Dau al Set (), the first post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

artistic movement in

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, was founded in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

in September 1948 by poet Joan Brossa. The movement, best known for translating the conscious and unconscious mind into art, was heavily influenced by both the

Surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

and

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...

ist movements. In Catalan Dau al Set means "the seventh face of the dice", which expresses the movement's rupturist character.

History

Dau al Set first began as an

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

artistic collective led by Joan Brossa, a Catalan poet, in September 1948. Joan Brossa established the group in response to the period's conservative reigning government, which gained power after the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

known as the " Guerra Civil". Under the new

Spanish State Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death i ...

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

radically changed many areas of the previous culture. One such example was the Spanish art community as seen in art and culture in Francoist Spain. During this time counterculture movements in Catalonia and Spain in general came to an abrupt halt. Such artistic groups were replaced with Nationalist Francoist Art, which often functioned as a means for government endorsement and propaganda. In an attempt to revive the avant-garde scene in Spain Dau al Set was formed. In 1949, with help from Joan-Josep Tharrats's private printing press, Dau al Set published its first self-entitled magazine journal. The majority of the publication was written in Catalan, a language prohibited in

Francoist Spain Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death i ...

. Dau al Set typically ran a print between one hundred and two hundred copies, consisting of four to twelve pages. The magazine journal was delivered throughout Barcelona to those with subscriptions and served a niche population at the time. The format of the magazine was 22.5 cm x 18.7 cm in the

broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of in height. Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper ...

style and never bound. These publications continued on a regular basis until the end of 1951 at which point Dau al Set began to dissolve. In 1952, Dau al Set founding member

Antoni Tàpies Antoni Tàpies i Puig, 1st Marquess of Tápies, Marquess of Tàpies (; 13 December 1923 – 6 February 2012) was a Catalans, Catalan painter, sculptor, and art theorist. Life The son of Josep Tàpies i Mestre and Maria Puig i Guerra, Antoni T ...

left the group to promote his own independent work in the

and

Informal Formal, formality, informal or informality imply the complying with, or not complying with, some set of requirements ( forms, in Ancient Greek). They may refer to: Dress code and events * Formal wear, attire for formal events * Semi-formal att ...

art styles. The following year Joan Ponç left to Brazil to continue to paint and spread his unique style. And one year later Modest Cuixart left the group as well. During this time from 1953 till 1956 Dau al Set continued to be created and published by Joan-Josep Tharrats. During the final years the magazine decreased from an issue a month to an issue every season to then two issues a year. The final issue was created and distributed in 1956.

Style

Initially, Dau al Set began as an offshoot of

Surrealism Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

, but slowly grew into a distinct style with many existing components. One such component began with the incorporation of the surrealist world of dreams, where in Dau al Set expands upon by combing scientific and philosophical articles with magical undertones derived from Joan Brossa's personalized style. The use of magical elements pervaded throughout the entire movement to showcase an esoteric world of inner exploration. While magic was seen consistently the different members each contributed a unique style to Dau al Set. One of the most drastic was the contributions from Joan Ponç. Ponç's art frequently contained demonic images actualized with a series of different monsters throughout the work. In contrast, Modest Cuixart's work often contained images of fantasy influenced by

German expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radi ...

and

Joan Miró Joan Miró i Ferrà ( , ; ; 20 April 1893 – 25 December 1983) was a Catalan Spanish painter, sculptor and Ceramic art, ceramist. A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona ...

. Finally, Antoni Tápies often emulated the style of

Paul Klee Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented wi ...

with obscure images surrounded by a dark atmosphere and phosphorescent lighting. With the base of magical elements these three unique techniques joined to create the style seen in the Dau al Set movement.

