Past Exhibition – 7th May – 25th May 2013
The collection of etchings and lithographs in this exhibition are editions from the 60’s and 70’s which were two of the most exciting decades of the 20th Century.
Surrealist and Dadaist characteristics were the most prominent features in the works of Miro and Dali which one can easily discern in their paper based works too. These etchings and lithographs were produced by Miro and Dali while working at Tristan Barbara’s printmaking workshop in Barcelona which houses major modern and contemporary artists. The images assimilate abstract figures, distorted portraits, numbers, alphabets and symbols into a colourful or monochrome compositions which are very telling of the larger oeuvre of Miro and Dali individually. These impressions or Impresión on paper are significant of not only the two artists and their experiments and contributions towards the medium of printmaking but also reflect the very essence of their artistic idiom. The title of this exhibition also alludes to the medium of printmaking which is a very visceral approach to producing art as well as the progression of ideas and thought imagery being transpired onto the paper making an impression – literal and metaphorical. Impressions of artist’s inner psyche while making the works in the printmaking workshop years ago and of the present surroundings inhabited by the artworks.
Born in Barcelona in 1893, Joan Miro worked in several printmaking processes, including engraving, lithography and etching, as well as the use of stencils. Devoting last two decades of his life entirely to printmaking, he stated that printmaking made his paintings richer, and gave him new ideas for his art. Miró’s first major museum retrospective was held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1941 and was exhibited specifically for his prints in 1970’s. Miro passed away in 1983, leaving behind a monumental collection of paintings, sculptures and prints in all major museums and institutions.
Salvador Dali (1904-1989) was one of the most eclectic surrealist artist from Spain and had dwelled onto many art movements and mediums to create an artistic legacy of style that was quintessentially his own. Dali’s muse and future wife Gala Eluard (Born as Elena Ivanovna Diakonova) was the constant inspiration for all his creativity and became his lifelong obsession, so much so that after her demise in 1982 Dali’s own health started declining and he spent his last years in seclusion at his Museum.
