Barcelona City Council and the Joan Brossa Foundation - Centre de les Arts Lliures are publishing ‘Enric Tormo, la invisibilitat del dau’. The publication of the book is linked to the temporary exhibition also entitled ‘Enric Tormo, la invisibilitat del dau’ that will be on display at the Joan Brossa Foundation from 17 March to 24 July.
The aim of both the publication of the book and of the exhibition is greater recognition of the artist and printer, through his life and work, and within a cultural, artistic and political context.
He was a friend of Joan Brossa, Antoni Tàpies and Joan Miró, a member of the legendary avant-garde group Dau al Set, an excellent graphic artist, and an outstanding printer, engraver and typographer – however, despite all this, his career and his life have remained invisible. The publication of this book will allow you to find out all about Enric Tormo i Freixes (Barcelona, 1919-2016), a printer with a broad set of interests who at times was keen to break every mould, but at others was conservative and academic.
Member of Dau al Set
Enric Tormo i Freixes (Barcelona, 1919-2016) was a printer, artistic engraver, publisher, photographer, educator and museologist who was always involved with art, books and the graphic arts in Catalonia. His friendship, first with J. J. Tharrats – during the Spanish Civil War – later with Joan Brossa and Joan Miró, and subsequently with all the members of the avant-garde Dau al Set group, was very important. As a graphic expert, Tormo was able to capture the art of these creators and of other young artists such as August Puig and Ramon Rogent, for example. With all of them he shared a taste for popular engraving, typography, friendship as knowledge, the Catalan language and opposition to the Francoist regime.
However, Enric Tormo Freixes has remained anonymous in art historiography, and the book Enric Tormo, la invisibilitat del dau, published by Barcelona City Council and the Centre de les Arts Lliures – Joan Brossa Foundation, brings visibility to his work and his life, thus paying him a necessary tribute, putting him under the spotlight and banishing that invisibility forever.
Book launch at the Joan Brossa Foundation
On Tuesday, 24 May, at 6.30 pm the Centre de les Arts Lliures – Joan Brossa Foundation will host the book launch. The event will be attended by the chair of the Joan Brossa Foundation, Vicenç Altaió, Aitor Quiney, author of the book and curator of the exhibition, and Alba Font, from Taller Torrents, who designed both the book and the exhibition space. Afterwards, there will be a visit to the exhibition guided by Sol Enjuanes, with a focus on the relationship between Enric Tormo and Joan Ponç.