Modest Cuixart

MODEST CUIXART (Barcelona, 1925 - Palafrugell, Girona, 2007).
Untitled, 1949.
Original project for Dau al Set (Juan Eduardo Cirlot).
Ink on paper adhered to canvas.
Signed and dated.
With labels on the back of René Metras and Marc Doménech Gallery.
Measurements: 31 x 44 cm; 35 x 48 cm (frame).

Dated 1949, this drawing belongs to Cuixart's initial and most radical stage, when his language is situated between surrealism, esoteric symbolism and the exploration of the unconscious. It is prior to his later drift towards a more material and gestural painting, and represents one of the moments of greatest affinity with psychic automatism and dream imagery.

It presents a constellation of signs, hybrid figures and automatic graphics displayed horizontally on a neutral background. The forms -between zoomorphic, human and symbolic- are linked by dotted lines, arrows, nodes and small marks that suggest mental diagrams or magic maps. Fantastic creatures, schematic figures, archaic symbols and almost alchemical references appear, all treated with a precise, nervous and expressive black ink.

It is a visual writing, close to surrealist automatism, in which drawing functions as an autonomous language. This graphic dimension connects directly with the poetry of Juan Eduardo Cirlot, for whom Cuixart created this original project for Dau al Set, the magazine and intellectual platform that they shared together with Tàpies, Ponç and Brossa.

These drawings for Dau al Set are today considered key pieces of the Catalan avant-garde, for their experimental character, their formal freedom and their interdisciplinary dimension, halfway between art, poetry and magical thinking. The use of paper adhered to canvas reinforces the desire to transcend the drawing as a sketch, giving it the status of an autonomous work.

Modest Cuixart was a key figure of the post-war Catalan avant-garde and co-founder in 1948 of the group Dau al Set, together with Tàpies, Brossa, Ponç and Tharrats, from where he promoted a radical renewal of artistic language based on surrealism, automatism and the symbolic thought of Juan Eduardo Cirlot. Trained at the School of Fine Arts of Sant Jordi, his initial work is characterized by a fantastic imagery and esoteric signs, evolving in the fifties, after his stay in Paris, towards a lyrical and gestural abstraction of strong material and expressive load. Modest Cuixart's work is represented in leading public and private collections, including the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (MNAC) and the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), the Fundació Antoni Tàpies, the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid, the Museu d'Art de Girona, the Museo de Arte Abstracto Español de Cuenca, as well as in international collections such as the Centre Pompidou in Paris.