Eulàlia Grau

1946 | Tarrassa, Spain

Information

Eulàlia Grau — AWARE Women artists / Femmes artistes

Portrait of Eulàlia Grau

√ Conceptual art √ Graphic arts √ Collage √ Drawing (ink, pencil…) √ Illustration √ Artist book √ Photography √ Photomontage √ Screen printing √ Political issues √ Women's status √ Colour √ Writing √ Feminism √ Spain √ Europe √ 1960s √ 1970s √ 1980s √ 1990s √ 2000s √ 2010s √ 2020s √ 20th century √ 21st century

Spanish multimedia artist.

Eulàlia Grau began by taking fine arts courses in Barcelona (1965–66) but dropped out to study film at the Sala Aixelà (1967–1970) with teachers such as Pere Portabella (1929–) and Alexandre Cirici (1914–1983), and drawing at the Escola EINA (1970–1972), where she met Albert Ràfols-Casamada (1932–2009) and Josep Maria Carandell (1934–2003). In Milan she worked with the Ettore Sottsass (1917–2007) design studio. Much of her body of work was produced in the 1970s and early 1980s. She lived for a few years in Japan (1984–1986), Germany (1982–1987 and 1990–1991) and China (1991–1993) before returning to Barcelona. In her work she uses press clippings and other photos that she recontexualises and sets into dialogue with each other to convey powerful social criticism. E. Grau’s output bears discomforting witness to the society of its time. It documents the shortcomings, contradictions and perversities of the capitalist system.
E. Grau’s art world debut came with the series entitled Etnografías [Ethnographies, 1972–1974], which signalled her acidic critical stance. Comprised of collages transferred to other media, it was the centre of the artist’s efforts for almost three years. While there is a certain coherence to the sequence of pieces made in 1972–1974, she continued expanding the series until the 1980s. In this early work she used emulsified canvases – a technique rooted in painting – but her practice soon embraced silkscreen and other kinds of mechanical reproduction. As the title itself indicates, the central concern in the Etnografías is the study of human groups. Ethnography is a branch of anthropology focused on the description and interpretation of particular cultures. In E. Grau’s hands, it became a critical visual dissection of life under capitalism.

Amongst other venues, E. Grau has exhibited at Madrid’s Galería Buades (1974), the Casa de Damas in Seville (1975) and, in Barcelona, the Sala Vinçon (1974, 1976), the Galería G (1976), the Academia de Bellas artes de Sabadell (1977 and 1978) and the Galería Ciento (1980). Outside Spain, her work has been presented at the Galerie Gaëtan in Geneva (1978), Conway Hall in London (1980), Edinburgh’s First of May Bookshop (1981), the Werkstatt-Galerie in Munich (1984), Plan B in Tokyo (1985) and the Galleria d’Arte Moderna Alba in Ferrara (2006 and 2009). In 2013, the Barcelona MACBA hosted a solo show of her work.

MACBA Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona

Translated from Spanish by Leo Stephen Torgoff.

A biography produced in collaboration with MACBA Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona as part of the programme « Role Models »