Jorge de Oteiza Embil was an integral artist who made the sculpture a poetic bridge to sensitize man about energy and space.
Originally from Orio, Guipúzcoa, Oteiza Embil was born on October 21, 1908 and it was characterized by a visionary and turbulent character, the result of a constant process of aesthetic and personal discovery.
“Oteiza, from his first moments, had declared that he wanted to become the sculptor he was not and, consequently, His entire career is nothing but a renunciation of himself and an appeal to whoever wants to be, a putting into crisis and permanent reconstruction of one's own subjectivity ”, highlights the Jorge Oteiza Museum Foundation about the artist.
Description based on the idea that the ultimate goal of art is not work, painting, or sculpture, but rather la elaboration of the artist himself as a person educated from art and ready to act directly in society.
A self-taught artist, Oteiza developed in sculpture with the influence of cubism, primitivism and expressionism, raised by Gaugin, Picasso, Derain, Brancusi, Epstein, among others.
During an extensive journey through South America to study the aesthetics of pre-columbian sculpture, and various experiences as a teacher and colleague of various artists, he wrote two texts that define the will of his work: Letter to the Artists of America (1944) and Aesthetic Interpretation of American Megalithic Statuary (1952)
Of great intellectual and creative capacity, Oteiza maintained a faithful approach between science and its production.
An example of this exercise, the artist demonstrated by comparing the evolution of the "Mass-statue" to "Trans-statue" –Concept that poses sculpture as a fundamentally energetic artifact– with studies of nuclear physics and the transformation of mass into energy.
With broad creative capacities and multidisciplinary knowledge, Jorge de Oteiza ventured into different movements related to poetry and sculpture, such as constructivism, the European geometric tradition, and neoplasticism.
Enthusiast of experimentation and study, Oteiza defended Basque identity and culture in the book Quousque tandem…! Interpretation essay on the Basque soul (1963), his best known and most controversial writing.
The significance of this art scientist impacted artistic, cultural and political sectors, making him a link between the avant-garde period and the post-war generation. He died on April 9, 2003 in San Sebastián, Spain at the age of 94.
To celebrate the centenary 112 of the sculptor, the Jorge Orteiza Museum Foundation will dedicate an open-door activity for visitors to learn about the artist's work for free.