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Eduardo Chillida. Silent Music On 10 October, 2003, in the Foyer of the Hermitage Theater opened an exhibition organized by the State Hermitage Museum jointly with the Embassy of Spain in Russia, acting on behalf of the Spanish Ministry of Culture, and the Museo Chillida-Leku. The Hermitage exhibition is the first display in Russia of the works of Eduardo Chillida (1924-2002), the prominent Spanish sculptor and graphic artist of the 20th century. The retrospective show includes over 30 creations spanning the period from 1954 to 1997. These are sculptures made from steel and terra-cotta, drawings which the master himself called "gravitations", and books. What they have in common is music, which had a vital importance for the outstanding Spanish sculptor. Eduardo Chillida aspired to express in his creations the individual styles
of various composers and their compositions. Entire cycles were dedicated
by him to Johann Sebastian Bach and Antonio Vivaldi. In his series of
engravings, the artist shares his understanding of Bach’s music with
his audience. Chillida’s creations entrance man and plunge him into the world of mystery. They are figures of time, space, astonishment and unanswered questions. These are taciturn universes filled with melodies and ideas. Over thirty works were devoted by the sculptor to the Spanish mystic St. John of the Cross (1542-91). Chillida knew and often cited his Spiritual Canticle. The metaphor itself of inaudible music — spiritual silence sounding within one’s soul — was proposed by St. John. Works of Eduardo Chillida show the history of deep-felt artistic and philosophical experiences. They are concentrated around the geometry of material and space — two components of his abstract art. Eduardo Chillida was born in the north of Spain, in the Basque city of San Sebastian. Study of architecture at the Madrid University (1943-46) and sojourn in the post-war Paris had their effects on his formation as a master. In Paris Chillida realized his sculptor’s vocation and started to create first plaster figures. Traveling widely, he was especially impressed by the Parthenon sculptures in the British Museum, creations of the outstanding sculptor Medardo Rosso in Rome, and personal acquaintance with the famous Italian sculpture Alberto Giacometti. The first one-man exhibition of Eduardo Chillida was presented in 1956 at the legendary Maeght Gallery in Paris. The artist won the Grand International Award of the 29th Venetian Biennale (1958). In 1959, he took part in the 2nd Dokumenta Exhibition in Kassel. In 1977, Eduardo Chillida created on the coast at San Sebastian the huge sculptural group Peine del Viento, which became a symbol of the Basque Country. After its success, a number of European cities commissioned the master’s giant sculptures for themselves. The Hermitage exhibition shows a sculpture study for Peine del Viento, made by Eduardo Chillida in the process of preparing his unique creation. During the 1970s - 1990s, the master worked a lot, lectured as a Visiting Professor at the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at the Harvard University, and organized a number of retrospective exhibitions in various countries. In Chillida’s opinion, the sculptor’s material is the dialogue between space and emptiness, which create the filled spaces. He understood material and music as sound and silence. His works from iron and plaster substantiate his original concept of space and sound. This potential of synthesis, achieved between sculpture and architecture, which Eduardo Chillida called "construction", creates the musical rhythm in his works. Space and rhythm, rhythm and time, music and architecture are the concepts which bring sculpture and architecture together within the "construction", which sets rhythm in music, and time and rhythm of sculpture in space. The artist experimented with new materials and techniques, including wood, alabaster, concrete, steel, and various printing techniques. |
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Copyright © 2011 State Hermitage Museum |
