Antoni Tàpies

(Spanish, 1923-2012)

El Monument
1951

Footnotes

This work is registered in the Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, under no. T-0046.

Provenance
Galeria Artema, Barcelona
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Exhibited
Venice, XXVI Biennale di Venezia, 1952, no. 87
Barcelona, Galeries Laietanes, Antoni Tàpies, 1952, no. 4
Barcelona, Galeria Artema, Tapies: Obra 1945-1954, 1978, no. 21, illustrated in black and white
Madrid, Museo Español de Arte Contemporáneo, Antoni Tàpies - Exposición Retrospectiva, 1980, p. 24, no. 26, illustrated in black and white

Literature
Alexandre Ciriri, Tàpies, testimoni del silenci, Barcelona 1970, p. 135, no. 80, illustrated in colour
Josep Vallés Rovira, Tàpies Empremta (art vida), 1983, np., illustrated in black and white
Anna Agustí, Tàpies, The Complete Works Volume 1: 1943-1960, Barcelona 1988, p. 175, no. 388, illustrated in colour



A delightful early example of the celebrated Spanish artist's practice, El Monument from 1951 belongs to what has been coined by critic Alexandre Circi as Tàpies' 'Magic Period'. Starting in 1948, Tàpies became heavily influenced by the work of surrealists - in particular, by Ernst, Miro and Klee - and started exploring the possibilities offered by depicting the subconscious' otherworldly imagery. The resulting paintings, which Tàpies' friend, writer Joan Brossa, would often name with fantastical and poetic titles, earned him the respect and admiration of Salvador Dali amongst others. Met with universal critical acclaim, works from the Magic Period truly launched Tàpies' practice in Europe and the United States.

In El Monument, a range of mystical motifs imbue the dark canvas with a strange, mystical sense of wonder. The fine structure-like lines delicately scratched into the surface of the painting predate Tàpies' iconic heavily textured works in which he drew large incisions into sand. Even though Tàpies would ultimately abandon the attention to detail displayed in El Monument and other early works in favour of a more process-based approach in the following decades, the Magic Period - and its highly evocative occult potential - still very much sketched the blueprint for Tàpies' highly textural and abstract latest practice.

Exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1952, shortly before the artist married his wife, El Monument was executed at a critical time in his career: 'The years 1952 and 1953 were crucial, both for my love life and for my work. [...] Little by little, almost unconsciously, I had left behind and finally lost the worries that Soviet aesthetic principles, inspired by the famous Jdanov, had caused me... In questions of art and by an inclination that is difficult to explain, my instinct took me more and more along solitary paths I saw the necessity of going deeper in my investigation of the specific possibilities of the visual medium of colour and form in freedom.' (the artist in: A Personal Memoir: Fragments for an Autobiography, Barcelona 2009, p. 264).