Jorge Oteiza

Jorge Oteiza Orio, 1908 – San Sebastián, 2003

Jorge Oteiza, considered one of the leading figures in 20th-century Spanish sculpture, made numerous contributions to the fields of essay writing, poetry, anthropology, architecture and linguistics. The Basque sculptor's artistic and personal career was always shrouded in myth, both because of the exceptional and advanced nature of his work and because of his strong personality.

In 1931 and 1933, he won first prize in the 9th and 10th Guipuzcoan New Artists Competitions in San Sebastián, and in 1934 he exhibited at the Gran Kursaal in San Sebastián. In 1935, he travelled to Latin America, where he held exhibitions, gave lectures, and met and mingled with the intellectuals of his generation. He taught ceramics at several universities, wrote articles and prepared books on his aesthetic thinking in application of his knowledge of American megalithic statuary. In 1948, he returned to Spain, settling in Bilbao where, using his knowledge of ceramics, he worked as technical director of a company producing porcelain electrical insulators. He continued to produce sculptures, hold collective exhibitions and give lectures. In 1950, he was commissioned to create all the statuary for the Basilica of Aránzazu. He prepared a powerful group of Apostles under a Pietà with the dead Son, which was interrupted in 1954 because it was not to the official taste. In 1969, after ageing in the open air, he installed the sculptures on the façade of the Basilica. In 1954, he received the National Architecture Award with Oiza and Romaní for the project for the Chapel on the Camino de Santiago. He held various exhibitions and, in 1957, won the International Grand Prize for Sculpture at the IV Biennial of Sao Paulo in Brazil. He participated with different artists in arts integration groups and published his catalogue 'Propósito Experimental 56-57' (Experimental Purpose 56-57), in which he explained the concepts on which his work was based. In 1958, he took up residence in Irún, defined his Law of Changes for Expression and began his experimental conclusions. Together with architect Roberto Puig, he created the preliminary design for the Monument to Batlle y Ordóñez in Montevideo, focusing on monumentality and the integration of sculpture with architecture. In 1963, he published 'Quousque Tandem...! Aesthetic Interpretation of the Basque Soul' and, together with Malraux, designed the International Institute of Comparative Aesthetic Research for Saint-Jean-de-Luz, which was never realised. Later, he published 'Ejercicios espirituales en un túnel' (Spiritual Exercises in a Tunnel), in which he explored his aesthetic proposals in greater depth. He received several awards, including the Gold Medal for Fine Arts from the Ministry of Culture in 1985 and the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts in 1988. He published 'Cartas al Príncipe' (Letters to the Prince), in which he reviewed his career in sculpture and citizen participation. In 1990, he published “Existe Dios al Noroeste" (God Exists in the Northwest), a collection of poems ranging from his songs to the frieze of the Apostles lying on the road, to his “theomachies", his struggles with God, such as number eight, entitled: Dios amanece con tos esta mañana (God dawns with a cough this morning) (in the hairdresser's of Being). In 1992, he published 'Itziar. Elegía y otros poemas (Itziar. Elegy and Other Poems), dedicated to his wife and donated his work to the people of Navarre, setting up a foundation responsible for promoting his work. Jorge Oteiza died on 9 April 2003, a few days before the opening of the museum in Alzuza, near Pamplona, which houses most of his work and bears his name.