Oteiza's selected writings
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Authors
Zulaika, Joseba
Oteiza, Jorge
Issue Date
2003
Type
Book
Language
en_US
Keywords
basque, sculture, art, 20th century, Aesthetics, Philosophy
Alternative Title
Abstract
Oteiza’s Selected Writings presents portions of Jorge Oteiza Basque sculptor theoretical work to the English-speaking world. Oteiza’s radical voice restores the integrity of the historical avant-garde while offering a challenging counterpoint to the neo-avant-garde movements that he anticipated.
Description
Oteiza was one of the principal artists and art theorists of the twentieth century. The radical deconstructionism of his formal “disoccupations” of space, considered by many a precursor of minimalism, won him the 1957 Grand International Prize for Sculpture at the Sao Paolo Biennial, the most coveted prize for a sculptor at the time. Soon afterward, however, he concluded, “I no longer need my statues. I am no longer a sculptor.”
Oteiza then staged a second career, as influential as the first, as an art theorist, urbanist, architect, and cultural agitator, turning into a shamanic and contro-versial figure. His relentless aesthetic education of the Basques laid the cultural groundwork for the building of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.
A precursor of “the end of art” and the ethnographic turn, Oteiza has been heralded by Frank Gehry and Richard Serra as one of the fundamental artists of our time. He is now being honored by a series of international exhibits. Oteiza’s Selected Writings presents portions of his theoretical work to the English-speaking world. Oteiza’s radical voice restores the integrity of the historical avant-garde while offering a challenging counterpoint to the neo-avant-garde movements that he anticipated.
Citation
Publisher
Center for Basque Studies
License
In Copyright (All Rights Reserved)