JOSEP GRAU GARRIGA (San Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona, 1929 - Angers, France, 2011).
"Finestra? 1967
Tapestry (jute, silk and wool). Unique piece.
Signed by the artist.
Attached label from the workshop of Alfombras y Tapices de San Cugat del Vallès, also signed by the artist.
Measurements: 107 x 173 cm.
A painter, sculptor, engraver and tapestry weaver, Grau Garriga trained at the Schools of Arts and Crafts and Fine Arts in Barcelona, his early works being characterised by a post-cubist aesthetic. After the death of his father in 1957, he travelled to Paris, where he met Jean Lurçat, a master of modern tapestry. In the French capital he also came into contact with Informalism and matter painting. In the French capital he also studied the techniques and languages of Gothic tapestry and new French tapestry. On his return to Sant Cugat del Vallès in 1958, he set up the Escola Catalana del Tapís (Catalan Tapestry School) at the Alfombras y Tapices Aymat house, of which he was artistic director. In 1964 he presents the first individual exhibition of tapestry in Catalonia, at the Sala Gaspar in Barcelona. His work at this time shows the great influence of informalism, and already in the sixties he began his paper-collages, integrating metallic threads and using the visible warp in his tapestries. In his pictorial work, Grau Garriga works a lot with collage and assemblage, and his interest in tapestry means that weaving has a special importance in his painting. This artist takes us into informalist surrealism, with very particular visions in his treatment. In his mature stage, the retrospective that the Palau Robert in Barcelona dedicated to him in 1988, and the homage that his hometown paid him in 2004 with the declaration of the "Grau Garriga Year", which took the form of a double exhibition, one of recent work and the other dedicated to his origins in art, stand out. His work is currently distributed in major collections and museums around the world, such as the Museum of Abstract Art in Cuenca, the MACBA in Barcelona and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.