Marking fifty years of diplomatic relations between China and Spain, this year notably coincides with the 100th anniversary of the birth of Spanish artist Antoni Tàpies (1923 – 2012). Following in the footsteps of other pioneering Spanish artists such as Pablo Picasso (1881 – 1973), Joan Miró (1893 – 1983), and Salvador Dalí (1904 – 1989), Tàpies contributed to the advancement of Modern art through theory and investigations into non-traditional materials. Shanghai Bund Art Center is pleased to commemorate the artist’s achievements in Antoni Tàpies: Dialogue with Objects, opening on 6 November. 

This presentation pays homage to Tàpies’ last significant solo show in China, a 1989 retrospective at the National Art Museum of China. Curated by Professor Zhang Zikang, Director of the Central Academy of Fine Arts Museum, Antoni Tàpies: Dialogue with Objects encompasses two decades of the artist’s career and an astonishing breadth of media. With generous support from Antoni Tàpies Barba and Natasha Hébert, Timothy Taylor, as well as the Embajada de España en China and Biblioteca Miguel de Cervantes  in Shanghai, the Shanghai Bund Art Center is honored to be the first institution in China to exhibit this body of work directly from Spain and the United Kingdom.

Explorations of materiality were integral to Antoni Tàpies’ practice, and he is credited with introducing mixed and unexpected media into Modern art. A prolific art theorist, Tàpies believed in the transcendental power inherent to the act of creation. In his perspective, art eroded the barriers between inner spirit and outer surroundings. The resulting synthesis of high art with everyday materials enriched Tàpies’ artistic expression.

Tàpies had a profound connection with Eastern culture. In the 1950s, he began incorporating the thinking of Chinese Zen Buddhism and the brushwork techniques of Chinese calligraphy into his creations. In 1987, Tàpies established Spain's first and only Oriental Library in Barcelona. In his view, Eastern culture not only influenced his artistic creations but also facilitated dialogue between East and West through his works.

This period of cross-cultural exchange culminated in Tàpies’ retrospective exhibition which was sponsored by the China International Cultural Exchange Center and held at the National Art Museum of China in April 1989. Spurred by the 1985 New Wave movement, Chinese artists and scholars alike engaged with Tàpies’ practice and were impacted by Modernist and Post-Modernist trends. Hosting young Chinese artists in his Barcelona studio in the mid-1990s, Tàpies became an active participant in shaping contemporary Chinese art and culture.

Transcendent and visionary, Tàpies’ practice is deeply rooted in philosophy and humanity. On the occasion of his 100th birthday, this exhibition serves as a meditation on Tàpies’ artistic innovations and his indelible impact on contemporary Chinese culture and society.