Art of Another Kind: Art Informel in Catalonia, 1956–1966, Catalogue Presentation

Art informel was one of the leading art movements in Catalonia in the second half of the 20th century, bursting with creative freedom and breaking free from the limitations of representation. Deeply personal and introspective, it embraced a wide range of painting styles — matter painting, tachisme, gesture-sign painting and spatialism — that dominated the European, and Catalan, art scene throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

The exhibition Art of Another Kind: Art Informel in Catalonia, 1956–1966, which can currently be seen at the Museu d’Art de Girona, is the most comprehensive survey of this movement in Catalonia to date and features many artists—particularly women—whose work has not been widely exhibited and who have received little attention in the historiography of Catalan art informel. The show also dedicates a space to historian and critic Juan-Eduardo Cirlot (Barcelona, 1916–1973), one of the movement’s greatest proponents, and pays tribute to artists Albert Ràfols-Casamada, Romà Vallès, Evarist Vallès and Antoni Tàpies, as part of the commemorations to mark their centenary years.

As a way of bringing the spirit of the show to Barcelona, the Fundació Antoni Tàpies is delighted to present the exhibition catalogue, which includes texts by Àlex Mitrani and Lourdes Cirlot, among others. The presentation will be given by the exhibition curators, Conxita Oliver and Joan Gil, who will be joined by graphic designer Jordi Ortiz and the director of the Museu d’Art de Girona, Carme Clusellas.

[Antoni Tàpies. Terra i pintura (1956). © Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona/vegap. Photography: © Gasull Fotografia, 2024.]