Eusebio Sempere

(Onil, Alicante, 1923 – 1985)

Untitled

1973

Series Tiempo de París

silkscreen on paper (70/75)

50 x 65 cm

Inv. no. P00250

BBVA Collection Spain



In a constant quest for a personal artistic style, over time Eusebio Sempere, who was also a member of the Parpalló group, went from abstraction to geometric simplification, seeking to fuse dynamism and movement, volume and three-dimensionality. Starting out from the premises of
and
, he shifted towards
and Kinetic movements.

The line is the basic unit of his practice, which he employed to create spectacular effects and geometric volumes that appear to levitate in space. Through the use of colour and the line, generally in parallel, he managed to endow his works with movement and volume, sometimes generating a
like effect.

The silkscreen would prove to be the medium most frequently used throughout his practice. He had picked up this particular technique in Paris around 1955 in the workshop of the Cuban artist Wilfredo Arcay (1925-1997), who was working for the Denise René gallery in prints for artists like Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) and Victor Vasarely (1906-1997), among others. Sempere recalled that learning the silkscreen technique was a slow, studied and meticulous process that allowed him to concentrate the motifs and figures to optimum effect and make them more evident. After his time in Paris, he started to produce silkscreens alongside his long-time collaborator Abel Martín.

The “Tiempo de París” series can be included within what he called his “loose series”, because, although they were not conceived as a homogenous portfolio in themselves, they did share a common idea. The group is made up of 10 silkscreens, made on black card, except for one on brown card (P00247), which are an exact replica of the gouaches he produced during his early period, between 1953-1955 and 1957-1960.

In this silkscreen, there is an incipient relationship with the geometric forms of Paul Klee (1879-1940) and also of Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944). The works were made in an edition of 100 following the artist’s express desire.