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Original lithograph with tipped-in cards by Antoni Tapies. 63 x 77 cm, in fine condition. Antoni Tąpies i Puig, 1st Marquess of Tąpies ( 13 December 1923 6 February 2012) was a Catalan painter, sculptor and art theorist, who became one of the most famous European artists of his generation. Plaque on the facade Antoni Tąpies' birthplace, 39 Canuda Street, Barcelona. The son of Josep Tąpies i Mestre and Maria Puig i Guerra, Antoni Tąpies Puig was born in Barcelona on 13 December 1923. His father was a lawyer and Catalan nationalist who served briefly with the Republican government. Due to this, Tąpies grew up in an environment where he was very much exposed to a cultural and social experiences of leaders in the Catalan public life and its republicanism. His maternal grandmother also exposed him to this world with her great involvement in civil and political activities. Tąpies was first introduced to contemporary art as he entered secondary school in 1934. He saw a famous Christmas issue of the magazine, D acķ i d allą, which contained reproductions of works by artists such as Duchamp, Braque, Kandinsky, and Picasso. At 17, Tąpies suffered a near-fatal heart attack caused by tuberculosis. He spent two years as a convalescent in the mountains, reading widely and pursuing an interest in art that had already expressed itself when he was in his early teens. Tąpies studied at the German School of Barcelona. After studying law for 3 years, he devoted himself from 1943 onwards only to his painting. In 1945 Tąpies began experimenting with more rinse materials. He would mix oil paint with whiting. At this time he also became increasingly interested in philosophy, especially that of Sartre as well as Eastern thought. He became known as one of Spain's most renowned artists in the second half of the 20th century. His abstract and avant-garde works were displayed in many major museums all over the world. In 1954 Tąpies married Teresa Barba Fabregas. Together they had three children Antoni, Miguel and Clara. He lived mainly in Barcelona. Tąpies died on 6 February 2012; his health had been suffering since 2007. Canvas Burned to Matter by Antoni Tąpies, c. 1960, Honolulu Museum of Art Tąpies was perhaps the best-known Spanish (Catalan) artist to emerge in the period since the Second World War. He first came into contact with contemporary art as a teenager through the magazine D Acķ i D Allą, published in Barcelona, and during the Spanish Civil War (1936 39), while he was still at school, he taught himself to draw and paint.On a French government scholarship in the early 1950s he lived in Paris, to which he often returned. Both in Europe and beyond, the highly influential French critic and curator Michel Tapié enthusiastically promoted the work of Antoni Tąpies. In 1948, Tąpies helped co-found the first Post-War Movement in Spain known as Dau al Set which was connected to the Surrealist and Dadaist Movements. The main leader and founder of Dau al Set was the poet Joan Brossa. The movement also had a publication of the same name, Dau al Set. Tąpies started as a surrealist painter, his early works were influenced by Paul Klee and Joan Miró; but soon become an informal artist, working in a style known as pintura matčrica, in which non artistic materials are incorporated into the paintings. In 1953 he began working in mixed media; this is considered his most original contribution to art. One of the first to create serious art in this way, he added clay and marble dust to his paint and used waste paper, string, and rags (Grey and Green Painting, Tate Gallery, London, 1957). Canvas Burned to Matter from c. 1960, in the collection of the Honolulu Museum of Art, is an example of the artist's mixed media assemblages that combine the principles of Dada and Surrealism. Seller Inventory # 23681
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