Antonio Saura

Antonio Saura - Me, plate 14

Biografía del Artista: Born in Huesca in 1930 and died in Cuenca in 1998. He began painting and writing in Madrid in 1947, while recovering from tuberculosis that kept him immobilised for five years. Early research and first pictorial experiences. He claims the influence of Arp and Tanguy, but is already distinguished by his personal style; he creates numerous drawings and paintings of a dreamlike and surrealist nature in which he generally represents imaginary landscapes that he captures on a flat, smooth and colourful material. First stay in Paris in 1952. Second period in Paris between 1954 and 1955 during which he meets Benjamin Péret and frequents the group of surrealists, from whom he will soon distance himself together with his friend the painter Simon Hantaï. He then uses the grattage technique, adopts a gestural style and a radically abstract, colourful painting, with an organic and random conception. He began to paint, occupying the space of the canvas in various and very diverse ways, creating his own formal structures that he would continue to develop. First appearances of forms that would soon become archetypes of the female body or the human figure, two fundamental themes that would occupy the essence of his work. From 1956 Saura began his large series, Damas, Desnudos, Autorretratos, Sudarios, Crucifixiones, which he painted on both canvas and paper. In 1957 he founded the El Paso group in Madrid, which he would lead until its dissolution in 1960. He met Michel Tapié. First solo exhibition at Rodolphe Stadler's gallery in Paris, where he would exhibit constantly throughout his life. Stadler introduced him to Otto van de Loo in Munich and Pierre Matisse in New York, who would also exhibit his work and represent him. He then limited his palette to blacks, greys and browns. He established his own style, independent of the movements and trends of his generation. His work is in the line of Velázquez and Goya. He is shown in the main museums. From 1959 onwards he devoted himself to a prolific graphic work. He illustrated in an original way numerous books such as Don Quixote, by Cervantes, 1984, by Orwell, Pinocchio in the adaptation by Nöstlinger, Tagebücher, by Kafka, Tres visiones, by Quevedo, and many others. In 1960 he began to sculpt and made works composed of welded metal elements that represent the human figure, characters and crucifixions. In 1967 he settled permanently in Paris; he became involved in the opposition to the Franco dictatorship and participated in numerous debates and controversies in the fields of politics, aesthetics and artistic creation. He expanded his thematic and pictorial register. Along with the series Mujer-sillón, the series Retratos imaginarios, El perro de Goya and Retratos imaginario de Goya appeared. In 1971 he abandoned painting on canvas, which he would take up again in 1979, to devote himself to writing, drawing and painting on paper. From 1977 he began to publish his writings and created several stage designs for the theatre, as well as for ballet and opera. In 1983 he created an important series of portraits entitled Dora Maar or Dora Maar visited. From that date until his premature death he masterfully resumed and developed the set of his themes and figures to produce, perhaps, the best of his work. The works shown at ARCO 2020 are part of the series “Photo-Graphics”, currently on display at La Caja Negra. The exhibition presents a set of unpublished works by Antonio Saura made in the early 1960s. These works were recorded by the artist in his logbook under the title Photo-Graphics and ready for a production that was never carried out. It is a series of superimpositions on intervened photographs that show a great innovative and experimental capacity within his career.