The Cultural Work of FUNIBER and the Universidad Europea del Atlantico (European University of the Atlantic, UNEATLANTICO) recently inaugurated the exhibition «Tàpies, colección del grabador Barbarà» in the exhibition centre of the old town hall of Laredo, Cantabria, with the support of the Casa de Cultura and the town council.
The exhibition can be visited until 15 June with free admission. The opening ceremony was attended by: Miguel González González, the Mayor of Laredo; Laura Recio, Councillor for Culture; Ángel Bueno, head of the Exhibition Centre of the old Town Hall; Federico Fernández, curator of the exhibition and director of the Cultural Work of FUNIBER and UNEATLANTICO, and Helena Garay, professor of photography and head of Cultural Extension of the European University of the Atlantic.
The Mayor of Laredo praised both the exhibition and the space that hosts it: ‘It is an honour for our town to host an exhibition of this magnitude in the hall of the old Town Hall, a space that we are consolidating as a cultural reference in the region. Tàpies and the engraver Barbarà is a unique opportunity to bring our neighbours and visitors closer to an artistic dimension where technique, thought and poetry converge. We are committed to a living, quality culture, and this exhibition is a magnificent example of this’.
The exhibition, entitled ‘Tàpies, collection of the engraver Barbarà’, presents 29 engravings that reflect the rich diversity of styles and the artistic evolution of Tàpies throughout his career. Each piece offers an in-depth view of his stylistic shifts, from his earliest explorations to his more mature works, which highlight how Tàpies employed complex symbolism in dialogue with scientific and abstract elements.
A significant part of the pieces exhibited are bon à tirer, which indicates that they are the versions perfected by the artist and used as a reference for the editions in Joan Barbarà’s engraving workshop. For this reason, each of these pieces is considered to be the zero copy of the many reproductions made in the workshop.
Antoni Tàpies, a central figure of the second Spanish avant-garde, established himself as a key reference in 20th-century painting. Joan Barbarà, for his part, was an outstanding artist who played a crucial role in the dissemination of art, receiving in his studio such important figures as Joan Miró, Picasso and Matisse.