Eduardo Chillida

EDUARDO CHILLIDA (San Sebastián, 1924 – San Sebastián, 2002).
“Bi-Aizatu,” 1988.
Etching and aquatint on BFK Rives paper, print no. 29/50.
Signed and numbered in pencil.
Published by Galerie Lelong, Paris, and printed by Taller Hatz, San Sebastián.
Bibliography: Martin van der Koelen, Eduardo Chillida. Opus P. III. Complete Catalog of Graphic Works, cat. no. 88011.
Measurements: 141 x 98 cm (paper); 158 x 112 cm (frame)

With its striking monumentality, “Bi-Aizatu” condenses onto the two-dimensional plane some of Chillida’s essential explorations: the relationship between matter and void, the boundary, weight, and the articulation of space. Its large format allows the print to transcend the usual scale of graphic art and take on a physical presence akin to that of his reliefs and sculptures.

The composition is built up through broad black forms that penetrate the light areas and seem to link separate spaces. In contrast to the boldness of these forms, the dense network of incisions, scratches, and textural variations produced by etching and aquatint creates a vibrant and deeply material surface. The reserved white space does not function as a passive background, but rather as an active space subject to tensions, openings, and encounters.

Dated to the late 1980s, the work belongs to a period of full artistic maturity, close to the development of the first “Gravitaciones” series, which began in 1985. Although not part of that series, it shares with it an exploration of the balance between planes, suspension, and the power of the interstitial space. For Chillida, printmaking constituted an autonomous and constant field of experimentation, parallel to his sculpture, in which the pressure of the matrix, the incision, and the resistance of the paper took on a specifically material significance.

The limited edition of fifty copies, its exceptional scale, and the involvement of the Hatz Workshop and Galerie Lelong—a publisher closely linked to the international dissemination of his work—reinforce the documentary and collectible value of this print.

Eduardo Chillida charted one of the defining trajectories of 20th-century European sculpture, although drawing, collage, and printmaking occupied a continuous and essential place in his body of work. A laureate at the 1958 Venice Biennale and recipient of the Kandinsky Prize in 1960, he was the subject of major retrospectives at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Reina Sofía Museum, and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. His legacy is preserved and studied primarily at Chillida Leku in Hernani.