José María Ucelay

JOSE MARIA UCELAY (Bermeo, Biscay, 1903- Bilbao, 1979).
"Basque costumbrista scene", ca. 1976.
Oil on canvas.
Provenance: Formerly collection of the artist's widow.
Work reproduced in black and white in "Uzelai. Ucelay", Kosme Mª de Barañano Letamendia, page 199, n. 369.
Measurements: 60 x 72 cm; 73 x 86 cm (frame).
Jose Maria Ucelay's role in the art world was not limited to painting, but he also developed a great work to evacuate part of the Basque artistic heritage before the advance of Franco's troops. Ucelay's work is distinguished by its marked personal style, being considered the most original of the so-called "Basque School". His characters, inscribed in realism, somewhat mannerist due to the elongation of their forms, are refined; his colors, attenuated, in a harmonious palette of calm tones. The fantastic canvas in question represents three Basque villagers, one of them on horseback, surrounded by farm implements and large logs of cut firewood. The scene takes place in a vast Basque landscape, dotted with farmhouses and ultimately high mountains.
When he was only 19 years old, the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum acquired his first work: "A Girl", an impulse that led Ucelay to move to Madrid and study at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando. In the Spanish capital, the Basque artist met important figures of the artistic scene of the time: Salvador Dalí, Luis Buñuel, Rafael Alberti or Federico García Lorca, among others. Some time later he traveled to Paris, where he met other artists, as well as the writer Ernest Hemingway. During those years, he participated in a large number of exhibitions in different European and American cities, such as the inaugural exhibition of the Museum of Modern Art in Bilbao in 1924, an important event for the development of Basque art. In 1936, Ucelay was appointed Director General of Fine Arts, Archives and Libraries within the Department of Justice and Culture of the Basque Country. His task consisted of safeguarding works of art together with the painters Julián de Tellaeche and Mauricio Flores Kaperotxipi. The heritage that was withdrawn was kept in different deposits that were established in the capital. The Museum of Fine Arts and the Museum of Modern Art of Bilbao were moved there, as well as other public and private collections. Ucelay is currently represented in important state collections, such as the Reina Sofía Museum and the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum.