Antonio Saura

ANTONIO SAURA (Huesca, 1930 - Cuenca, 1998).
"Imaginary portrait".1985.
Mixed media on cardboard.
Signed.
Certified by the Antonio Saura Foundation.
Measurements: 24.4 x 17.5 cm, 47 x 41 cm (frame).

This "Imaginary Portrait" is part of one of Antonio Saura's most emblematic series, where the artist reformulates the portrait tradition from a radically expressionist perspective. Through an intense deformation of the face, Saura eliminates all individual reference to turn the figure into a powerful vehicle of psychological tension.

The composition, dominated by enormous eyes and an energetic and gestural stroke, unfolds an image of great visual force. The chromatic reduction accentuates the dramatism and connects with the Spanish tradition, especially with Goya, while dialoguing with the heritage of Picasso and European Informalism.

Created at a time of full maturity, the work brings together the artist's most characteristic traits - gestuality, expressive intensity and economy of means - and is a highly recognizable example of his production.

Antonio Saura began his career in Madrid in the forties. After a first stage of surrealist character, he settled in Paris in 1952, where he evolved towards a gestural language and reduced palette, linked to informalism.

In 1957 he founded the El Paso group and that same year exhibited at the Stadler Gallery in Paris. He participated in the Venice Biennale (1958) and received the Guggenheim Prize in New York (1960). From the sixties onwards his work is the subject of important international retrospectives.

Distinguished with awards such as the Grand Prix de Lugano, the Gold Medal of Fine Arts and the title of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in France, Saura is represented in major international collections, including the Reina Sofia Museum, the Centre Pompidou, the Tate Gallery, the Guggenheim and the Metropolitan Museum in New York.