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Self-taught,
he begins to paint and to draw in 1947 in Madrid, but is held back by
tuberculosis and immobilized for five years. He realizes his first studies and
first pictorial experiences. Antonio Saura shows the influence of Arp and
Tanguy. He already distinguishes himself by a personal style created from
numerous drawings and paintings of a dream-like and surrealist character, most
often representing imaginary landscapes for which he uses flat, smooth material
rich in color. Between 1948 and 1950, he paints the series Constellations, in which he is influenced by Miro and surrealism.
His first personal exposition is organized in 1950 in Sargosse. During his
initial stay in Paris in 1952, then 1954 and then 1955, he meets Benjamin
Péret, and there works with the surrealist group. Disappointed in the
experience, he seeks refuge in an informal painting that to him seems the only
kind able to liberate the expression of pure psychic automatism. He thus uses
the technique of scraping and adopts a gestural style and an abstract painting
that is always colorful, with a conception that is organic and random. Thus
appear forms that become rather archetypes of the female body or the human
figure. These two themes will occupy the essence of his work. In 1956,
Saura undertakes the large series Women,
Nudes, Self-Portraits, Shrouds, and Crucifixions,
which he paints as much on canvas as on paper. In Madrid in 1957, he founds the
group El Paso, which he directs until its dissolution in 1960. The groupâs
manifesto expresses the wish to create a new European pictorial language. El
Paso advocates the rejection of classical criteria: figuration, composition,
balance, beauty. These years see the development of Spanish informal art, of
which Antonio Saura is one of its principle members. He takes
part in the Venice Biennale in 1958 and in the Documenta in 1960. His first
individual exposition is at Rodolphe Stadler in Paris, where he will exhibit
regularly, and who will introduce him to Otto van de Loo in Munich and Pierre
Matisse in New York, who will equally exhibit and represent him. Saura now
limits his palette to blacks, grays, and browns. He affirms his own style
independent of the movements and tendencies of his generation. In 1959 he
becomes the author of a prolifically printed body of work; he illustrates
numerous works such as Cervantesâ Don
Quijote, Orwellâs 1984,
Nostlingerâs adaptation of Pinocchio,
Kafkaâs Tagebucher, Quevedoâs Three Visions, and many others. Saura
begins, in 1960, to sculpt, and creates works composed of welded metal elements
that represent the human figure, characters, and crucifixions. In 1967, he
definitively moves to Paris, where he actively takes part in the opposition to
Francoâs dictatorship and participates in numerous discussions and debates in
the realm of politics, aesthetics, and of artistic creation. Antonio Saura
amplifies his thematic and pictorial register. Thus appear, with his series of Femme-fauteil, the series of Portrait imaginaire, Chien de Goya,
and Portrait imaginaire de Goya. In 1971 he
abandons canvas painting (which he will pick up again in 1979) in order to
devote himself to writing and drawing, as well as to paintings on paper. In
1977, Saura undertakes the publication of his writings, creating several
scenographies for theater, ballet, and Opera. In 1983 after its premature
abandon, he once more picks up and develops the ensemble of his themes and
figures. First in 1991 and then in 1995, Antonio Saura will will work with his
father, the celebrated director Carlos Saura, on two versions of the opera
Carmen. His work is on the walls of all major museums. He dies July 22, 1998 in
Cuenca, Spain. 2008 will
be the year of Antonio Saura at the Musée des Abettoirs. Until February 2009,
no less than six expositions of this anti-Franco Spanish artist will be held.
Born in 1930 and passing away in 1998, Antonio Saura marked the post-Picasso
generation with works satirical, political, and often hallucinatory in both
their forms and their colors. |