|
|
Etching
Bon a tirer Signed 76 x 56,5 cm 1987 Price: € |
Biography of Modest Cuixart:
Barcelona, 1925-2007
In 1944, Modest Cuixart enrolled in the Faculty of Medicine but abandoned it in 1946 to fully dedicate himself to painting. In 1948, Cuixart, along with Arnau Puig, Joan Brossa, Tharrats, and Tàpies, participated in the founding of the magazine Dau al Set and the group of the same name. It became the first and most significant manifestation of post-war Spanish Surrealism, linking the post-war renewal movements with the avant-gardes of the first third of the century.
In 1951, he traveled to France, alternating his residence between Lyon and Paris. Cuixart’s early paintings and drawings from the 1940s align with expressionism. Later, he went through the aforementioned surrealist stage, connected to fantastic and dreamlike images during the time of Dau al Set.
In the 1950s, he evolved towards an informal and material painting that employed "dripping" and collage, eventually transitioning to works where expressionist figuration became more pronounced, with a special interest in the female figure and erotic images.
He produced a substantial graphic work, as well as theater sets and costumes, notably for "Antigone" at the Ballet Moderne de Paris in 1964.
In 1958, Cuixart won the Torres García Prize, and in 1959, the Painting Prize at the V São Paulo Biennial. The Dau al Set gallery organized a retrospective exhibition in 1975 that included works from 1942.
Despite the constant transformations and oscillations of the painter’s interests between material values and strictly formal elements, the magical element, the use of a hermetic language of symbols, and the depiction of a dark mystery provide unity to his overall contribution.