Jorge Oteiza

Jorge Oteiza
Otieza in 1968
Born
Jorge Oteiza Embil

(1908-10-21)21 October 1908
Died9 April 2003(2003-04-09) (aged 94)
Known forSculpture, architecture, and writing
MovementEquipo 57, Gaur, Land art
AwardsPrince of Asturias Award for the Arts

Jorge Oteiza Enbil (21 October 1908 – 9 April 2003), was a Spanish sculptor, painter, designer and writer from the Basque Country, renowned for being one of the main theorists on Basque modern art. Oteiza was born in Orio (Gipuzkoa, Basque Autonomous Community, Spain). He moved to South America in 1935, just before the Spanish Civil War, and stayed there for 14 years. In 1963 he published Quosque tandem!, an essay about the aesthetics inherent to Basque soul, based on prehistoric art found in Basque regions and Basque people's anthropological roots. Three years on, he contributed to found the artistic group Gaur.

He died in San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa, in 2003. Following his will, a month after his death a museum dedicated to his career was opened in Altzuza, Navarre, in the place where he had lived since 1975. The Oteiza Museum is a monographic exhibition space housing the personal collection of Jorge Oteiza, which includes 1,690 sculptures, 2,000 experimental pieces from the artist's Chalk Laboratory, and an extensive collection of drawings and collages.