artist: Joan Vilacasas (Catalan 1920-2007)
medium: etching, signed and numbered - 5/10
dimensions: 21.5 x 14.5 cm image size (approx)
signed and dated 61
presented in a new timber frame with archival mat
AU $480 (approx US $335 / 290 EUROS / 35,500 yen / 265 GBP - for exact current conversion visit xe.com)
artist bio
Joan Vila i Casas, known as Joan Vilacasas was a Catalan painter, engraver, ceramist, and writer born in Sabadell, on June 3, 1920.
Vilacasas is one of the key names of the Catalan informalist generation. He studied at the Industrial School of Arts and Crafts in Sabadell, forming in the post-novecentist world interrupted by the civil war. After the war Vilacasas was a prominent member of the Sabadell group El Cenacle until 1941. It was in 1949, like many other artists of the period, he embarked on his way to Paris in search of his own language that could overcome the devastating panorama and the impoverishing isolation suffered during Francoism period in Spain. It was there. after connecting with the artists of the international artistic avant-garde, he began a progressive change in his work, first very influenced by the Impressionists and the Cubism of Picasso - from which a naive and profusely colourful figuration would be derived. During the he 1950s, Vilacasas exhibited primarily in Barcelona and Paris, but also with select shows in Madrid, Washington, Taipei, Frankfurt, London and Rio de Janeiro. After 1953 he began to realise his first abstract works which would form his body of work from this time on.
Vilacasas exhibited his work in several institutions and international events including the Venice Biennale, the Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Joan Miró Foundation, among others. His works are part of collections of institutions such as the MACBA, the Tate Gallery, the Jaume Morera Art Museum, the Joan March Foundation and the Sabadell Art Museum.
He passed away at the age of 86 on January 17, 2007 in Barcelona.