the foundation

Creation of the antonio saura foundation archives

The Antonio Saura Estate founded the antonio saura foundation archives to ensure the future of its activities in favour of showing and spreading knowledge of the artist's work to the general public, while keeping Saura's archives together and accessible to all, along with a significant collection of his output.

The foundation was created in Geneva (Switzerland) on March 20, 2006 and registered on April 12 of the same year with the Registry of Foundations, ref. no. 05075/2006, fed. no. CH – 660 – 0904006 – 6.

The Antonio Saura Estate gave the foundation the totality of the artist’s archives, an important collection of his works, and a building that is now home to all of the foundation’s assets and activities.


Administration

The foundation, whose headquarters are located in Geneva, chemin de la Pallanterie 11a (CH - 1252 Meinier, Geneva), is administered by a board of nine members and overseen by an executive board consisting of three of the administrative board’s members.

Mr Olivier Weber-Caflisch, the artist’s executor, currently heads the foundation.


The foundation's activities and aims

Since its creation, the foundation has taken over from the Antonio Saura Estate all its activities presenting and promulgating the artist’s work.

The Antonio Saura Estate nevertheless retains all of the copyrights as well as the moral rights of the artist. The Estate exercises and administers sole power over the artistic property linked to Antonio Saura’s work for the purposes of protecting the name, image, and rights deriving from the person of the artist, as well as everything relating to the defence of the said work and person.

Within this framework, the foundation is authorised to represent the Antonio Saura Estate.

The foundation oversees publication of the Catalogues raisonnés. It also publishes monographs devoted to the work of Antonio Saura.

The foundation’s activities and aims also include:

1. keeping together and making accessible to the public the archives as well as a significant body of works by Antonio Saura;

2. acquiring and preserving the artist’s original works along with all the projects, models, notes and manuscripts, all the records and documents, property and various objects that are of interest with respect to the knowledge and thought of Antonio Saura and his artistic and literary work, the moral defence of which is guaranteed by the foundation;

3. providing for greater visibility of the artistic and literary work, its publication and dissemination;

4. publishing the artist’s written and illustrated work;

5. placing the photo library and the works they include at the disposal of the general public and in particular researchers, museum keepers, exhibition curators, publishers, and the press;

6. actively working with others to mount both solo exhibitions devoted to the artist and group shows;

7. ensuring the curatorship of exhibitions jointly mounted with museums, etc.


Moral rights and authentication

The Antonio Saura Estate is the holder of the artist’s moral right, which it exercises independently of the foundation.

Certificates of authenticity are established by the foundation jointly with the Antonio Saura Estate.


The collection

Besides the artist’s archives, the foundation boasts a collection of paintings, sculptures, works in mixed media, original illustrated books and multiples, along with an important print collection.

The foundation’s collections cover every aspect of the artist’s body of work.

Part of the foundation’s holdings is regularly on loan to cultural institutions and museums involved in putting together shows.

Works by Antonio Saura filling out its collections have also been acquired by and donated to the foundation.


The venue

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