Aurèlia Muñoz's Monumental Retrospective at Reina Sofía

The 'Aurèlia Muñoz. Beings' exhibition at Madrid's Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía showcases a comprehensive retrospective of the Catalan artist Aurèlia Muñoz, featuring over 150 pieces from her 50-year career. Among the highlights is her impressive macramé sculpture 'Ondulaciones' (1974), crafted from thick nylon hawsers, weighing 660 pounds, and measuring 8 feet wide and nearly as tall. Born in Barcelona in 1926, Muñoz began her artistic journey in ceramics at Escola Massana in 1959 before transitioning to textiles. She participated in the Lausanne International Tapestry Biennial six times from 1965 to 1983, engaging with the Fiber Art and Nouvelle Tapisserie movements. Her early works, like 'Homenaje a Jerónimo Bosco' (1971), show influences from Catholic iconography, Medieval Catalan textiles, Antoni Gaudí, and Paul Klee. Despite the limitations imposed on women during Franco's dictatorship, Muñoz produced large-scale works, requiring permission for banking and travel. Following Franco's death in 1975, she created lighter pieces such as 'Àguila Beix' (1977) and 'Ocell estel' (early 1980s), began titling her works in the prohibited Catalan language, and learned papermaking at the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1979. Her later years, until her passing in 2011, were dedicated to handmade paper works influenced by the Mahikari religious movement. The exhibition is co-curated by her daughter, Sílvia Ventosa, who directs the Aurèlia Muñoz Archive.