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https://www.coleccionbbva.com/es/autor/arteta-y-errasti-aurelio/
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Aurelio Arteta y Errasti
(Bilbao, 1879 – Mexico City, 1940)
Author's artworks
19th-20th Century. Spanish
Though born in Bilbao on 3 December 1879, his family moved to Valladolid in 1894 because of his father’s work. In the latter city the young Aurelio Arteta enrolled at the local School of Arts and Crafts, where he studied under José Martí y Monsó (1840-1912), who introduced him to engraving, and met Anselmo Miguel Nieto (1881-1964).
In 1898 Arteta moved to Madrid and enrolled at the San Fernando School of Fine Arts, where he studied until 1900, excelling chiefly in drawing. A scholarship from Diputación de Vizcaya allowed him to travel to Paris, where he stayed from November 1902 through 1905. While there, he imbibed himself with the fin-de-siècle renewal in the arts.
Then, after travelling extensively throughout Italy, France and Belgium he returned in Bilbao in 1906, where he opened a studio and made a living as an illustrator of books and posters. That same year he took part in the 5th Modern Art Exposition of Bilbao.
In 1910 he was part of the group that promoted the
Association of Basque Artists
the Association of Basque Artists was a select group of multidisciplinary artists from the Basque Country in the period prior to the Spanish Civil War. Founded on 29 October 1911, its mandate was to promote Basque art through exhibitions, publications, lectures and competitions. The first group exhibition was held in 1912 at the headquarters of Sociedad Filarmónica in Bilbao. Members of the association included, among others, Aurelio Arteta, Darío de Regoyos, Francisco Iturrino, Anselmo Guinea and Ignacio Zuloaga.
, founded one year later. As a founding member, Arteta was included in all the exhibitions organised by the group.
In 1919 he took part in the 1st International Exposition of Painting and Sculpture of Bilbao. Three years later he created what would be one of the most important commissions in his career: the fresco mural paintings for Banco de Bilbao’s headquarters in Madrid.
In 1924 he was appointed Director of the Museum of Modern Art of Bilbao, although he resigned three years later due to discrepancies with City Hall over its acquisitions policy. In 1925 he took part in the
Exhibition of Iberian Artists
A show organised by the Society of Iberian Artists, which opened on 28 May 1925 at Palacio de Exposiciones in the Retiro Park in Madrid, as a public presentation of the work of members of the association. The exhibition gave the artists a chance to showcase their main interests and concerns: aligning Spanish art with the European avant-garde movements and renewing their relationship with the public. A number of lectures were organised to coincide with the event and several essays were published by art experts, which helped to reactivate the Spanish art scene of the time.
in Madrid, an important show including works by the leading names involved in the renewal of art in Spain at the time.
In 1932 he won a First Medal at the
National Exhibition of Fine Arts
An official annual art exhibition held in Madrid since the mid-nineteenth century which set the guidelines for Spanish academic art at the time. It was divided into five sections: painting, sculpture, engraving, architecture and decorative arts. Painting was the core section around which the whole exhibition revolved. A number of distinctions were awarded: first, second and third class medals and an honorary medal or prize, sometimes called a mention of honour. The show was one of Spain’s most important national awards, and was viewed as a key event for all artists aspiring to achieve prestige in their careers. Due to its conservative and academicist nature, it showed little inclination to accept many of the emerging movements and the most innovative works were often rejected or displayed in secondary spaces (which soon came to be known as "crime rooms").
. That same year he started to teach Drawing at the School of Fine Arts of Madrid. In 1936, after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War he escaped to Valencia. From there he travelled to Barcelona and later to Paris.
In 1939 he moved to Mexico, where he died the following year as the result of a tram accident.