EDUARDO CHILLIDA JUANTEGUI (San Sebastian, 1924 - 2002).
Untitled, from the Suite Olympic Centennial, 1992.
Relief silkscreen on Vélin d'Arches 270 grams paper, copy 110/250.
Signed and justified in pencil.
This work is part of the "Suite Olympic Centennial", complete edition 110/250, which will be auctioned on 27 September 2022, in 50 consecutive lots numbered 35245230 to 35245280.
Measurements: 90 x 63 cm.
Chillida began his training at the School of Architecture at the University of Madrid, but abandoned his studies to devote himself to football, as goalkeeper for Real Sociedad. As a result of an injury he was forced to give up sport, and it was then that his artistic vocation awoke. He began drawing at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid, and little by little his interest in sculpture grew. It was during his years in Paris that he made his first plaster sculptures, impressed by the archaic Greek sculpture in the Louvre. He held his first sculpture exhibition in the French capital in 1950. It was at this time that he began his rivalry with the sculptor Jorge Oteiza, who accused him of plagiarising his work. Both with a work linked to the constructivist tradition, they nevertheless dealt with different themes. In 1951 he returned to San Sebastian for good, and produced his first work in iron, the material with which he would work for the rest of his life. With the idea that art should be accessible to everyone, he produced numerous public works throughout his life, as well as sculptures for museums all over the world. His works dialogue with their surroundings, which is why many of them are already considered emblematic places for citizens, as is the case with the "Peine del viento" in San Sebastian and the "Puerta de la Libertad" in Barcelona. Throughout his life, Chillida received numerous prizes and awards, including the Carnegie Prize (1965), the Rembrandt Prize (1975), the Wolf Foundation Prize for the Arts (1984/85) and the Prince of Asturias Prize for the Arts (1987). He was also a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, a member of the Imperial Order of Japan, and was awarded the Grand Cross for Humanitarian Merit by the Institution of the same name in Barcelona. In addition to his Chillida-Leku Museum in Hernani, he is represented in museums and collections all over the world, such as the Guggenheim in Bilbao, the MOMA in New York, the Reina Sofía in Madrid, the Tate Gallery in London and the Neue National gallery in Berlin.
The Olympic Suite consists of 50 lithographs and serigraphs chosen to represent various contemporary artistic trends. It was published to commemorate the first centenary of modern Olympism. The chosen artists are defined by different movements and pictorial trends.