55 - ANTONI TÀPIES (Barcelona, 1923–2012).

ANTONI TÀPIES (Barcelona, 1923–2012). “Ulls,” 1994. Etching, aquatint, and carborundum. Print no. 23/45. Work referenced in Núria Homs. Antoni Tàpies. Obra Gráfica, vol. IV (1987–1994), 1437. Signed and numbered by hand. Measurements: 38 x 56.5 cm. The work belongs to Tàpies’s characteristic symbolic and material universe, in which the sign, the imprint, and the representation of bodily elements take on a distinctly expressive character. The motif of the eyes, a recurring theme in the artist’s work, is integrated into a composition with a strong graphic presence and a limited color palette, characteristic of the language developed by Tàpies during his mature period. 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, at 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. Work cited in Núria Homs, *Antoni Tàpies: Graphic Works*, vol. IV (1987–1994), p. 1437.