In February of this year, modern art lost an important figure. Of the hundreds of paintings, drawings, and prints left behind after Antoni Tàpies’ demise, more than 80 have been acquired by Montreal’s Museum of Fine Arts due to the generosity of several donors. In Memoriam: Thirty-Three Prints and a Drawing by the Catalan Master will commemorate this prodigy’s “originality, richness, and depth.”
Essentially self-taught, Tàpies abandoned his legal studies in Barcelona to pursue art. Since 1945, he worked prolifically to create an unparalleled opus that would soon mark him as the leading artistic figure in post-war Spain. Working under Franco’s regime, a tumultuous period of brutal and bloody civil war and subsequent iron-fisted totalitarianism, Tàpies deals unapologetically with the unpleasant. Defecation, death, detritus: the dirty and dark are not off-limits here, as the artist willingly shares.
Expect the exhibition to reflect Tàpies’ uniqueness and unconventionality. His lifelong exploration and experimentation with media characterized his work and led to his association with Art Informel, a movement that was centred on the expressive nature of materials and the creational process. Tàpies made exquisite use of some unorthodox approaches: embossing, collage, tearing, folding, cutting, impasto, and graffiti are all put to use. He also incorporates found objects, stones, earth, and footprints, similar to how Jackson Pollock would scatter items from his pockets over his paintings and walk through them. Tàpies’ colour-blocking technique calls to mind the work of Rothko, who first used this method; his inclusion of writing, fine lines, shape, and striking contrasts recall Russian Suprematism, and other works by Malevich and Kandisky, though his paintings and multimedia have nothing in common with these figures. Tàpies’ style invokes avant-garde techniques that marked the 20th century and were pioneered by his most famous predecessors, but remains very much his own.
Discounting his fame and numerous awards, why care about this deceased, left-of-field artist? Having inherited the world of Picasso and Miró, Spanish artists of the mid-20th century were left with very large shoes to fill. Tàpies did much more than just fill them; he left behind a legacy of his own. Tàpies’ contribution to painting and printmaking is momentous, and the idea that his work was influenced by the philosophy and writings of Jean-Paul Sartre is nothing short of intriguing. History, modernity, aesthetic beauty, and introspective thought converge in the artist’s works. Nothing is off limits, neither in theme nor media—creation and controversy are at the heart of this exhibit.
In Memoriam: Thirty-Three Prints and a Drawing by the Catalan Master is on display at the MMFA’s Graphic Arts Centre and runs until December 9, 2012. Free admission.
