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To be sold at our Important Sale: Modern & Contemporary Art + Design & Watches 12 – 14 November 2024
Lot 537 Antonio Saura (Spain 1930‑1998). ”Kema”. Signed and dated Saura -58 upper right and signed, dated and entitled on the stretcher Saura 1958 Kema. Oil on relined canvas, 130 x 97 cm.
This work is registered in the archives of the Antonio Saura Foundation and will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné.
600.000 – 800.000 SEK
€ 53.000 – 70.000
Galerie Stadler, Paris.
Galerie Blanche, Stockholm.
Galerie Burén, Stockholm.
Lennart Ellison (1915‑2010), acquired from the above in 1975.
Stockholms Auktionsverk, Lennart Ellison Collection, 27 October 2010, lot 683.
The collection of art dealer Kenneth Åberg (1943‑2012), Gothenburg,
acquired at the above sale.
Galerie Blanche, Stockholm, ”Antonio Saura – oljemålningar”, April 1960, cat. no. 8.
The prominent Spanish painter and sculptor Antonio Saura has become widely appreciated for his profound artistic interpretations and searches within the human existentialism. Characteristic with a distinctive style, a systematic organization and with a committed truthfulness to his focus themes, he explores the depth of the psyche, often reflected by his own personal struggles. Through his expressive figurative imagery, Saura is in a constant dialogue with previous masters and sources of inspiration like Picasso, Diego Velázquez and Francisco de Goya. Especially Goya and Velázquez were of utmost importance for Saura when he as a young boy joined his father to the Museo del Prado in Madrid and got completely fascinated by their paintings. At the age of thirteen, Saura was infected by tuberculosis that confined him to his bed for five years. During the end of this period, in 1947, he started to paint and write. Reflecting on his visit to Prado and without any formal training he began to produce art and soon realized that this was what he was going to devote his life to.
Saura’s initial artistic experiments in diverse mediums and techniques led him towards the Surrealist movements and imagery. He moved to Paris for a few years in the mid 50s but thereafter returned to settle in Madrid in 1957. Saura soon evolved a more severe style and started to work repeatedly with different motifs like portraits and the female body in focus. With inspiration from the abstract expressionists of the New York school as well as from the artists connected with the French Art Informel group, Saura developed a strong and independent style in dialogue with the former masters of the art history: “All history eventually becomes a type of painting, and the cannibalistic painter, like the novelist, vampirises both the past and the present in this way, making them his own in order to pour himself through them.” (Antonio Saura, Cuadros de una exposición, Galería de Manolo Valdés, in Manolo Valdés, Pintures i escultures, Barcelona, Galería Maeght, 1985). To exemplify, he creates series reflecting on Velázquez’ crucifixion, Picasso’s portraits of Dora Maar, Goya’s dog, Rembrandt’s self-portraits and the works of Tizian.
Saura started to focus to paint mainly in black and white, expressing a strong impact and in 1957 his first solo exhibition in Paris was arranged by the prestigious Galerie Stadler. This was also the time when Saura founded the El Paso group with other artists based in Madrid, like Manolo Millares, Luis Feito and Rafael Canogar, a group that would remain until 1960. During this very productive period, in the year of 1958, the auction’s painting “Kema” was created. With a breathtaking power of energy, “Kema” is an impressive characterization. Bold and expressive brushstrokes in black swishes widely across the bright white canvas in a dynamic movement. The imposing layers of thick black paint creates a relief effect that further enhances its impression and dimensions. The painting was originally with Galerie Stadler in Paris and came shortly thereafter to Sweden where it was included in Antonio Saura’s exhibition at Galerie Blanche in April 1960, an exhibition that was arranged as a collaboration with Stadler. It has ever since remained in Sweden where the beautiful painting has been included in several important collections.
Like a dramatic whirlwind, Antonio Saura flows through the artworld during the mid-1900s, leaving an everlasting impression placing him among the most influential Spanish artists of his time. His imagery represents a midway between the figurative and the abstract with a strong individualism. With a provocative mind he often challenged preconceived notions and explored the human suffering, existential ruminations and haunting anguish, reflected by the socio-political world he was living in. The distorted figures vary in the different themes, portraits, females, crucifixions, crowds, nudes, erotica etc. Through his constant flow of creativity, Saura was however affected by his own self-critique, which led him to destroy hundreds of works he was not satisfied with between the years of 1965-67. Spanning almost five decades, Saura’s career extended beyond painting into sculpture, writing, printmaking and theatre set design. He exhibited widely in Europe and the USA during his lifetime and is represented in many of the world’s most prominent museums and collections. Today remains our appreciation of this grand artist, admired for his strong pathos and unique paintings. ■