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The Three Graces
Saura, Antonio
Huesca, 22/09/1930-Cuenca, 22/07/1998
Oil on canvas
196 x 292 cm (complete work) 195.3 x 97.2 cm (panel 1) 196 x 97.2 cm (panel 2) 196 x 97 cm (panel 3)
Saura (top left hand corner, on panel 1) / Saura (upper right side on panel 2) / Saura (top left hand corner, on panel 3)
1959
Third quarter of the 20th century
DEP637
Deposited by the Provincial Council of Bizkaia after transfer in lieu of tax by BBVA in 2001
As was customary in his great pictorial series, in The Three Graces Saura restricts his palette to black and white and breaks all the conventional notion of beauty, elegance and harmony that had characterised the representation of this classical theme since Antiquity. The monumental characters stand out against the plastic surface in the manner of great icons torn apart by the painter's gestural violence, while the female body -traditionally an object of desire- adopts the features of a violent and instinctive monster.
Around the year 1955 Saura distances himself from Surrealism and begins to show an interest in Art Informel, the great international movement of the time that stressed the importance of the artist's gestural use of pictorial matter and paid great attention to movement, textures and plastic rhythms and to the expression of the artist's inner world.
At that time, Saura was beginning to focus his work on the structure of the human body and face, which would become obsessive themes in his extensive artistic oeuvre that extended into the fields of literature, prints, drawing and illustration. Saura, who would subject his work to an intense process of technical and formal experimentation, discovered in this extremely simplified female body (reduced to its barest expression) a way of preserving the essential structure of the painting and of avoiding the total disappearance of the figurative image. (Miriam Alzuri)
Selected bibliography
- O'Hara, Frank. New Spanish Painting and Sculpture [Cat. exp.] . New York, The Museum of Modern Art, 1960. pp. 40-41, 58, il.
- Antonio Saura [Cat. exp.]. Milano, Electa, 1994. pp. 40, 131, n° cat.16.
- Pintura al desnudo : Picasso, Dubuffet, De Kooning, Bacon, Saura [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao ; Fundación Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, 2001. pp. s.p., 130, n° cat. 21.
- Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao : guía. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. p. 195.
- Musée des Beaux Arts de Bilbao : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. p. 195.
- Bilbao Fine Arts Museum : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. p. 195.
- Arroyo, Eduardo. Los bigotes de La Gioconda. Bilbao, Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2009. p. 124.
- Arroyo, Eduardo. The Moustache of La Gioconda. Bilbao ; Madrid, Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao ; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, 2009. p. 124.
- Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao : guía. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2011. p. 195, n° cat. 139.
- Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa : gida. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2012. p. 195, n° cat. 139.
- Bilbao Fine Arts Museum : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2014. p. 195.
- Musée des Beaux Arts de Bilbao : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2014. p. 195.
- Maestros : Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao . Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2016. pp. 116-117, il.
- Maisuak : Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2016. pp. 116-117, il.
- Masters : Bilbao Fine Arts Museum. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2016. pp. 116-117, il.
- Maîtres : Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bilbao. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2016. pp. 116-117, il.
- 110 Years 110 Works [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2018. pp. 268-269, sin n° cat.
- 110 Años 110 Obras [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2018. pp. 268-269, sin n° cat.
- 110 Ans 110 Oeuvres [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2018. pp. 268-269, sin n° cat.
- 110 Urte 110 Artelan [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2018. pp. 268-269, sin n° cat.