As part of the sale dedicated to Modern and Contemporary Art, on May 28, 2020, PIASA auction house presents a selection of some of the most emblematic artists of the 20th century, including the Catalan painter Antoni Tàpies, born in Barcelona in 1923.
In the early 1940s, Tàpies suffered a serious lung infection. His convalescence gave him the opportunity to take an interest in the history of philosophy and Romantic music. Marked by the atrocities of the Spanish Civil War, he turned definitively to painting and drawing.
In 1943, he began taking drawing courses at the Valls Academy. He became familiar with the oil technique by copying paintings by Van Gogh and Pablo Picasso, among others. Influenced by oriental philosophy, the artist uses thick impasto, collages, found objects and graffiti for his first creations. In 1949, he met Joan Miró, who left his mark on the spirit of the painter, as did Paul Klee during his first surrealist period.
His first exhibition took place in 1950 at the Galerias Layetanas in Barcelona. He then turned towards abstraction and integrated non-academic materials. From the early 1950s onwards, he was one of the first artists to integrate clay powder and marble while using torn paper, rope and rags.
He won international prizes and became internationally renowned. Influenced by Pop-art, he integrates larger materials, such as pieces of furniture, into his works. In 1979, he was elected member of the Berlin Academy of Arts. The two works presented in this session date from the 1980s.
Antoni Tàpies (1923-2012)
Untitled,
circa 1980
Oil, wax pencil and ink wash on paper
Signed and dedicated on the bottom right "A Piene"
34,5 x 48,5 cm
Estimation : 18 000 / 25 000 euros
The first one, Untitled, is composed of oil, grease pencil and ink on paper. Inscriptions His estimate is between 18,000 and 25,000 euros. Here and there, inscriptions populate the surface of the painting.
Antoni Tàpies (1923-2012)
Untitled,
circa 1980 Scratched oil on cardboard Signed on the bottom left
30,8 x 25,5 cm
Estimation : 12 000 / 18 000 euros
The second one, also Untitled, was made with the technique of scratched oil. Enigmatic, large black crosses have been hastily inscribed. The low estimate of the latter is 12,000 euros. Through his work, Tàpies shows a particular interest in the lacerations, nicks and scratches within these compositions. He describes these works as "battlefields where wounds multiply infinitely. The graphic and plastic elements he uses are found from canvas to canvas, forming a universe of his own.
