A Personal Memoir: Fragments for an Autobiography integrates the memoirs of Antoni Tapies, beginning in pre civil war Barcelona and extending to Francoist Madrid, existentialist Paris, and New York in the 1950s, with historical images from diverse sources, including the family and the artist's archives. Tapies's reflections on his interactions with such prominent cultural
A Personal Memoir: Fragments for an Autobiography integrates the memoirs of Antoni Tapies, beginning in pre civil war Barcelona and extending to Francoist Madrid, existentialist Paris, and New York in the 1950s, with historical images from diverse sources, including the family and the artist's archives. Tapies's reflections on his interactions with such prominent cultural figures as Picasso, Miro, and Duchamp, on his approach to modernity and the avant-garde, and on the historical events of his lifetime from his birth in 1923 to the 1970s provide insights into the inner sources and development of his art. Highlighting the close ties between his writings and his visual work, this volume includes a generous selection of both color and black-and-white images that trace the unfolding of Tapies's artistic language from the 1940s to the present.
Complete Writings, Volume II, Collected Essays, will be published in 2011."
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Hardcover
,
429 pages
Published
October 1st 2009
by Fundacio Antoni Tapies
This was an interesting read for me, Tapies having been a favorite painter of mine since I discovered him during my college days. Also, reading it so soon after visiting Barcelona, I had a clear recollection of many of the streets and landmarks mentioned. On the other hand, there is a lot of discussion of historical figures, events, and political movements with which I am not familiar at all, and so there were several sections that didn't mean as much to me as they would to someone more well-ver
This was an interesting read for me, Tapies having been a favorite painter of mine since I discovered him during my college days. Also, reading it so soon after visiting Barcelona, I had a clear recollection of many of the streets and landmarks mentioned. On the other hand, there is a lot of discussion of historical figures, events, and political movements with which I am not familiar at all, and so there were several sections that didn't mean as much to me as they would to someone more well-versed in those matters. Even so, I enjoyed learning about this person whose work I have admired for so long, but whose life I knew little about.
That said, I'm not sure this is a book for just anyone. I can't imagine it would be of interest to anyone who wasn't already a fan of Tapies's work.
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