys de la Teva Vida, the Mayor of Palma presented him with a sculpture by Bartomeu Ventayol, stating that "the Diari de Balears has been an entity outstanding for defending the values of our society."

Pedro Serra created the Contemporary Art Museum of Valldemosa in 1992. In 1996, he founded the Fundació d'Art Serra, and remains its President. He encouraged the Consortium of the Modern and Contemporary Art Museum in the Baluard de Sant Pere, Palma, and has been president of the Fundació Es Balaurd. He is a Patron of the Sassu Foundation of Lugano and the Swiss Global Artistic Foundation of Montreux. He has delivered numerous lectures on art in Palma and other Majorcan cities, and in Madrid, Granada, Barcelona, Athens, Cairo and Budapest. He is one of the world's leading private art collectors and has promoted various exhibitions including a retrospective of Joan Miró in La Lonja in 1978, opened by the King and Queen of Spain. Coinciding with that exhibition, and on the occasion of the artist's 85th birthday, Pedro Serra produced special editions of the newspapers Ultima Hora and Majorca Daily Bulletin in celebration of Joan Miró, enlisting the collaboration of 365 personalities, painters, poets, essayists and art critics.

En Diàleg amb Pere A Serra was published in 2001 by Lleonard Muntaner, as the tenth book in the collection Mallorquins en Diàleg. The author, Francesc Bujosa, a lecturer in the history of science at the Balearic University, describes the book as a reflection by Pedro Serra over himself and the Majorca in which he has lived. The historians Pere Fullana and Jaume Coll, together with the writer Miquel Ferrà I Martorell and photographer Joan Torres, have published Ses Tanques de Ca'n Serra, a book about property held by the Serra family of Soller since before the 16th century.