Antoni Tàpies

Martha Jackson Gallery, New York

Collection Daniel Varenne

Pat and Charles Sonabend Fine Art, London

Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1975

New York, Martha Jackson Gallery, Antoni Tàpies : paintings, collages, and works on paper 1966-1968, 

November 1968, no. 31, illustrated

Pere Gimferrer, Antoni Tapies i l’esperit català, Barcelona 1974, no. 225, p. 233, illustrated in colour

Victoria Combalia Dexeus, Tapies, Madrid 1988, no. 26, illustrated in colour

Anna Agusti, Tapies Obra Completa, Vol.II 1961 - 1968, Barcelona 1990, n. 1808, p. 404, illustrated in colour

Composed of torn rags and twine fixed to a wooden support and mounted on canvas, Chiffons et ficelles sur bois (1967) expresses Tàpies' fascination with found materials. The surface, enlivened by subtle shades of ochre, grey and earthy browns, displays the chromatic palette so characteristic of his art—tones that evoke stone, dust and walls weathered by time. These hues reinforce the sense of tactility and antiquity, anchoring the composition in the physical world while opening it up to metaphysical resonances. The rags and ropes, embedded and compressed, evoke traces of human presence—objects that have become relics through the artist's intervention. The combination of wood, fabric, and pigment blurs the boundary between painting and relief, between the pictorial and the sculptural.

Created in the mid-1960s, Chiffons et ficelles sur bois reflects Tàpies' profound exploration of matter as a sign and memory. The inclusion of everyday elements—string and worn fabric —becomes a meditation on fragility and persistence, on the coexistence of matter and spirit. Through these materials, Tàpies infuses the surface with a silent energy, transforming the ordinary into a place of reflection and transcendence. His radical use of modest, tactile substances heralds the sensibility of “Arte Povera”, paving the way for a generation of artists eager to connect the poetic and the physical through the raw materials of everyday life.

A central figure in the Catalan avant-garde, Tàpies combines the existential sensibility of post-war abstraction with a unique Mediterranean warmth and symbolic density. His works from the 1960s, such as Chiffons et ficelles sur bois, are among the most emblematic of his career, bridging the gestural freedom of Art Informel with a profound philosophical reflection on presence, decay and meaning.