91 - Jorge de Oteiza (1908–2003)

Jorge de Oteiza (1908–2003) Bust of Sabino de Arana [2 sculptures] 1979 > In bronze, monogrammed on the left side, numbered "19H5" on the back, resting on a wooden base > Terracotta, monogrammed on the left side, numbered “E352” on the back, resting on a wooden base; H. 26 cm, W. 16 cm Condition report: The bronze’s base is not attached. Jorge Oteiza was a Spanish sculptor, poet, and art theorist, considered one of the most influential Basque artists of the 20th century and a pioneer of abstract sculpture. Born in Orio, he quickly abandoned his medical studies to devote himself to art as a self-taught artist. From 1935 to 1948, he went into exile in Latin America, a formative journey during which he studied pre-Columbian statuary and taught ceramics. Upon his return to Spain, his work shifted toward radical constructivism. He obsessively explored geometry, volume, and above all, emptiness, seeking to “empty” matter in order to liberate space. This conceptual quest reached its peak in the 1950s. In 1957, he gained international renown when he won the Grand Prize for Sculpture at the São Paulo Biennial. However, in 1959, at the height of his fame and after completing the sculptures for the Basilica of Arantzazu, he announced that he was abandoning fundamental plastic sculpture, believing that he had reached the limits of his theoretical exploration of space. However, his artistic retirement was not absolute; he returned to creating from time to time beginning in the 1970s. The year 1979 perfectly illustrates this return, marked by the creation of busts (such as that of Sabino Arana), abstract bronzes that reintroduced the human figure, and the completion in bronze of his earlier experiments stemming from his famous “Chalk Laboratory.”