Antoni Tàpies. Collection, # 9
The Fundació presents a new selection of works by Antoni Tàpies belonging to the fonds of the Collection. The selection, which in this case is in Spaces A and B, includes various creative periods of the artist from the 1940s to the present, and illustrates the development of typologies, techniques and materials used by Tàpies.
The exhibition opens with Creu de paper de diari (Newsprint Cross), a work of 1946–47 that exemplifies the primal interest in extra-pictorial materials and the representation of the cross that will be characteristic of his mature vocabulary, together with two drawings from 1948, Dibuix (Drawing) and Carbó i tinta (Carbon and Ink), showing references to Miró and Klee. This is followed by a selection of works from 1950–51, made during the artist’s stay in Paris – made possible by a scholarship awarded by the French Institute of Barcelona – which adopt a strong social content (Ells acusen [They Accuse], Sèrie Història Natural [Natural History Series]), and show a vocabulary that is still being developed. Social and political concerns are also manifest in later works such as A la memòria de Salvador Puig Antich (In Memory of Salvador Puig Antich), 1974, created in recognition of the Catalan anarchist Salvador Puig Antich, and Composició amb números (Composition with Numbers), 1976, created in memory of activist Oriol Solé i Sugranyes, who was shot by the Civil Guard after escaping from prison in Segovia in April of that same year. The exhibition also features a selection of matter paintings characteristic of his mature period, in which the materials give the works a dense and opaque surface, as can be seen in Gris, taronja i rosa (Grey, Orange and Pink), 1967, Llinda (Lintel), 1975, and Dues formes (Two Forms), 1999. Also included is a representation of objects and sculptures, such as Armari (Wardrobe), 1973, Taula de despatx (Office Desk), 1987, and works from the eighties in which the protagonist is the varnish, such as Pintors malvats (Evil Painters), 1988, a work that refers to the Majorcan writer, philosopher, mystic and theologian of the thirteenth century, Ramon Llull. The exhibition further includes works that show the artist’s interest in music, such as Concert, 1985, and Urbilder (díptic) (Urbilder (dyptich)), 1988. The exhibition finishes with a screening of the documentary Te de Tàpies, 2004, directed by Carolina Tubau and produced by Televisió de Catalunya.
Te de Tàpies , 2004 Time: 62 min. Original version in Catalan.
Subtitles: 10.30, Spanish; 11.32, English; 12.34, Spanish; 13.36, English; 14.38, Spanish; 15.40, English; 16.42, Spanish; 17.44, English.
