Antonio Guansé (Spain) | Visage de face, 1974 | Lithography, 53x42 (73x59)

Sign.: LR signature  LL 18/100

Antonio Guansé was born on January 1, 1926, in Tortosa, northeastern Spain, Catalonia.

In 1953, thanks to a French government scholarship, he moved to Paris, where he met Pablo Picasso, who had the greatest influence on him. In 1954, he permanently relocated to Paris and began to regularly exhibit his works there. From 1956 to 1958, color played a significant role in his works, where forms burst out in an organic dynamism, creating compositions that approached "abstract expressionism". In 1959, his explorations led him to develop a new plastic language, similar to what would later be called the "new figuration" - an artistic movement transitioning from the hegemonic abstraction of the 1960s to narrative figuration, initiated in 1965.

Guansé's path was one of solitude, highly esteemed for his freedom and independence. He never sought to convince others of the correctness of his views. His works spoke for themselves, confirming a character that increasingly pushed him towards simplification, the abandonment of forms, and the need to return to basics. Human existence steadily asserts itself in his paintings and in time.

Antonio Guansé passed away on November 22, 2008, in Paris. He held more than a hundred solo exhibitions, and his works are found in many prestigious public collections, including the National Museum of Modern Art in Paris, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Madrid, and the city of Toledo.