Port of Bilbao - Bilbao Fine Arts Museum

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Port of Bilbao

Lagar, Celso

Ciudad Rodrigo, Salamanca, 04/02/1891-Seville, 06/09/1966

Oil on canvas

60 x 78 cm

Lagar (bottom left hand corner)

c. 1917-1918

First quarter of the 20th century

96/20

Acquired in 1996

Lagar was the creator of Planism, the first of many artistic styles that emerged in the Spanish avant-garde of the early 20th century. The Port of Bilbao is one of the most significant examples of this short-lived movement (it became known in 1915 and disappeared in 1920) that combined elements taken from Fauvism, Futurism and Cubism that Lagar had assimilated in Paris between 1911 and 1914. The picture captures elements that allude to the characteristic industrial landscape of Bilbao at that time-the bow of a ship, factories with smoking chimneys, bridges, working-class houses-only partially presented to the viewer. The compositional space is organised in large planes of pure colour and in spite of its two-dimensional nature, the painter has endeavoured to highlight the geometric volumes of the objects. This fragmented vision of the city and the inclusion of signs with the words Bilbao and Nervión, not to mention the presence of propellers, wheels and the bow of a ship, relate the work to the dynamism of Futurism and Orphism.

The son of a cabinetmaker, Lagar began his artistic career as a sculptor. He became acquainted with Modigliani (who portrayed him on two occasions), Derain and Metzinger, and developed much of his work in France, where he settled permanently in 1919. Landscapes, still lifes and above all scenes from the world of the circus, highly influenced by those of Picasso, constitute the most characteristic features of his production that in the 1920s returned to a classical representational style. [Miriam Alzuri]

Selected bibliography

  • Mur Pastor, Pilar. La Asociación de Artistas Vascos. Bilbao, Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao ; Caja de Ahoros Vizcaína, 1985. pp. 68, 74.
  • Alba, Narciso. Celso Lagar, aquel maldito de Montparnasse. Valladolid, Junta de Castilla y León, 1992. pp. 74-77, 79.
  • Ismos : arte de vanguardia, 1910-1936, en España [Cat. exp.]. Madrid, Guillermo de Osma, 1996. pp. 7, 9, 13. N° cat. 2
  • El ultraísmo y las artes plásticas [Cat. exp.]. Valencia, Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno, 1996. p. 79.
  • Tradition and modernity in basque painting, 1880-1939 = Tradición y modernidad en la pintura vasca, 1880-1939 [Cat. exp.]. Southampton ; Bilbao, Southampton City Art Gallery ; Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 1997. p. 34, n° cat. 17.
  • Istmos : vanguardias españolas 1915-1936 [Cat. exp.]. Madrid, Fundación Caja Madrid, 1998. p. 48. N° cat. 3
  • Tradición y modernidad en la pintura vasca : en las colecciones del Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao [Cat. exp.]. Valencia, Autoridad Portuaria de Valencia, 1999. p. 26.
  • Viar Olloqui, Javier. "El planismo en Bilbao", Periódico Bilbao. 2001.
  • La generación del 14 : entre el novecentismo y la vanguardia, 1906-1926 [Cat. exp.]. Madrid, Fundación Mapfre, 2002. pp. 148, 360.
  • Manterola, Ismael [coord.]; Onaindia, Mikel [coord.]. "Bilbao 1919 : la Exposición Internacional de Pintura y Escultura = Bilbao 1919 : Nazioarteko Pintura eta Eskultura Erakusketa [Recurso electrónico]", Boletin 11 = Bulletina 11. 2019. p. 41, il.
  • César González-Ruano : a vueltas con la pintura [Cat. exp.]. Madrid, Fundación Mapfre, 2003. pp. 105, 245.
  • Picasso to Plensa : a Century of Art from Spain = De Picasso a Plensa : un siglo de arte en España [Cat. exp.]. Albuquerque, The Albuquerque Museum, 2005. pp. 118-119, n° cat. 15.
  • Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao : guía. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. p. 168.
  • Musée des Beaux Arts de Bilbao : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. p. 168.
  • Bilbao Fine Arts Museum : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. p. 168.
  • Novecentismo y Vanguardia, 1910-1936 : en la colección del Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2009. pp. 150-151, n° cat. 30.
  • García García, Isabel. Celso Lagar. Madrid, Fundación Mapfre, 2010. pp. 5, 50-51, il.
  • Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao : guía. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2011. p. 170, n° cat. 121.
  • Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa : gida. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2012. p. 170, n° cat. 121.
  • Bilbao Fine Arts Museum : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2014. p. 170.
  • Musée des Beaux Arts de Bilbao : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2014. p. 170.
  • Generación del 14 : ciencia y modernidad [Cat. exp.]. Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional de España ; Sociedad Estatal de Acción Cultural, 2014. pp. 282, 305, n° cat. 151.
  • Celso Lagar : el genio mirobriguense, 1891-1966 [Cat. exp.]. Salamanca, Diputación de Salamanca, 2016. pp. 50-51, il.
  • 110 Años 110 Obras [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2018. pp. 222-223, sin n° cat.
  • 110 Ans 110 Oeuvres [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2018. pp. 222-223, sin n° cat.
  • 110 Urte 110 Artelan [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2018. pp. 222-223, sin n° cat.
  • 110 Years 110 Works [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2018. pp. 222-223, sin n° cat.
  • Bilboko Museoaren alfabetoa = El alfabeto del Museo de Bilbao = The alphabet of the Bilbao Museum = L'alphabet du Musée de Bilbao [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2018. pp. 44-45, n° cat. 17.
  • Celso Lagar i Hortenese Bégué : els anys catalans, 1915-1918 [Cat. exp.]. Girona, Museu d'Art de Girona, 2021. pp. 176-177, 194, 226, 246, n° cat. 98.
  • Lagar i Bégué : els anys catalans, 1915-1918 [Folleto]. Girona, 2021. s.p., il.
  • Lagar i Bégué : els anys catalans, 1915-1918 [Dossier de prensa]. 2021. s.p., il.