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Lot Essay
‘I use alabaster because of a direct call from architecture. On working it, what I have tried since 1965 is a more architectural positing of my problems, as well as a new look at light. I had been deeply imbued in darkness, far from Greece. Alabaster provided a possibility of an encounter with light and architecture’ – Eduardo Chillida
A poetics of space carved from solid alabaster, Eduardo Chillida’s Elogio de la luz XIV (In Praise of Light XIV) is a mesmerising delineation of shadow and light. Crenellations extrude from the pastel stone, curving subtly in a play of positive and negative space. Sculpted in 1969, the work presents a sensitive articulation of the relationships between space and materiality in milky, translucent stone. Alabaster is both dense and incandescent, a paradox manifest in the present work. Chillida began using the material in 1965, following travels in France, Greece and Italy in the early 1960s, during which he became entranced by the glowing quality of the stone as it reflected and absorbed the bright Mediterranean light. The artist began his career by studying architecture, a training evident in his sculptural aesthetic and material considerations. His choice to use alabaster was directly influenced by the structural configurations he had observed; the poet Octavio Pax described these works as ‘blocks of transparency in which the form becomes space and the space dissolves in oscillations of light’ (O. Paz, quoted in K. Baranano (ed.), Chillida 1948-1998, exh. cat., Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid 1998, p. 86). It was a transformative medium for an artist who, up until his travels, had privileged materials local to his native Basque region. Speaking retrospectively, he said, ‘I had been deeply imbued in darkness, far from Greece. Alabaster provided a possibility of an encounter with light and architecture' (E. Chillida, quoted in K. de Barañano, 'Homage to Eduardo Chillida,' Homage to Chillida, exh. cat., Guggenheim Bilbao, Bilbao, 2006, p. 72). In expressive, delicate geometries, Elogio de la luz XIV captures a luminous physicality, the immaterial rendered tangible.
A poetics of space carved from solid alabaster, Eduardo Chillida’s Elogio de la luz XIV (In Praise of Light XIV) is a mesmerising delineation of shadow and light. Crenellations extrude from the pastel stone, curving subtly in a play of positive and negative space. Sculpted in 1969, the work presents a sensitive articulation of the relationships between space and materiality in milky, translucent stone. Alabaster is both dense and incandescent, a paradox manifest in the present work. Chillida began using the material in 1965, following travels in France, Greece and Italy in the early 1960s, during which he became entranced by the glowing quality of the stone as it reflected and absorbed the bright Mediterranean light. The artist began his career by studying architecture, a training evident in his sculptural aesthetic and material considerations. His choice to use alabaster was directly influenced by the structural configurations he had observed; the poet Octavio Pax described these works as ‘blocks of transparency in which the form becomes space and the space dissolves in oscillations of light’ (O. Paz, quoted in K. Baranano (ed.), Chillida 1948-1998, exh. cat., Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid 1998, p. 86). It was a transformative medium for an artist who, up until his travels, had privileged materials local to his native Basque region. Speaking retrospectively, he said, ‘I had been deeply imbued in darkness, far from Greece. Alabaster provided a possibility of an encounter with light and architecture' (E. Chillida, quoted in K. de Barañano, 'Homage to Eduardo Chillida,' Homage to Chillida, exh. cat., Guggenheim Bilbao, Bilbao, 2006, p. 72). In expressive, delicate geometries, Elogio de la luz XIV captures a luminous physicality, the immaterial rendered tangible.