Joaquín Capa

JOAQUÍN CAPA (Santander, 1941).
Untitled.
Color lithograph on paper, print no. 2/42.
Signed and numbered in pencil.
Measurements: 120 x 80 cm (paper); 140 x 97 cm (frame).

Color is one of the central themes in Joaquín Capa’s graphic work; his exploration of this medium gained particular depth during his stay in Paris in the 1970s and his association with Stanley William Hayter’s renowned Atelier 17. In this large-format lithograph, orange functions as a true chromatic field from which fragmentary forms, signs, and masses of varying density emerge. The layering of yellows, reds, grays, and blacks introduces spatial tensions within an essentially abstract composition—a hallmark of an artist who has made graphic experimentation and the expressive possibilities of color a constant throughout his career.

Capa trained at the San Fernando School of Fine Arts in Madrid, where his teachers included Juan Barjola and Antonio López, and furthered his education in Paris—a pivotal period in his mastery of printmaking techniques. His work is included in major institutional collections, including the BBVA Collection, the National Engraving Collection of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, and the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Santander and Cantabria (MAS), which houses various examples of his graphic work.