Néstor Basterretxea

(Bermeo, Biscay, 1924 ─ Fuenterrabía, Guipuzcoa, 2014)


20th – 21st Century. Spanish

Born in the town of Bermeo, Néstor Basterretxea was twelve when the Spanish Civil War broke out, upon which his family went into exile to France, where they remained for five years. His time there allowed the young Néstor to discover art for the first time and to begin painting. He became familiar with the masterpieces at the Louvre and was able to see the Guernica by Picasso (1881-1973) and Mercury Fountain by Alexander Calder (1898-1976) at the Spanish Pavilion in the 1937 Paris International Expo. The outbreak of World War II forced the family into exile once again, this time to Latin America, where, after a long journey, they finally settled in Argentina.

It was there where he became a professional artist, an activity Basterretxea combined with work as an illustrator for an advertising company. In 1949, he won the prize for foreign artists at the Buenos Aires National Salon, and in 1950 he had his first solo exhibition. His style was initially guided by Expressionism, with dark tones indebted to José Gutiérrez Solana (1886-1945), and then later heavily influenced by Mexican Muralism.

In 1952 the artist returned to Spain. Jorge Oteiza (1908-2003), who he had befriended in Argentina, involved him in the project for the construction of the Sanctuary of Arantzazu. Basterretxea was assigned the programme for a crypt covering an area of over 650 square metres which was dedicated to sin, atonement, forgiveness and glory. Although the work was interrupted before he started painting (and would not be finished until 1984) the commission allowed him to live for more than a year in the company of other artists working on the sanctuary.

Over the course of the following years he gradually embraced
, lending greater emphasis to space within his works. He started to make reliefs, mostly in metal, and later free-standing sculptures. Driven by his highly committed social engagement, at that time he endeavoured to find a style that would bring together austerity, consistency and geometry, and he also started to take an interest in the relationship between art and city planning.

In the late 1950s he devoted himself to furniture design and became a true pioneer in modern Basque industrial design. In his search for an all-embracing art, he was also attracted towards photography and cinema. Worth mentioning in this respect is Ama Lur (Mother Earth), 1968, a highly successful and influential documentary about Basque identity which he co-directed.

Another germane aspect of his practice is his direct involvement in collective projects for the renewal of arts. He was a member of the
group for a fleeting period and was also a major contributor to the Gaur group, which was presented for the first time in 1966 at Galería Barandiaran, the gallery the collective would always be connected to.

The consciousness of his ethnic roots was a key subject matter in his work, in which he expressed concerns with the identity of the Basque people through a constructivist vernacular. In this regard, worth underscoring is his Basque Cosmogonical Suite (to which the work from the BBVA Collection belongs), a body of work of eighteen numens of Basque mythology created between 1972 and 1977 which the artist himself viewed as the highpoint of his career.

The Museo Español de Arte Contemporáneo of Madrid (1987) and the Museo de Bellas Artes of Bilbao (2008) organised two major retrospective exhibitions showcasing the wealth and breath of Basterretxea’s production. In 2006 the artist published the first part of his memoires, Crónica errante y una miscelánea, which unfortunately was never completed.