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https://www.coleccionbbva.com/es/pintura/1622-bahia-de-txingudi/
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pintura
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14566
https://www.coleccionbbva.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/1622-1.jpg
Gaspar Montes Iturrioz
(Irún, 1901- 1998)
Bay of Txingudi
1950
oil on canvas
55 x 65 cm
Inv. no. 1622
BBVA Collection Spain
Montes Iturrioz was one of most loyal followers of Daniel Vázquez Díaz (1882-1969), as can be readily appreciated in the highly refined and constructive aesthetics defining this piece. Although he began his studies in Irún with the sculptor Julio Echeandía (1872-1943), he soon moved to Madrid, where he was a pupil of José María López Mezquita (1883-1954) and Fernando Álvarez de Sotomayor (1875-1960). After a period in Paris and brief trips to Europe, he devoted himself intensively to teaching painting.
His works are primarily views of the Bidasoa estuary and Baztán valley. Along with Darío de Regoyos (1857-1913), Daniel Vázquez Díaz and José Salís Camino (1863-1927) he was a member of the
School of Bidasoa
created between 1895 and 1919, this school, which takes its name from the river Bidasoa which runs through the Basque Country, was made up by a group of artists working in the open air in that geographic region. Influenced by the spirit of the
Barbizon School
Active from 1830 to 1870, this group of French painters led by Théodore Rousseau (1812-1867) gathered in the village of Barbizon near the forest of Fontainebleau from which it would take its name. The group came about as a rejoinder to the prevailing social and art system in Paris ruled by neo-classical criteria. The members of the Barbizon School practiced a naturalistic brand of painting, largely predicated on the representation of landscape. They began to make
au naturel
sketches with the idea of engaging in direct research into the effects of light, which was the starting point of
en plain air
or outdoors painting. Their approach to landscape was a major advance in painting at the time and could be seen as the immediate precursor of Impressionism.
, it remained active until the death of Gaspar Montes Iturrioz.
, a group of artists with a liberal nationalist orientation who felt the need to introduce people to the unspoiled beauty of the Basque country.
This landscape depicts the Bay of Txingudi, at the mouth of the river Bidasoa between the towns of Fuenterrabía, Irun and Hendaye. Worth noting is a certain influence of Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) in the formal configuration, originating from the artist’s visit to Paris in 1924. Likewise, his style is based on a restrained
Fauvism
An art movement which developed in Paris in the early 1900s. It took its name from the word used by the critics—
fauves,
wild beasts—to define a group of artists who exhibited their works at the 1905 Salon d'Automne. By simplifying forms and using bold colours, they attempted to create highly balanced and serene works, a goal totally removed from the intention to cause outrage usually attributed to them. For many of its members Fauvism was an intermediary step in the development of their respective personal styles, as exemplified to perfection by the painter Henri Matisse (1869-1954).
, naturalistic in appearance, with a modern and balanced palette of colours which conveys a sense of tranquillity to the beholder, even with a certain air of melancholy. Iturrioz liked painting in the open air and was careful in choosing the time of day, preferring the gentle, diffuse light of daybreak or sundown for his compositions, since “the sun often destroys things”.
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