Antoni Tàpies

ANTONI TÀPIES (Barcelona, 1923–2012).
“T i creu,” 2008.
Lithograph in multiple inks. Print no. 2/50.
Work referenced in Nuria Horns, Tàpies Obra Gráfica / Graphic Work, Vol. V: 1995–2011, Barcelona, Gustavo Gili, 2014, no. 1655.
Signed and numbered by hand.
Measurements: 50 x 70 cm.
The work belongs to Antoni Tàpies’s graphic output from the mid-2000s and revolves around two of the most recognizable symbols in his visual vocabulary: the letter “T” and the cross. This transformation of the sign into matter constitutes one of the fundamental aspects of Tàpies’s graphic work. The artist does not seek a single interpretation of the symbols but rather transforms them into open forms where writing, image, and matter overlap. The graphic surface thus functions as a space for inscription in which each sign retains its initial recognition but simultaneously acquires a new visual autonomy.
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 held exhibitions around the world, in 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.