Antoni Tàpies

ANTONI TÀPIES PUIG, (Barcelona, 1923 - 2012).
"Papeles de son Armadans", 1960.
Mixed media on paper. Print run of 50 copies.
Signed and dedicated in pencil on the back. Signed in plate in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 20 x 13 cm, 50 x 43 cm (frame).

The copy of Papeles de Son Armadans signed and dedicated by Antoni Tàpies to Alexandre Cirici Pellicer is a bibliographic piece of great historical and artistic value. This magazine was a monthly publication directed by Camilo José Cela, which stood out for its focus on literature and contemporary art, and for including collaborations by prominent artists and writers of the time.

The issue signed and dedicated by Antoni Tàpies to Alexandre Cirici Pellicer is a special edition that highlights the relationship between the two artists. Cirici Pellicer was a prominent art historian and critic, known for his links with the El Paso group and his collaboration with Tàpies.

Antoni Tàpies was initiated in art during his long convalescence from a lung disease. He progressively devoted himself more intensely to drawing and painting, and finally gave up his law studies to devote himself entirely to art. Co-founder of "Dau al Set" in 1948, he began to exhibit in the Salones de Octubre in Barcelona, as well as in the Salón de los Once held in Madrid in 1949. After his first individual exhibition in the Layetanas Galleries, he travels to Paris in 1950, with a scholarship from the French Institute. In these years he began his participation in the Venice Biennial, exhibited again at the Layetanas and, after a show in Chicago, in 1953 he had a solo exhibition at Martha Jackson's New York gallery. From then on, his exhibitions, both group and solo, were held all over the world, in leading galleries and museums such as the Guggenheim in New York and the Museum of Modern Art in Paris. Since the seventies, anthologies have been dedicated to him in Tokyo (1976), New York (1977 and 2005), Rome (1980), Amsterdam (1980), Madrid (1980), Venice (1982), Milan (1985), Vienna (1986) and Brussels (1986). Self-taught, Tàpies has created his own style within the avant-garde art of the 20th century, in which tradition and innovation are combined within an abstract style but full of symbolism, giving great relevance to the material substrate of the work. It is worth mentioning the marked spiritual sense given by the artist to his work, where the material support transcends its state to signify a profound analysis of the human condition. Tàpies' work has been highly valued internationally, being exhibited in the most prestigious museums in the world. Throughout his career he has received numerous awards and distinctions, including the Praemium Imperiale of Japan, the National Prize for Culture, the Grand Prize for Painting in France, the Wolf Foundation for the Arts (1981), the Gold Medal of the Generalitat de Catalunya (1983), the Prince of Asturias Prize for the Arts (1990), the Picasso Medal of Unesco (1993) and the Velázquez Prize for the Plastic Arts (2003). A great defender of Catalan culture, of which he is deeply imbued, Tàpies is a great admirer of the mystical writer Ramón Llull, as well as the Catalan Romanesque and Gaudí's architecture. At the same time, he appreciates Eastern art and philosophy, which, like his own work, blur the boundary between matter and spirit, between man and nature. Influenced by Buddhism, he shows in his paintings how pain, both physical and spiritual, is inherent to life. Antoni Tàpies is represented in major museums around the world, such as the foundation that bears his name in Barcelona, the Reina Sofía in Madrid, the Guggenheim in Berlin, Bilbao and New York, the Fukoka Art Museum in Japan, the MoMA in New York and the Tate Gallery in London.