Chillida, Eduardo

The Spanish sculptor and painter, along with Richard Serra, is one of the most important artists who worked on iron sculptures in the field of abstract art. Among his best-known works are imposing, expansive objects that always tell of a certain structure. Characterized by subdivisions, they join, guided by the unity in the material, to form a coherent whole. Provoking emptiness, Chillida thus simultaneously refers to the horizon. He shapes space by means of iron sculptures.
 

Chillida's main interest was increasingly directed towards spatiality. The main characteristic of his sculptural works of art is the homogeneity of the material. At the same time, his paintings as well as his prints live from a strong light-dark contrast between white surfaces and mostly black objects. Here a clear parallel can be drawn with his sculptures. The homogeneous materiality of iron contrasts with its surroundings, the concise black line or flat body with the light background of the paper. The components form themselves out of their surrounding spaces and at the same time co-determine it.
 

Book illustrations and graphics also define his body of work, giving us access to his style that is as impressive as it is affordable. For the well-known philosopher Martin Heidegger and his book "Art and Space" he created numerous lithographs, and for works by the poet Jorge Guillén many woodcuts. In 1972, Chillida's graphic work was given its own exhibition in Ulm, Germany. Among others, he participated in the documenta exhibition in Kassel 2, 3, 4 and 6. Today, most of his prints in the form of lithographs, etchings and woodcuts can be seen in the German Saarland Museum.