When the chronicles about Antoni Tàpies spoke of a "terrifying" atmosphere

BarcelonaThe first and only collector of the pioneering exhibition that Antoni Tàpies held at the Galeries Laietanes in 1950 was Joan Antoni Samaranch, a family friend, as Tàpies himself recalled in one of his writings. It was difficult for Tàpies to put on that exhibition. Despite Josep Gudiol's insistence, his friend Joan Brossa advised him against showing his works in public. But Tàpies decided to do it before embarking on his first trip to Paris, funded by the Círculo Mallol. No photographs of the installation survive, but in those years the gallery was practically dark to highlight the exhibited works. In Tàpies' case, accounts described the atmosphere in the afternoon as "terrifying," explains Pablo Allepuz, curator of the Museu Tàpies collection and co-curator, with the director, Imma Prieto, of the institution's new exhibition. The perpetual motion of the wall"This coincidence between the space, the exhibition context, and the content of Tàpies's painting is an important aspect for understanding his critical reception—that is, everything that journalists and critics said about his work—and also for considering that perhaps even what Tàpies painted then and from then on was already present."

In the first decade of his career, Tàpies's reputation grew rapidly. The Barcelona City Council bought three large-format canvases from the 1960 exhibition dedicated to him at the Sala Gaspar, the last of the recreated shows, for half a million pesetas, according to the press. The price sparked a heated debate. "The exhibition went from being an artistic event to a social one. The debate was out in the open, and many articles appeared in the press, so the photographs of the exhibition were no longer of an empty space but began to show people looking at Tàpies's works," says the curator. In other words, an interest arose "in the perception of the works and in interpreting Tàpies's works in this exhibition context," explains Allepuz.

The bulk of the exhibition consists of the recreation, with around one hundred paintings, drawings, and documents, of fragments from four Tàpies exhibitions of the 1950s to analyze the impact of aspects such as lighting, how the paintings were hung, and the colors and textures of the walls—in a rather aseptic manner—in the white cube-like rooms of museums and art galleries. The exhibitions are two at the Galeries Layetanas (1950 and 1954), a third at the Galerie Stadler in Paris (1956), and the fourth at the Sala Gaspar (1960).

Among the highlights of the exhibition is the painting from the Samaranch collection. Mudrco. Inscriptions in the east of a garden, and two of the three paintings purchased by the City Council, currently housed in the MACBA: Four gray squares on a brown background (1959) and Ochre paint (1959). You can also see Brown and ochre (1959), from the Juan March Foundation Collection, Museum of Spanish Abstract Art in Cuenca, and other paintings from the Reina Sofía Museum, the La Caixa Foundation, and the future Thyssen Museum in Barcelona.

From the sanatorium to the streets of Barcelona

For Imma Prieto, the exhibition's thesis rests on three pillars. "All of this is linked by three fundamental concepts. The first is that of matter, since in the transition from the 1940s to the 1950s, Tàpies, in a way, abandoned figuration and delved into the world of materials. And it's essential to understand that he did so while confined to a sanatorium, as the atomic bomb reached him," Prieto explains. The second idea is that of the "wall": "The wall initially evokes the walls of the sanatorium, and when Tàpies leaves, it quickly takes on the more public and collective aspect of the streets of Barcelona. On these walls are traces of the Civil War and the executions, and the graffiti, which are traces of the citizenry." Thus, there is a shift from the sanatorium wall to the gallery wall, where the third key idea emerges: "perception," and, at the same time, the spectator who acts as mediator. "Perception is essential to empowering the viewer, the reader, and increasingly, the emancipated viewer. The meaning of a work goes beyond the work itself and the artist's intentions," the director emphasizes. In any case, with this exhibition, the curators are exploring a way of analyzing works that departs from the more common approaches, such as the biographical one. "Is there any difference between the perception of viewers who first saw the works in the 1950s and our own? This is a question we will have to answer for everyone," Prieto points out.

On the other hand, for the first exhibition at the Galeries Layetanas, Tàpies was offered an exhibition model that Joan Miró had explored the previous year, so he exhibited not only paintings but also watercolors. And inside the display cases, illustrations, publications... The second exhibition had an accidental element: Grupo R extended its exhibition in the gallery, and Tàpies and Joan Brotat came so that their works could coexist with modern furniture by architects like Antoni de Moragas, something that the curators at the Museu Tàpies have recreated from the Dhub.

"A very strange effect was produced seeing Brotat's almost medieval works and the grattage Tàpies's work was displayed amidst roller blinds, designer armchairs, lights, glass doors, and construction materials. "It's important to consider whether this exhibition influenced how Tàpies progressed toward impasto paintings and the types of materials he used," says the curator. But there's an even more significant fact: "Tàpies's paintings were hung by a cable, with the top of the work tilted forward, and the zenithal light made the early stages of Tàpies's work much more visible than they would have been in other spaces. Critics began to point out that Tàpies was transcending line and color through texture," explains Allepuz.

The exhibition at the Stadler Gallery, where the paintings are already like "fragments of wall detached from the walls." Finally, the installation of the exhibition in the Gaspar room, which marked the return of the internationally acclaimed Tàpies to his city, drew attention for its heterogeneous nature: there were white brick walls, others of black velvet, and an entire wall of wood. "The exhibition showcased Tàpies' work from that period," the curator concludes.