Works on paper

Antonio Saura was a Spanish painter, printmaker and draughtsman. He was largely self-taught as an artist. Saura initially became interested in the Surrealist movement at the outset of his artistic career. However, after he met with André Breton in Paris during the mid 1950s and partly as a result of the political unrest in Spain, the young artist began to engage in a more expressionist style that led him to an alignment with the members of the CoBrA group. Eventually Saura’s art became an expression of his political views that protested against the Franco regime. He also began to show his works along with other members of the Situationist group which originally comprised a small band of avante-garde artists and intellectuals who, influenced by Dada, Surrealism and Lettr came to prominence in June of 1968 and were at first most concerned with the suppression of art and its expression.  It is known that such artists as Alechinsky, Appel, Corneille, and Jorn also exhibited their works alongside this group. Saura was one of the founders of the El Paso group, which promoted Art Informel in Spain. He was awarded the Guggenheim Prize in 1960 and the Carnegie Prize in 1964.