Aurèlia Muñoz Barcelona, 1926-2011

Overview
Aurèlia Muñoz
Retorno al infinito, 1976

Searching for traditional textile techniques, Aurèlia found networks and especially macramé, an ancient Oriental knotting technique, which the Arabs termed the “noble knots.” The highly personal use of this technique allowed her works, completely distanced from figurative art, to achieve a mastery of three-dimensional space. Her working of these pieces was totally original, as the repetition of simple knots with unspun jute, strings of sisal and nylon, did not disturb the concept. With the possible exception of Françoise Grossen, no-one has used this technique like Aurèlia Muñoz, who achieved three-dimensional solutions never seen until then.

 

- Andreu Dengra & Silvia Ventosa [1]


Aurèlia Muñoz has recently gained recognition as one of the few Spanish artists featured in MoMA's permanent collection in New York. Her artworks also formed part of the "Mujeres de la Abstracción" exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. These achievements have solidified her position as a significant figure in the art world, a place she earned through a remarkable professional career that saw the resurgence of textile art during the dynamic decades of the 1960s and 1970s. Her pioneer role during the 60's contributed in  pushing the boundaries of tapestry beyond its conventional two-dimensional form and functionality. Her works evolved into sculptural volumes and even spatial interventions, reflecting the general progression of textile art. Her contributions were instrumental in elevating the status of textile art as a profound and innovative artistic expression within the contemporary art landscape.

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[1] Andreu Dengra & Silvia Ventosa, “Aurelia Muñoz. Infinite Research. Fibres, textures and space” in Datatèxtil 29, November 2013
Works
Biography
Aurèlia Muñoz in her studio in Barcelona, 1974. Image by Pau Barceló.
Aurèlia Muñoz in her studio in Barcelona, 1974. Image by Pau Barceló.
Aurelia Muñoz (Barcelona, 1926-2011) was a prominent Spanish whose career is strongly linked to textile research, an area in which her contribution has been fundamental.
 
She developed a solid career, linked to the renaissance experienced by textile art at the end of the 1960s. Although she started with embroidery and took Torres García and Paul Klee as models, she then began to experiment with three-dimensionality. Textile sculptures made in macramé, which take this technique out of the realm of feminine and artisan work and launch it into the monumental and the aerial. The movements known as La Nouvelle Tapisserie and Fiber Sculptures, in which Aurèlia Muñoz actively participated, aimed to go beyond the traditional concept of tapestry as a decorative object for houses and palaces, to permit it to exist as a work of art in its own right, in which the texture, the volume and the three-dimensional space are essential. They thus transformed tapestries into avant-garde textile art for everyone.
 
From the 1960s to 2011, the artist created three-dimensional sculptures in small and medium format, as well as large installations for public and private architecture, in indoor and outdoor spaces, in European, American and Japanese cities. Today Aurelia is recognized by scholars, collectors and museums, and her work can be seen in public and private collections around the world. She has recently been one of the few Spanish artists who has been exhibited in the permanent collection of the MoMA in New York, and several of her works have just been part of the "Mujeres de la Abstracción" exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. In this way, the Catalan artist has recovered the place of reference that she obtained throughout her fruitful professional career, after the renaissance experienced by textile art during the decades of the 60s and 70s.
Exhibitions