Antoni Tapies (1923-2012) - Testa vitale. Acquaforte. 1981

Antoni Tàpies (Barcelona 1923 – 2012). Vital Head. 1981. Etching. Sheet size 55 x 75 cm. Plate size 35.5 x 49.5 cm. Signed in pencil by the artist and numbered 46/99. Printer: J. Barbara, Barcelona. In excellent condition – minimal and barely noticeable marginal creases. Shipping outside the EU is not advised (the order could be delayed or canceled).

Antoni Tàpies i Puig, Marquess of Tàpies (Catalan pronunciation: [ənˈtɔni ˈtapi.əs]; Barcelona, December 13, 1923 – Barcelona, February 6, 2012) was a Spanish painter, sculptor and historian of art.

He was one of the most significant figures of that Catalan artistic current more attuned to the general renewal of taste known as international informalism. He is considered one of the most important Spanish artists of the 20th century. The work of the Catalan artist benefits from a study and conservation center at the Fundació Antoni Tàpies in Barcelona.

Biography

Antoni Tàpies.
Tàpies was the son of lawyer Josep Tàpies and Maria Puig, daughter of a family of Catalan politicians. His father’s profession and the ties of his mother's family with various members of Catalan political life allowed him to grow up in a liberal environment. Tàpies always observed that the clash between his father’s anticlericalism and his mother’s orthodox Catholicism led him to a personal search for a new spirituality, which he found in Eastern philosophies and religions, mainly in Zen Buddhism.

After staying in Paris and New York, in 1948 he was among the first to join the Dau al Set movement, as informal art was initially called, founded in Barcelona by the poet Joan Brossa. From 1955 he participated in the Taull group with Modesto Cuixart, Juan José Tharrats and José Guinovart.

In 1958 he presented a personal survey at the Venice Biennale, which earned him the UNESCO Prize. In 1973 he exhibited at the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris and in 1977 at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo. In 1981 Tàpies was awarded the Gold Medal for Fine Arts by King Juan Carlos I, and in 1983 he was awarded the Medalla d'Or de la Generalitat de Catalunya.

In London he received an honorary degree (honoris causa) from the Royal College of Art.

In 1990 the Antoni Tàpies Foundation in Barcelona was inaugurated, which he had already been working for many years with dedication.

He passed away in 2012 at the age of 88.