A large rectangular tapestry with deep blue-black edges lightens toward the center with draped fabrics of lighter blues, off-white, and a touch of yellow.

Josep Grau-Garriga

b. 1929 — d. 2011

The Estate of Josep Grau-Garriga

Fabrics are linked to human life at every stage through its existence, one of the biggest discoveries of our species, it covers and protects and identifies us. It was taken up by the arts of course, and I think that the possibilities of textile are still unexplored. — Josep Grau-Garriga

Artwork

Exhibitions

01.09–03.07.2020
February Light
Freeman Alley

Estate of Josep Grau-Garriga

04.25–06.03.2017
Tapestries: 1970 - 2011
Salon 94 Bowery

Estate of Josep Grau-Garriga

12.03–12.08.2019
Group Show
Art Basel

Art Basel Miami Beach 2019

05.03–06.09.2017
Group Show
Lever House

MIDTOWN

Biography

The image looks up toward the sky at a man on a ladder who is reaching up and touching a puff of red yarn on a large tapestry.

"Justice or Injustice," 1972

Born in 1929 in Saint Cugat-del Valles near Barcelona, he moved to Anjou, France, in 1991 where he remained until his death until 2011.

Josep Grau-Garriga’s solo exhibitions include Salon 94, New York, 2020 and 2017, Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris (France), 2016; Michel Soskine Inc., Madrid (Spain), 2015; the Angers Museum of Fine Arts (France), 2010; MHS - the Sabadell History Museum, Sabadell (Spain), 1990; the Jean-Lurçat Museum, Angers (France), 1989; Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City (Mexico), 1987; Arras Gallery, New York (USA), 1983; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1974; the Birmingham Museum of Fine Arts, 1971; the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, 1970. His work has also been featured in the following recent group exhibitions: Tapisseries Nomades. Fondation Toms Pauli. Collection XXe siècle, Musée cantonal des Beaux - Arts de Lausanne, Lausanne (Switzerland), 2016; Creative Crossroads: The Art of Tapestry, Denver Art Museum, Denver, 2015; Decorum. Tapis et tapisseries d’artistes, Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris (France), 2013; Hay más rutas que la nuestra. Las colecciones de Tamayo Después de la Modernidad, Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City (Mexico), 2013. A major installation of his work was part of the Sydney Biennale in 2020.

Josep Grau-Garriga’s work is part of important permanent museum and institutional collections, including the Brooklyn Museum, the Denver Art Museum, the Houston Fine Arts Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Oklahoma Art Center, Fondation Toms Pauli, Lausanne (Switzerland), FRAC Lorraine, Metz (France), MACBA - Museu d’Art Contemporain de Barcelona, Barcelona (Spain), Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Sevilla (Spain), Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris (France), Musée des Beaux Arts, Angers (France), and Museu Rufino Tamayo, Mexico DF (Mexico).

In March 2019, The Center Grau-Garriga d’Art Tèxtil Contemporani, the first contemporary art center dedicated to textile art in Spain, opened in his hometown of Sant Cugat del Vallés (Barcelona).

Press

01.13.2020
9 Must-See Art and Design Exhibitions, From New York to Berlin
The Editors

Surface Magazine

04.01.2020
Josep Grau-Garriga at Salon 94 Bowery
Charity Coleman

ARTFORUM

01.09.2019
Josep Grau-Garriga at Galerie Nathalie Obadia
Veronica Santi

Artforum

03.15.2015
Sant Cugat will have a center dedicated to the work of Josep Grau-Garriga
Unknown

La Vanguardia

03.08.1971
Tapestries? Well, Not in the Classic Sense
Rita Reif

The New York Times