Antoni Tapies, Catalan painter and sculptor, dies at 88

Catalan painter and sculptor Antoni Tapies, one of the world’s top contemporary art figures, died Feb. 6 in Barcelona. He was 88.

A statement from the government of his native northeastern Catalonia region confirmed the death but did not disclose the cause.

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Born in Barcelona in 1923, Mr. Tapies was one of Spain’s main exponents of abstract and avant-garde art in the second half of the 20th century. His work has been displayed in major museums across the world.

Mr. Tapies — who won many awards, including the 2003 Velazquez Prize, Spain’s top art award — was known for sprawling, abstract works that sometimes featured discarded everyday materials and graffiti-like scrawls.

Other trademarks were crosses, and the letter X and number 4, symbolizing the four elements of nature and the four cardinal points.

The Encyclopaedia Britannica described Mr. Tapies as having introduced contemporary abstract painting into Spain. It said his use of the impasto thick-paint technique lent his work a power and individuality comparable to the American Abstract Expressionist paintings and helped secure his international reputation.

His most notable works included “Gray Relief on Black” (1959) and “White and Orange” (1967), “Pants and Woven Wire” (1973) and his famous sculpture “Sock” (1991).

In 1948, Mr. Tapies helped co-found the first post-war movement in Spain known as Dau al Set, which was connected to the Surrealist and Dadaist movements.

“Tapies is without a doubt Spanish art’s most prominent figure of the second half of the 20th century,” Reina Sofia museum Director Manuel Borja-Villel wrote in El Pais newspaper.

“Inheritor of the genius of the first vanguard movement, which had as its chief representatives Picasso, Miro and Dali, he was a constant presence in our country over the past 60 years,” said Borja-Villel, who was director of Barcelona’s Tapies Foundation from its opening in 1990 until 1998.

Mr. Tapies was married to Teresa Barba Fabregas. The couple had three children.

— Associated Press