Antoni Tàpies

ANTONI TÀPIES (Barcelona, 1923–2012).
“Objectes,” 1987.
Carborundum engraving. Edition 80/99.
Work included in the catalog raisonné of Antoni Tàpies’s graphic works, in Volume IV, covering 1987–1994, No. 1126.
Signed and dated by hand.
Measurements: 56 x 76 cm.
In this work, the composition is constructed through a combination of etching and color carborundum, techniques that allow the artist to create a surface of great material and textural richness. The use of relief and embossing accentuates the physical dimension of the print, bringing it closer to the tactile quality characteristic of his painting.During this period, Tàpies frequently incorporated signs, graphic elements, and references to everyday objects, stripping them of their original function to transform them into autonomous elements within the composition. The tension between image, material, and support constitutes one of the fundamental features of his graphic language.
Tàpies took up drawing and painting at a very young age, and during the 1940s he came into contact with the European avant-garde and contemporary thought. In 1948, he was one of the founders of the Dau al Set group. Throughout his career, he exhibited worldwide at prominent galleries and museums such as the Guggenheim in New York and the Museum of Modern Art in Paris. His awards include the Prince of Asturias Award, the Praemium Imperiale from the Japan Art Association, the National Culture Award, the Grand Prize for Painting in France, among others, and retrospective exhibitions have been dedicated to him in Tokyo, New York, Rome, Amsterdam, Madrid, Venice, Milan, Vienna, and Brussels. His works are represented in major national and international museums, such as the foundation that bears his name in Barcelona, the Reina Sofía in Madrid, the Guggenheims in Berlin, Bilbao, and New York, the Fukuoka Art Museum in Japan, MoMA in New York, and the Tate Gallery in London.