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Lot Essay
This work is registered in the archives of the Museo Chillida-Leku, under number 1964.007.
Composition is an example of Eduardo Chillida's important series of marble works which he began in 1962 and completed in 1965. The series comprises approximately fifteen works of which this sculpture is a fine and rare example. The employment of this new medium for Chillida commemorates a key development in the artist's work.
While travelling in Greece around this time, Chillida became fascinated with and inspired by the striking Mediterranean light. For Chillida, marble was the ideal material to use in his exploration of the effects of light and luminosity and transforming his sculpture in to a new dimension. Light became a material for constructing space and for establishing a dialogue between white and black, illumination and shadow, and the effect that the two opposites produced in conjunction with each other make these marble sculptures appear both soft and simultaneously rigid.
The Mediterranean Sea also proved to be a major influence on Chillida's work at this time. Chillida was fascinated by the interplay of the ebb and flow of the tides and the arresting light which pierced the seemingly infinite horizon. The two black lines which dissect Composition horizontally split the immaculate white surface of the marble in a way which parallels the similar effects of the tides.
After 1965 Chillida began working with yet a new material, alabaster. This new medium brought the paradoxical black light back to his sculpture and he never used marble again, turning these marble works into very unique and rare pieces.
Composition is an example of Eduardo Chillida's important series of marble works which he began in 1962 and completed in 1965. The series comprises approximately fifteen works of which this sculpture is a fine and rare example. The employment of this new medium for Chillida commemorates a key development in the artist's work.
While travelling in Greece around this time, Chillida became fascinated with and inspired by the striking Mediterranean light. For Chillida, marble was the ideal material to use in his exploration of the effects of light and luminosity and transforming his sculpture in to a new dimension. Light became a material for constructing space and for establishing a dialogue between white and black, illumination and shadow, and the effect that the two opposites produced in conjunction with each other make these marble sculptures appear both soft and simultaneously rigid.
The Mediterranean Sea also proved to be a major influence on Chillida's work at this time. Chillida was fascinated by the interplay of the ebb and flow of the tides and the arresting light which pierced the seemingly infinite horizon. The two black lines which dissect Composition horizontally split the immaculate white surface of the marble in a way which parallels the similar effects of the tides.
After 1965 Chillida began working with yet a new material, alabaster. This new medium brought the paradoxical black light back to his sculpture and he never used marble again, turning these marble works into very unique and rare pieces.