Joan Josep Tharrats

JOAN JOSEP THARRATS VIDAL (Girona, 1918 - Barcelona, 2001).
Untitled.
Mixed media and collage.
Signed.
Measurements: 37 x 55 cm; 63 x 81cm (with frame)

In the work of Joan-Josep Tharrats, this mixed media piece is part of his experimentation with matter and collage, an approach that characterized much of his artistic production. In this painting, the patchworks of different textures and shapes evoke a fragmentary reality, reminiscent of decomposed landscapes or scattered memories. The juxtaposition of these elements not only responds to a formal intention, but also reflects Tharrats' fascination with chance and spontaneous composition, a constant in his career. The surface painted in ochre tones, with its worked texture and occasional graphics, reinforces the material-expressive dimension of the work. These graphic signs, which may recall automatic strokes, are a characteristic feature of the artist and underline his interest in combining the gestural with the material.

After beginning his training in Béziers (France), in 1935 Tharrats returns to Barcelona and enters the Massana School. He began his artistic activity after the Civil War, in a style that evolved from a certain initial impressionism towards a progressive abstraction, through the influences of Mondrian and Kandinsky. Co-founder of Dau al Set together with Brossa, Ponç, Cuixart and Tàpies, Tharrats made his individual debut in 1949, at the El Jardín galleries in Barcelona. From 1954 he exhibited regularly at the Sala Gaspar in Barcelona, as well as in 1955 in Stockholm and New York, in 1959 at the Biennial of São Paulo, and in Venice at the Biennials of 1960 and 1964. In 1955, after the dissolution of Dau al Set, he participated in the constitution of the Taüll group together with Muxart, Guinovart and his former colleagues Cuixart and Tàpies. Eleven years later, in 1966, he was also a founder of the Association of Contemporary Artists. A pioneer of post-war Catalan avant-gardism, Tharrats evolved from the surrealist-influenced linear abstraction of his Dau al Set period to a richly textured, colorful, free-form informalism. Apart from easel painting, he developed his own version of printmaking techniques ("maculaturas"), and also made posters, book illustrations, murals, stained glass, mosaics, jewelry and opera scenographies. In 1983 he was awarded the Cross of Sant Jordi, and in 1994 the National Prize of Plastic Arts. That same year he joined the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Jordi. His work is present in various museums and collections around the world, such as the MoMA and the Guggenheim in New York, the Tate Gallery in London, the MACBA or the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid.