Josep Grau-Garriga's Textile Sculptures Rediscovered at Galerie Nathalie Obadia

Galerie Nathalie Obadia in Paris is hosting the first Parisian solo exhibition of Josep Grau-Garriga, a Spanish master of tapestry who died in 2011. Born in 1929 in Sant Cugat del Vallès near Barcelona, Grau-Garriga was raised in a family of republican peasants and witnessed the rise of Francoism as a teenager, which deeply influenced his work. Initially trained as a painter at the Reial Acadèmia Catalana de Belles Arts de Sant Jordi in Barcelona, he met Jean Lurçat in Paris in 1957 and created his first tapestries under his guidance. Unlike Lurçat's decorative refinement, Grau-Garriga developed a raw, expressive style incorporating humble materials like string, jute, hemp, fabric scraps, wool remnants, old sacks, and clothing, aligning him with Arte Povera and Antoni Tàpies. The exhibition functions as a retrospective, highlighting his powerful, virile works from the 1970s that oppose Francoism, contrasting with his later, more lyrical pieces created after moving to France's Loire region in 1992. Grau-Garriga's work is held in public collections in Spain and internationally at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, LACMA in Los Angeles, and museums in Denver and Boston. The show marks a key step in his rediscovery by French audiences, following a 2013 exhibition 'Décorum' at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris that revived interest in textile art.