Eusebio Sempere was instrumental in shaping modern art in Spain in the second half of the twentieth century. In his tireless experimentation he explored a variety of different techniques, ranging from the traditional disciplines of painting, sculpture or watercolour to totally modern and contemporary practices using light and computers.
After studying at the School of Arts and Crafts and at the San Carlos School of Fine Arts, both in Valencia, the artist moved to Paris in 1948, where he got in touch with the avant-garde movements of the time and met leading artists from his generation, including Eduardo Chillida (1924-2002), Pablo Palazuelo (2015-2007) and Victor Vasarely (1906-1997), one of the main exponents of .
During his time in Paris his practice gradually evolved towards purer, geometric and poetic abstraction. His earliest works from this period, generally watercolours, follow in the wake of the dreamlike and colourful compositions of Vasily Kandinsky (1866-1944) and Paul Klee (1879-1940). Little by little, Eusebio Sempere began to incorporate the principles of geometry and to simplify forms, combining notions of movement, vibration and dynamism, always evoked through the reiteration of fine parallel lines. In the 1950s Sempere introduced light, which would become a crucial element and the core concern of his visual practice. This gave rise to a suite of works known as Relieves luminosos móviles, mobile light reliefs which were made with sheets of wood that the artist perforated with geometric forms, coupled with a light system activated by small electrical engines. In this body of work, a sense of volume and depth is created through the temporary activation of the light bulbs.
A critical turning point in his career came when he learned . He became acquainted with the technique in the studio of the Cuban artist Wifredo Arcay (1925), who made silk-screen prints of works by a number of artists who at the time worked with Galerie Denise René in Paris. After returning to Madrid, Eusebio Sempere together with his loyal collaborator Abel Martín (1947-2013), introduced this art technique, virtually unknown in 1960s Spain.
The silk-screens Sempere created after coming back to Spain adumbrated the path his practice would follow from that moment onwards: compositions made with basic geometric forms, rendered through repetition and superimposition of parallel lines. In his works, Sempere makes all the elements gravitate with utmost refinement, turning them into semi-transparent bodies vibrating under our gaze. Besides optically suggesting movement, the superimposition gives the works an interesting volume that anticipates the three-dimensional works the artist would develop following a period in the United States in 1964.
Far from the more violent and expressionistic output of the practitioners of Informalismo working in Spain in the 1960s, Eusebio Sempere proposed a highly meticulous and refined work, defined by restful colours and simplified forms. Grounded in the purest geometric shapes, his works re-enact a kind of dance of spatial volumes, whose transparency generates a slight depth and whose colours seem to irradiate an inner light.
This silk-screen in the BBVA Collection belongs to the fourth portfolio of prints by Eusebio Sempere, called Transparencia del tiempo. Consisting of five prints, the portfolio was published by Galería Carmen Durango from Valladolid in 1977, as the second in the collection Marzales. Monografías de artistas contemporáneos. The five works making up the edition are also accompanied by four prose poems by Edmond Jabès. As a whole, the nine portfolios in which Eusebio Sempere worked from 1965 to 1982 are highly interesting, and can be seen as a summary of the basic principles of his practice, closely related with music and poetry.
In this work, Sempere plays with basic geometric forms: a circle and a square created by repeating and superimposing parallel lines. The counterpoised arrangement creates the impression that the bodies are caught up in an energetic dance, while glimpses of the superimposed forms suggest the idea of transparency. The indigo tones reinforce a sense of calm that contrasts with the accentuated volume and the movement provoked by the meticulous and perfect succession of lines.