ZHONG CHENG

Antoni Tàpies was born in 1923 into a distinguished Catalan family in Barcelona, Spain. He was a Spanish avant-garde painter and sculptor, and an iconic maestro of abstract art. Tàpies first made his mark in the 1940s, and is known for his bold abstract style and choice of media. He first held an exhibition in the U.S. in 1953, and saw the works by American abstract expressionist artists; their powerful brushworks and energetic colors formed distinct contrast to the solitary meditation in his own works. Tàpies’ most famous works are those abstract paintings in which he used common daily materials and showcased free and liberal strokes, such as “Sock” (1971), where he nailed a white sock on the canvas. In 1966, he began a collection of writings, La practica de l’art (The practice of art). In 1969, the book Frègoli, a collaboration with poet Joan Brossa, was published; a second joint effort, Nocturn matinal (Morning night), appeared the following year. Tàpies received the Rubens Prize of Siegen, West Germany, in 1972. Retrospectives were presented at the Musée national d’art moderne, Paris (1973), and Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York (1977).