Antoni Tàpies. Collection, # 5
The Fundació Antoni Tàpies presents a new selection of works by Antoni Tàpies from the Collection. Held on this occasion in Spaces A and B, the exhibition focuses on Tàpies’ different creative stages from the 1940s to the 1990s, and illustrates the evolution of the different typologies, techniques and materials employed by the artist.
The itinerary starts with a selection of early works partly corresponding to a period of convalescence from a lung disease that kept him away from Barcelona for nearly two years, which demonstrate his early dedication to art and, in particular, his interest in self-portraiture. The exhibition also includes examples from a period marked by Surrealism, as seen in Tríptic (Triptych, 1948), where the artist’s critical eye is directed towards figures of authority, while representing the crushed or mutilated image of humanity in a miasma populated by monsters. The exhibition continues with a selection of ‘matter paintings’ that Tàpies began in 1954–55 and with which he reached both artistic maturity and international recognition. The exhibition includes examples like Pintura rosa y blava (Pink and Blue Painting, 1959), Forma negra sobre quadrat gris (Black Form on Grey Square, 1960), Ocre-gris sobre marró (Ochre-Grey over Brown, 1962) and Gran matèria amb papers laterals (Large Matter with Lateral Papers, 1963). The selection also represents his interest in the object, which becomes the protagonist in many of the works from the sixties and seventies, as seen in Pila de plats (Pile of Plates, 1970) and Gran blanc amb llauna blava (Large White with Blue Tin, 1972). The tour ends with works from the eighties, where varnish dominates, and works from the nineties. In both cases there are references to the fragmented human body, represented larger than life, as in Al teu peu (For Your Foot, 1989) and in Cos i filferros (Body and Wires, 1996). Expanding a small and simple object, Tàpies makes it cosmic. One of the fundamental objectives of the artist’s entire career has been the transformation of small and insignificant subjects into something through which the entire universe can be contemplated.
The exhibition is completed by a screening of the documentary Tàpies (1990), directed by Gregory Rood and produced by the BBC/TVE Catalunya. This shows the creative process of Antoni Tàpies in different media (painting, engraving and ceramics), together with various events of his life and his preparation, both as a man and an artist. The film is projected in the auditorium of the Fundació (Space C).
