Antoni Tàpies in print

137 Pages·2016·23.11 MB·English

by  Wye, Deborah

AAnnttoonnii TTààppiieess iinn pprriinntt
DDeebboorraahh WWyyee
Author
Wye, Deborah
Date
1991
Publisher
The Museum of Modern Art: Distributed
by H.N. Abrams
ISBN
0870706020, 0870706039, 0810961024
Exhibition URL
www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/366
The Museum of Modern Art's exhibition history—
from our founding in 1929 to the present—is
available online. It includes exhibition catalogues,
primary documents, installation views, and an
index of participating artists.
MoMA © 2017 The Museum of Modern Art
Antoni Tapies
in Print
Antoni Tapies in Print
Deborah Wye
Antoni Tapies, born in Spain in 1923, is today
one of the world's most respected living artists.
In a career that spans five decades, Tapies has
created paintings, sculpture, assemblages —
and over a thousand prints and illustrated
books that expand on his work in other medi
ums. He has molded traditional printmaking
techniques to fit his own expressive needs,
often incorporating such processes as emboss
ing, collage, flocking, cutting, and tearing to
enrich the tactility of his surfaces. In this book
75 printed works, ranging from the late 1940s
to the present time, are reproduced, selected to
illuminate the consistencies of Tapies's themes
and the densities of meaning in his abstract
language.
Deborah Wye's essay incorporates conver
sations with the artist in his Barcelona studio.
"Art, for Tapies, is not a decorative object, it is
a phil osophical system or language," she
writes. His artistic mission is the expression of
a dynamic interplay between the worldly and
the spiritual, and the provision of a vehicle of
meaning and transcendence. Ms. Wye's inter
pretation of the prints explores the intricate
fusing of formal strategy and iconographic
themes through which the artist represents a
continued on back flap
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Antoni Tapies
in Print

I
Deborah Wye
The Museum of Modern Art, New Tork
Distributed by Harry N. Abrams, Inc. New York
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Published on the occasion oe the exhibition "Antoni TApies in Print," organized by Deborah Wye, Curator,
Department of Prints and Illustrated Books, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, May 6 - August 9, 1992.
The exhibition circulated to the following institutions:
Centro Cultural/Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City The Art Museum
June 13-August 25, 1991 Florida International University, Miami
September 11-October 17, 1992
Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, California
September 22-November 24, 1991 The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit
December 11, 1992-February 10, 1993
The Meadows Museum
Southern Mf:thodist University, Dallas Museo de Arte Contemporaneo
January 16-March 1, 1992 Caracas, Venezuela
February-May 1993
The exhibition and accompanying catalog were made possible by generous grants from the Generalitat de
Catalunya (autonomous government of Catalonia) and the Institute of North American Studies, Barcelona.
Additional support was provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Produced by the Department oe Publications Copyright © 1991 by
The Museum of Modern Art, New York The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Osa Brown, Director of Publications All rights reserved
Library of Congrf:ss
Edited by Susan Weiley Catalog Card Number 91-61541
Design and typography by Michael Hentges paper isbn 0-87070-603-9 (MoMA)
Design assistant: Belinda Phillpot CLOTH ISBN 0-87070-602-0 (MoMA)
Production by Tim McDonough CLOTH ISBN 0-8109-6102-4 (Abrams)
Color separations by Reprocolor Llovet, Barcelona
Printed and bound by Ediciones Poligrafa, SA, Distributed in the United States and Canada
Barcelona. by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York,
A Times Mirror Company
Published by
Distributed outside the United States and Canada
The Museum of Modern Art by Thames and FIudson Ltd., London
11 West 53 Street
New York, New York 10019 Printed in Spain. D.L.: B. 37.347- 1991
Original art for covers, endpapers, and text by antoni tApif:s, 1991
I »f. Muiaum cA Modern Art Utx&y
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Contents
Acknowledgments / 6
The Language of Antoni Tapies: Surface and Symbol
in Prints and Illustrated Books / 8
Tapies, Spain, and the International Art World / 9
Tapies and Printmaking / 15
Publishers and Printers / 17
Prints
SURFACE AND S H A P E / 22
WRITING / 24
CATALONIA / 29
HUMAN PRESENCE/ 34
EVERYDAY OBJECTS / 38
Illustrated Books / 41
Tapies's Mission / 49
Notes to the Text / 52
Plates / 55
List of Plates / 116
Chronology /121
Bibliography / 125
Photo Credits /127
Trustees / 128