(Barcelona 1923–2012)
Matèria i Dos Peus - diptych, 1997, mixed media (marble flour, binder, paint) on wood, each 38.5 x 46 cm, in total 38.5 x 92 cm, on stretcher, (2)

Photo certificate:
Miquel Tàpies, Fundacio Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona 26 November 1999. The work is registered in the archive with the no. T-7693

Provenance:
Sala Pelaires, Palma de Mallorca (stamp on the reverse)
Galerie Lelong, Zurich
Private Collection, Germany

Exhibited/published:
Galerie Lelong, Zurich (gallery label), 1997-1998, cat.no 6 (ill.)
Pelaires, Centre Cultural Contemporani, Palma de Mallorca, 1999, Pelaires, 30 anys, p. 31 (ill.)
ARCO Madrid 2000, Galerie Lelong, Paris

Literature:
Anna Agusti, Tapies, Obra completa, vol. 7, 1991 – 1997, Barcelona 2003, p. 507, no. 7049

“Letters have a particular symbolic value for me. Sometimes they refer to esoteric concepts, to magical incantations, or they stand for a philosophical idea. Certain letters stand for the names of beloved people, my wife, my children. I use the conjunction of A and T again and again. It has a double meaning. It represents the initials of my name, Antoni Tàpies, and at the same time it stands for the connection between me and Teresa.”
Antoni Tàpies in: Boisserée Gallery, exhibition catalogue, Antoni Tàpies, Cologne 2011

“Wherever one looks, one is bombarded today with loud, garish colours, in advertising, in the media. For this reason I sought out a colour scale with muted colours, which correspond more to a philosophical, interior world.”
Antoni Tàpies in: Boisserée Gallery, exhibition catalogue, Antoni Tàpies, Cologne 2011

Antoni Tàpies created his first material pictures already in the late fifties; since then, there has been no end to his tireless experimentation and variation. Through experimentation with marble dust, sand, different sorts of paints and the greatest variety of supporting materials, new works are constantly created which astound the viewer with their differing structures, materialities and three-dimensional appearances. “Normally paintings are composed of colours and surfaces.
I experiment, however, with a third element – the material structure of the substance.
Applied in thick layers, wild forms with breaks and tears then emerge.”
The ‘dialogue’ with the materials is important, according to Tàpies, since only then are the things that he imagines implemented. And one constantly experiences a surprise, even with the most careful planning using very different materials, when unforeseen cracks appear or the materials interact with each other in unplanned yet fascinating ways.
The marble dust used for “Dos Peus” due to its plasticity strengthens the apparent weight of the footprints, to which the imprints of hammer, hooks, pliers and lock have been added, like devotional objects. The two ears with the cross are encircled by a mixture of coloured pigments like a divine aureole, in which the form of the ears is inscribed with the help of the finger.

“In a certain sense, the pictures in which I depict human body parts, feet, legs, arms, are comparable to ex-votos, those wax replicas of limbs and organs which the faithful amongst us bring into churches. They hope that, by means of these offerings, their prayers will be heard, requests will be granted or a sickness will be healed. Sometimes the votive offerings are also sacrificed as a thank-offering.”