A succession of exhibitions and local and international events will bring the legacy of the universal sculptor closer to the younger audience
One of the centennials of Pablo Picasso and Joaquín Sorolla is that of Eduardo Chillida (1924-2002), the most relevant, influential and universal Spanish sculptor of the 20th century, born on January 10, 1924. One year after that iconic date, The Eduardo Chillida – Pilar Belzunce Foundation, founded by the artist’s heirs, presents an ambitious memorial program “both local and international”. One of the milestones will be a major exhibition in Austria to vindicate the creator from San Sebastian as the great poet of space that he was.
“The centenary celebrates our father’s full life. We can say that the artists leave us their work, but also their thoughts, social action and a way of seeing life to those responsible for the succession. The artists disappear but remain,” says Luis Chillida, son of the sculptor who died twenty years ago. He is the president of the foundation and this Tuesday in Madrid he anticipated part of the centenary program with his sister Susana and his son Mikel, the grandson of the sculptor and member of the organizing committee of the centenary.
With the anniversary, the family wants to strengthen Chillida’s knowledge in the academic field and promote the exhibition of his work in museums and foundations in various countries in the coming years. It also brings the artist’s creation closer to a great diversity of cultures, generations from all over the world, especially the younger ones, and highlights Chillida’s 45 works that are distributed in public spaces around the world.
Most of the centenary will be in the year 2024, but “the sheer breadth and depth of his work requires time and weight,” assured Luis Chillida of a double commitment that he wants to “celebrate the life and work” of a genius who assured that “to look is to try to see, and to see very difficult” and that “in the things I look at there are many things which are difficult to see”. “It had a universal vocation, claiming to be like a tree with its roots in the earth and its arms open to the world,” remembers Susana Chillida, filmmaker and daughter of the artist.
With a cascade of events, the centenary will take place from the year 23 to 25 and will give “full meaning” to the work of the foundation established two decades ago “to propagate and propagate the human part and support Chillida Leku. ” It is the great sanctuary of Hernani where the work and legacy of the sculptor of San Sebastian are kept. It is preparing to reach one million visitors since its inception and received more than 60,000 visitors last year.
As of today, the website eduardochillida.com is up and running with all kinds of information about the artist, a visual summary of his life and an extensive database about his work. “Chillida Leku has its website, but it’s still a satellite and it was important to highlight a higher space,” said Mikel Chillida, development director of Chillida Leku, who describes the new virtual space as “a visual summary of a life or a photobiography The fourth volume of the sculptor’s raisonné catalog has also been completed, the last to be published by the Nerea publishing house.
The heirs say some of the main surprises have yet to be closed, but the centenary’s first event will take place in Chillida Leku, where “Lugar de Encuentros IV,” a 16-ton sculpture belonging to the Museum of Fine Arts Artes de Bilbao, and which will remain in the fields of Hernani as long as the renovation of the Bilbao museum lasts. From the end of April to September, the Kuntshalle Museum in Krems hosts Chillida’s first major exhibition in Austria with more than 80 pieces. Internationally, the centennial program will expand to galleries such as Hauser & Wirth, managers of Chillida Leku along with the sculptor’s family.
Between 2023 and 2025, director and screenwriter Arantxa Aguirre will film a documentary about the history and creation of Chillida Leku, Chillida’s “most ambitious, personal and intimate” work. The sculptor’s daughter, who will also be offering an audiovisual project, recalled that her father “never considered a work finished until the first rusty metal shell fell and he even watered them when it wasn’t raining to speed up the process.”
«My parents were a very special couple who complemented each other very well and what they enjoyed most was working. I also believe that my mother made it possible for the projects to continue,” said Luis Chillida for his part.
With no fixed budget, the centenary is sponsored by organizations, companies and institutions such as the Bilbao Museum of Fine Arts, San Telmo, Balenciaga, Artium or Tabakalera, the Ministry of Culture, the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, the Basque Government and the City Council. from Hernani or Telefónica.
The centenary logo is his Chillida signature, his overlaid initial features, “because we think it fits with the idea he had that simple things are important,” according to his son. “My dad always said that one of the hardest things to do was to condense an idea into a logo. We could choose from thousands of his images, but the signature is special,” he concludes.
Source: La Verdad
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