Antoni Tàpies Puig

ANTONI TÀPIES PUIG (Barcelona, 1923–2012).
“Assassins,” 1974.
Lithograph on paper. Edition 90/150.
Signed and numbered in pencil.
Measurements: 77 x 56 cm.
This lithograph belongs to the “Assassins” series, created by Antoni Tàpies in 1974 as an expression of protest against the execution of Salvador Puig Antich, a Catalan anarchist activist who was executed by garrote on March 2 of that same year by the Franco regime. The series stands as one of the most explicit testimonies to the artist’s political commitment and his determination to transform visual art into a tool for denouncing repression and the death penalty. The title thus takes on an accusatory and deeply symbolic dimension. Tàpies employs an austere and forceful visual language, closely aligned with his informalist explorations, in which signs, marks, and gestural elements acquire an expressive power that transcends figurative representation. The choice of lithography is particularly significant, as it allows the artist to translate his material and gestural language into the realm of printmaking, thereby expanding its reach. In this regard, the series was presented in 1974 at the Galerie Maeght in Paris, where Tàpies also promoted the distribution of posters bearing the same message of denunciation.
A co-founder of “Dau al Set” in 1948, he began exhibiting at the October Salons in Barcelona, as well as at the Salon of the Eleven held in Madrid in 1949. After holding his first solo exhibition at the Galerías Layetanas, he traveled to Paris in 1950 on a fellowship from the Institut Français. Following his 1953 solo exhibition at Martha Jackson’s New York gallery, his international reputation was firmly established. He has received awards such as 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 work is represented in major museums around the world, including 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.