Antonio Saura Biography
Antonio Saura, born in Huesca in 1930, was a Spanish artist known for his activity as a painter, writer and illustrator. His first interest in painting and writing manifested itself in 1947 when, due to a long convalescence due to tuberculosis, he began to create drawings and paintings characterized by a strong surrealist and dreamlike imprinting. Starting in 1952, Saura moved to Paris where he came into contact with surrealist artists, although he later approached other artistic currents such as abstract expressionism.
In the 1950s, Saura began to explore the iconography of the human body and the female figure, a theme that became central to her artistic production. In 1957, he co-founded the El Paso Group, of which he was director until 1960. In the same period he held his first solo exhibition at the Rodolphe Stadler Gallery in Paris, a place of exhibition that would accompany him throughout his life.
Saura's work has evolved over the years, embracing different mediums: from the use of the scraping technique and the pictorial gesture, to the art of printing, up to writing, drawing and the creation of theatrical sets. His personal style, characterized by the use of a palette limited to blacks, grays and browns, has always distinguished itself from the artistic trends of his time, following instead the pictorial tradition of masters such as Velasquez and Goya.
Saura was also a prolific illustrator and collaborated on numerous editions of books, including Don Quixote by Cervantes and Nineteen Eighty-Four by Orwell. In 1960 he began creating sculptures that represented welded metal elements depicting the human figure and symbolic objects such as the cross.
Throughout his artistic career, Saura has been featured in exhibitions around the world and his work has been acquired by major museums. From 1983 until his death in 1998, he continued to explore his themes and figures, always maintaining his stylistic coherence and the originality of his creative voice.
