THE ORIGINS OF ABSTRACTION IN THE MURALS OF JORGE OTEIZA

With this exhibition, the University of Navarra Museum aims to delve deeper into the analysis of Jorge Oteiza's murals in its collection: Homage to Bach and Elijah and His Chariot of Fire. The exhibition will compare these murals with others created by the artist and with other pieces on loan from the Jorge Oteiza Museum Foundation. These pieces include photographs, plaster and metal sketches, and works from the chalk laboratory. The exhibition will analyze how Oteiza arrived at abstraction through the production of murals.

JORGE OTEIZA (Orio, 1908 - San Sebastián, 2003) began his career as a sculptor in the late 1920s. After a long stay in South America between 1934 and 1948, he settled in the Basque Country, where he would spend the rest of his career: during this period, he would move from the expressionism of the apostolate of the Basilica of Aránzazu to a completely abstract work, focused on the exploration of emptiness. An example of this work is Propósito experimental (Experimental Purpose), the series that won him the Grand Prize for Sculpture at the 1957 Sao Paulo Biennial and established him as a sculptor. From then on, Oteiza became a key figure in sculpture in the Basque Country, not only for his work, but also for his role as an art theorist and political activist.