Antonio Saura (1930-1998)
Lot 49

Antonio Saura (1930-1998)

Retrato 86 (Autoportrait)

Closed25 September 2014

Price Realised

GBP 25,000

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Antonio Saura (1930-1998)
Retrato 86 (Autoportrait)
signed and dated 'SAURA 60' (upper right); signed, titled and dated 'Retrato 86 SAURA 60' (on the stretcher)
oil on canvas
23 5/8 x 28 5/8in. (59.8 x 72.7cm.)
Painted in 1960

Galerie Stadler, Paris.
Acquired from the above by the previous owner and thence by descent.

Specialist note

‘Saura’s paintings rapidly evolve in the direction of the gestural and non-representational, a move which put him in the company of a number of personalities and break-away tendencies of the immediate post-war period.' (R. Chiappini, quoted in Antonio Saura, exh. cat., Museo d’Arte Modern, Lugano, 1994, p. 13).

'Having no illusions about Beauty, he returns to earth, which is the flesh, the undifferentiated and, in short, the chaotic. What passionately interests him is what lies beneath any display of radiant exemplariness… Saura has unfolded before us, in full luxurious detail, a variegated map of his wanderings amongst the great masters of the past.’ (F. C. Serraller, quoted in Antonio Saura, exh. cat., Museo d’Arte Modern, Lugano, 1994, p. 23).