Baterbys Art Auction Gallery - Bios

Eduardo Chillida
(1924-2002) Eduardo Chillida was goalkeeper for San Sebastián’s football team, Real Sociedad, before he became the famous Spanish Basque sculptor he is today. Chillida’s earliest sculptures reveal his concentration on the human form (mostly torsos and busts); his later works tend to be more massive and abstract as he produced monumental public works. Chillida himself tended to reject the label of “abstract”, preferring instead to call himself a “realist sculptor.” At their best, even his most cumbersome works suggest movement and tension. For example, the largest of his works in the United States, “De Musica” is an 81-ton steel sculpture featuring two pillars with arms that reach out but do not touch. He received the prestigious Wolf Prize in Sculpture in 1985, the Rembrandt price of the Foundation Goethe in 1975, the Great Price of the Arts of France in 1984 as well as many more honors. Chillida died in August of 2002 but his legacy lives on. The Chancellery of Berlin constructed a monument in his honor in 2000 that serves as a reminder of all the work he accomplished as an artist and sculptor.