Influences

Dau al Set was heavily influenced by two movements before its creation, those two being

ism and

. Dadaism was a European art movement in the early 20th century which focused on the avant-garde. This style was meant to fight against the upper class in society with the belief that their reason and logic were the cause of war. With an anti-reason and anti-logic sentiment most of the works of art often contained elements of chaos and irrationality. Dadaist art also utilized the following techniques of

cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...

collage Collage (, from the , "to glue" or "to stick together") is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assembly of different forms, thus creating a new whole. (Compare with pasti ...

s, cut-up technique,

photomontage Photomontage is the process and the result of making a composite photograph by cutting, gluing, rearranging and overlapping two or more photographs into a new image. Sometimes the resulting composite image is photographed so that the final imag ...

s, and assemblage which can be seen in Dau al Set's work. From this movement spawned the pre-war avant-garde which was the community Dau al Set were trying to revive. Some influential artists on Dau al Set from this movement are

Francis Picabia Francis Picabia (: born Francis-Marie Martinez de Picabia; 22January 1879 – 30November 1953) was a French avant-garde painter, writer, filmmaker, magazine publisher, poet, and typography, typographist closely associated with Dada. When consid ...

and

Max Ernst Max Ernst (; 2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German-born painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and surrealism in Europe. He had no formal artistic trai ...

. Another influence on Dau al Set was

, a cultural movement greatly influenced by Dadaism, which began in the 1920s. This style was often considered a portrayal of the dream world; a reality which existed right below everyday life. It also had a large political focus which was often used to contradict a given community's social norms often imposed by the bourgeois. Some artists from this movement that influenced Dau al Set were

, Josep Vicenç Foix, and

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (11 May 190423 January 1989), known as Salvador Dalí ( ; ; ), was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, ...

. Other methods that were influenced was the idea of magical aspects that were often seen in the dream world surrealism created. However, in Dau al Set these magical aspects were developed and expounded upon.

Members

There were six founding members of Dau al Set including a poet Joan Brossa, a philosopher Arnau Puig, three artists Joan Ponç,

, and Modest Cuixart, as well as a dual painter and editor Joan-Josep Tharrats. Over the years Dau al Set ran there were occasional contributors, such as Juan Eduardo Cirlot,

Antonio Saura Antonio Saura Atarés (September 22, 1930 – July 22, 1998) was a Spanish artist and writer, one of the major post-war painters to emerge in Spain in the fifties whose work has marked several generations of artists and whose critical voice is ...

, Enrique Tábara, and Manolo Millares. Their contributions came often in the form of writings which helped to continued to establish Dau al Set as an intellectual piece of work.

Exhibitions

Dau al Set actively participated in the exhibition at the Institut Francais and the Sala Caralt. * December 1949, Institut Francais in Barcelona, Spain * October 1951, Sala Caralt in Barcelona, Spain * December 2008-January 2009 Fundacio J.V. Foix in Barcelona, Spain * February 2009- April 2009, Fundacio Fran Daurel in Barcelona, Spain * May 2009-June 2009, University of Cantabria in Santander, Spain * July 2009-August 2009, Fundacion Diaz Caneja in Palencia, Spain * August 2009- September 2009, Fundacion Antonio Perez in Cuenca, Spain * October 2009-December 2009, Ibercaja in Zaragoza, Spain * December 2009-January 2010, Sala de Exposiciones Vimcorsa in Cordoba, Spain * February 2010-March 2010, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Conde Duque in Madrid, Spain * April 2010-May 2010, Centro Cultural de la Diputación in Ourense, Spain * May 2010-June 2010, Sala Pescadería Vieja in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain

Impact

Dau al Set has had a lasting impact throughout history the most notable being the continuation of the avant-garde in Spain throughout Francoist Spain. Moreover, Dau al Set contributed to the creation of the Informalist movement seen in Spain during the fifties. Also the magical and fantasy elements of Dau al Set was seen to later emerge again in Spain in the eighties. This group also stood as a large influence for other artistic movements in Spain such as the Grup d’Elx and El Paso, with important artists such as Joan Castejón, Eusebio Sempere or Manolo Millares. Additionally, each of the members made their own impacts after the movement was dissolved. Most notably is

who continued with his style based heavily in surrealism and later became a notable artist for his work in Abstract art.

References

External links

Dau al set at UOC
* {{Authority control Art movements Avant-garde Catalan art Modern art Surrealist groups Spanish surrealist artists Catalan words and phrases