SwissArtGallery · Documented identity
Antonio Saura Atarés (1930–1998), a Spanish artist born in Huesca, developed an autodidactic body of work organised around recurring series: the Ladies, the Crucifixions, the Faces, the Crowds, the imaginary portraits and bullfighting. He described the female body as the matrix for pictorial constructions in black and white, to which other themes were gradually added. He was the brother of filmmaker Carlos Saura.
From 1943, bone tuberculosis forced him to remain immobile; during this period, he experimented with writing, drawing and painting, without undertaking any training at an art school. An initial exhibition of works resulting from these experiments was organised at the Libros bookshop in Zaragoza by Professor Federico Torralba. In Madrid, the Buchholz Gallery presented his second exhibition in 1951, under the title «Pinturas surréalistes de Antonio Saura»; in 1953, he organised the exhibition «Arte fantástico» himself at the Clan Gallery. In 1957, after moving away from Parisian Surrealism, he conceived the El Paso movement; he is cited as one of its founders, alongside Manolo Millares, Rafael Canogar and Luis Feito.
Series are a recurring principle in his work: the imaginary portraits include, in particular, numerous portraits of Goya, while the Crucifixions and the Ladies are among the groups of works he continued to develop. Bullfighting took several forms, from the lithographs accompanying José Bergamín’s «Arte de Birlibirloque» to the oil paintings on canvas of the «Sauromaquias», dated 1958 in the source; he also painted the bull and the torero. By the time of his first exhibition at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York, in 1961, he had already begun his series of Crucifixions, shrouds, collages and Ladies, as well as nudes, landscapes and imaginary portraits. His work also extended to illustrating books by George Orwell and Franz Kafka, and to creating sets for the opera «Carmen» and the play «Woyzeck».
In 1965, he destroyed around a hundred of his canvases in Cuenca. From 1976, he took part in the first Pavilion of Democratic Spain at the Venice Biennale. In 1985, he became a professor of visual arts at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid.
This profile brings together identity references for Antonio Saura and paintings, drawings and works on paper documented in auction catalogues.
Genève Enchères · Dobiaschofsky · Lempertz · Piguet
References include catalogue entries and available results; they do not all represent completed sales. Attributed works and special lots are excluded from the priced results.
Oil on canvas
Ohne Titel (Portrait 141)
Öl auf Leinwand
Auction date : 2019-11-29
Published result : 71920 EUR
Including buyer’s premium
Estimate : 40000
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Ink and opaque white on paper
"Crucifixion".
Tusche und Deckweiss auf Papier
Catalogue period : 2017-05-12
Published result : 20000 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 19000
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Ink and opaque white on paper
"Crucifixion".
Tusche und Deckweiss auf Papier
Catalogue period : 2016-11-11
Published result : 17000 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 12000
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Coloured pencil on paper, signed
Sans titre
crayon de couleur sur papier, signé
Catalogue period : 2016-09-22
Published result : 2800 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 2000–3000
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Ink on paper
Ohne Titel (Weibliche Figurenskizze)
Tusche auf Papier
Auction date : 2015-11-28
Published result : 7440 EUR
Including buyer’s premium
Estimate : 8000
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Mischtechnik auf gerissenem Papier
Auction date : 2015-11-28
Published result : 8060 EUR
Including buyer’s premium
Estimate : 7000
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Oil on canvas
Portrait 4/89"
huile sur toile
Catalogue period : 2021-09-22
Published result : 55000 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 40000–60000
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Oil on paper
"Foule"
huile sur papier
Catalogue period : 2021-09-22
Published result : 20000 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 10000–15000
View the lot at the auction house ↗SwissArtGallery documentary note based on the cited sources. Titles, media and qualifications are provided in the profile language; the original catalogue wording remains available in each record.
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