Antoni Tàpies

ANTONI TÀPIES PUIG (Barcelona, 1923 - 2012).
"Entrecroisé" 1981.
Etching and aquatint engraving on Arches paper, copy P.T. 2/2.
Signed and justified by hand.
Measurements: 121 x 80 cm.

In Entrecroisé, Tàpies develops a work of great formal sobriety and deep conceptual load. The composition is based on a rhomboidal figure divided by a central cross, a recurring motif in his production, which alludes to the idea of crossing, frontier and encounter as well as to a structure of order and tension.

The surface of the engraving, worked with a rough and earthy texture, refers to the characteristic materiality of Tàpies, where the trace of time, wear and tear and the tactile acquire a symbolic value. The brown and ochre tones evoke a primordial, almost architectural matter that dialogues with the emptiness of the light background. The small gestures in the vertices introduce a human and spiritual dimension within the strict geometry.

Co-founder of the Dau al Set group in 1948, Antoni Tàpies began his public projection in the late forties, exhibiting in Barcelona and Madrid. After a stay in Paris in 1950, his career quickly took on an international dimension, with exhibitions in New York since 1953 and a continued presence in the main artistic centers of Europe, America and Asia. His work has been the subject of major international retrospectives and has received numerous prestigious awards. He is represented in the world's major museums and his legacy has a fundamental axis in the Fundació Antoni Tàpies in Barcelona.