Antonio Saura

ANTONIO SAURA (Huesca, 1930 - Cuenca, 1998)
"Mutations" 1980.
Ink on paper.
Signed and dated.
Attached certificate issued by Archives Antonio Saura.
Work reproduced in the artist's catalog raisonné.
Measurements: 70 x 100 cm.

In this outstanding original drawing on paper, Antonio Saura displays with full intensity his unmistakable gestural language, one of the most recognizable in post-war European art. A dense and vibrant network of black lines articulates a space of great expressive tension, where forms emerge and transform in a continuous process of mutation.

Figures, faces and fragmented anatomies emerge between the strokes, subjected to a powerful distortion that constitutes one of the fundamental axes of his work, in direct dialogue with informalism and the expressionist tradition.

Made in 1980, at a moment of absolute maturity, the piece synthesizes in an exemplary manner his most iconic plastic vocabulary. The radical economy of means - ink on paper - intensifies the protagonism of the gesture, revealing the immediate, free and deeply personal character of his creative process, especially appreciated by collectors.

A key figure in the renewal of Spanish art, Antonio Saura was co-founder of the El Paso group (1957) and developed a solid international projection, with a presence at the Venice Biennale and was awarded the Guggenheim Prize in New York.

His work is part of the most important international collections, such as the Reina Sofia Museum, the Centre Pompidou, the Tate Gallery or the Guggenheim.