Josep Grau-Garriga

JOSEP GRAU-GARRIGA (Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona, 1929 – Angers, France, 2011).
Untitled, 1978.
Mixed media on paper.
Signed and dated in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 60 x 48 cm; 74.5 x 61.5 cm (frame).

A work of great expressive intensity, dominated by the figure of a wounded animal—a wild beast or a fighting bull—rendered as a powerful black mass that occupies nearly the entire lower half of the composition. The beast appears lying down or in forced motion, in a posture somewhere between agony and ferocity, with its body rendered through washes, nervous strokes, and densely blackened areas that accentuate its visual violence.

The upper portion, much more uncluttered, features only a few subtle linear accents and a small floral motif, which is a hallmark of the textural and chromatic intensity of the main scene. This upper void further reinforces the animal’s presence and focuses all attention on its dark body, defeated yet still tense. The work thus embodies a free and energetic artistic language, in which the figure emerges from the paint with a highly characteristic immediacy.

Josep Grau-Garriga was a key figure in the renewal of contemporary textile art and also produced a significant body of work on paper, marked by gestural freedom and textural intensity. His work is represented in institutions such as the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, the MACBA, the Museo Reina Sofía, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.