Antoni Tàpies

ANTONI TÀPIES (Barcelona, 1923–2012).
“Variations on a Rectangle 2,” 2001.
Print on paper. Edition 38/40.
Work cataloged in Núria Homs, Tàpies Obra Gráfica / Graphic Work. Vol. 5: 1995–2011, published by Gustavo Gili in 2014. No. 1588
Signed and dated in pencil.
Measurements: 10 x 20 cm (print); 31 x 37 cm (paper).
This work is part of the print series *Variacions sobre un rectangle*, created by Antoni Tàpies in 2001. The series consists of various variations on a rectangular structure, in which the artist combines geometric forms, signs, and material gestures, exploring the expressive possibilities of abstract language and material. The work is part of Tàpies’s exploration of the relationship between sign, material, and pictorial space. The rectangle functions as an elementary structure over which lines and marks are superimposed, so that an apparently stable geometric form is transformed by the artist’s gestural intervention.
Tàpies took up drawing and painting at a very young age, and during the 1940s he came into contact with the European avant-garde movements and contemporary thought. In 1948, he was one of the founders of the Dau al Set group. Throughout his career, he held exhibitions around the world, in prominent galleries and museums such as the Guggenheim in New York and the Museum of Modern Art in Paris. His awards include the Prince of Asturias Award, the Praemium Imperiale from the Japan Art Association, the National Culture Award, the Grand Prize for Painting in France, among others, and retrospective exhibitions have been dedicated to him in Tokyo, New York, Rome, Amsterdam, Madrid, Venice, Milan, Vienna, and Brussels. His works are represented in major national and international museums, such as the foundation that bears his name in Barcelona, the Reina Sofía in Madrid, the Guggenheim museums in Berlin, Bilbao, and New York, the Fukuoka Art Museum in Japan, MoMA in New York, and the Tate Gallery in London.