English subtitles for clip: File:Ikusgela-Euskal arte plastikoa.webm
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Hello, hello!
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My name is Ira: Ira,
Elbira, lecture or teacher.
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Don't call me “Miss”,
please, it's outdated by now!
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Well, my intention today
is also to present you
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with an outline, sketch or
picture of the topic at hand.
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O, why did I use
all those words?
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Well, we are going to
talk about the history
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of plastic arts in the
Basque Country, nice!
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To begin with, any clue as
to the definition of plastic arts?
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O, nothing to do with
works of art made of plastic...
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We call plastic arts those
that represent form and
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volume, especially painting,
sculpture and architecture.
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Materiality is of vital importance
in the case of plastic arts.
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By the way, plastic sculptures
are also classified within plastic arts!
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Now, let's get to the point!
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Our first milestone takes
place in the Stone Age.
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The first Basque
painters are very ancient,
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they go back to the Paleolithic
and Neolithic periods.
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You may reply: "Those cave paintings
and ancient Cromlech monuments
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are much older than
the expression 'Miss'!"
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You are right, but this topic is
relevant to the points we'll see later.
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The history of plastic art is divided
into different stages, developed in
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the Basque Country in
conection to the cultures
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in its vicinity and the
trends of each period.
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For example, Roman influence
was conspicuous in Antiquity,
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while during the Middle Ages,
Romanesque art thrived on
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on the trail of the Way of Saint
James, and the traces of Gothic art
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apparent in cathedrals
and monasteries.
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These transformations
in style are evident in
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the architecture of our
towns, especially in buildings
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with a conection to power: churches,
monasteries, town halls, palaces...
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The Basilica of Loiola
bears witness to the Baroque.
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It should be noted that we, the
Basques, have always lagged behind
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when it comes to stylistic trends, so
all such tendencies appear a bit later.
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Anyway, I am aware that you
are very modern, so let's address
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Modern Art and Contemporary
Art as soon as possible.
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The mid-19th century sees the
beginning of the Modern Art period.
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In general, the abrupt socioeconomic,
ideological and cultural transformations
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produced by industrialization are
accompanied by changes within art.
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Elsewhere, particularly France,
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artists engaged in the
representation of frenetic life
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of the cities and the
leisure of the bourgeoisie.
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In those years,
Impressionism, Pointillism and
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the pictorial style that reflected customs
(Costumbrismo) prevailed in painting.
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In the Basque Country, additionaly,
other themes with close ties to
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to social transformation
come to prominence.
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So painters such as
Adolfo Guiard, or Dario
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Regoyos, painted dignified
and elegant characters
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from the rural or
fishing world to highlight
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the attachment to "true"
and honest "Basque values".
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I'm sure you've already
seen a painting of this type
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in some gastronomic society!
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Likewise, in the late 19th
and early 20th century,
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a special effort was made to create a
Basque Country specific artistic system.
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The first modern museum in the Basque
Country was inaugurated in 1901 in Bayonne.
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In 1902, the San Telmo Museoa was
inaugurated in Donostia (San Sebastián),
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the Museum of Navarra
opened its doors in 1910,
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followed by the Museum of
Fine Arts of Bilbao in 1914.
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You may have visited a
couple of them, haven't you?
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Some of these museums
keep still their doors open!
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As the 20th century wears
on, the foreign avant-guarde
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leaves an imprint also
in the Basque Country.
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It is worth remembering
in this section such
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artistic figures as Nikolas
Lekuona, Narkis Balentziaga,
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Jorge Oteiza, or Menchu
Gal, who leaned towards
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the avant-guarde during
the 1920s and 1930s,
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attempting to import exterior
influences, planning trips and...
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whoa whoa whoa!
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Wait, right at this point,
when the artistic system of
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the Basque Country
was gaining momentum,
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Franco's uprising and the
Spanish Civil War broke out,
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frustrating all efforts
aimed at Modern Art.
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Many artists took the path to
exile, and for years their diaspora
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maintained the Basque art.
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Actually, the possibilities to
pursue any modern activity
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or work in favour of the Basque language in
the Iberian Peninsula were next to nothing.
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Listen, my friends, there has
never been a modern dictatorship!
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On the other hand,
the artists who later
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returned from exile or abroad,
brought along fresh ideas.
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The artist Mari Paz
Jiménez, for example,
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revived Surrealism on
her return from Argentina.
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The sculptor Jorge Oteiza, in turn,
proposed in the book “Quosque tandem...!”
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a new aesthetic theory that would allow
us to understand and describe "genuine"
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representation, pointing out that the
roots of the Basque people had to be
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investigated, and he went
back far, very far in time,
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to the point of admiring
the Neolithic cromlechs.
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I already anticipated you
at the beginning, that it
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was important to
start from scratch!
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Regardless, Oteiza's ideas greatly
influenced subsequent generations.
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To express the identity or "soul"
of the people, Oteiza devoted
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himself to the study
of the void and,
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along these lines, other artists
also resorted to abstraction.
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They are artists who begin
to make sculptures of wood,
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iron or stone, as well
as abstract paintings.
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Oteiza aspired to create a school,
and the Sanctuary of Arantzazu
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project was not far off, since it was
built jointly by artists and architects.
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The project echoed a
majoritary Basque trend.
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Starting in the 1960s, artists
from the Basque Country followed
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a pursuit to gather in groups.
This is how Gaur ('today')
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was founded in Gipuzkoa,
Emen ('here') in Biscay,
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and Orain ('now') in Araba.
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The intention to create the
groups Denok ('all') in Navarre
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and Batera ('together') in the Northern
Basque Countr did not come to fruition.
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What a pity!
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Together they would have put together a
nice name: today, here, now, all, together!
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However, the context did
not help, so the draft project
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turned into something along
the lines of "tomorrow, perhaps,
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perhaps, some will do something." Among
the notable names standing out this years
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are Eduardo Chillida, Nestor Basterretxea
Jose Luis Zumeta, Remigio Mendiburu,
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Blas de Otero, Maria Franciska Dapena
and Agustin Ibarrola, among others.
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You may be familiar with some of the
shapes and styles used in their practice,
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since their works are on
public display in many places:
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Arantzazu, the Comb of the Wind,
the logo of the university UPV-EHU...
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Their work's approach ties in with
a specific type of Basque virility,
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but there were contemporary
artists who distanced themselves
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from this dominant current and
looked for other ways to express it,
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figures such as Mari Puri
Herrero, Isabel Baquedano,
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Bixente Ameztoy, Rosa
Valverde, or Esther Ferrer.
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We are now closer
to the present moment!
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Oteiza's ideas found an echo
on the work of numerous artists,
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and his theory influences the New
Basque Sculpture wave of the 1980s,
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when it attempted to surpass it.
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Following the end of
the dictatorial regime,
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the University of the
Basque Country and
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the Faculty of Fine
Arts were established.
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As you already know, the turn
of the century brought about
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another great revolution:
internet. New technologies
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the mass media,
individualism and globalization
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are essential to
understand present-day art.
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These transformations
paved the way to the opening of
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important and well-known
museums and centers
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in the Basque Country, like
Guggenheim, Artium or Tabakalera.
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The early 21st century has seen a
proliferation of styles, themes and trends,
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but it is still common for Basque
artists to refer back to their own
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and local artistic tradition, while at the
same time questioning that received memory.
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Here, I am going to suggest
some interesting names
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so that you can keep track of
them: Itziar Okariz, Ibon Aranberri,
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Señora Polaroiska, June Crespo,
Nora Aurrekoetxea and Izaro Ieregi.
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Well, now it's up to you!
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You may search for works
designed by old and new artists alike!
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See you!