Exhibitions

A significant part of the valuable artistic and documentary assets owned by the family of painter Antonio de Guezala (Bilbao, 1889–1956) has entered the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum by purchase, donation, and long-term loan, making this institution the leading centre for the conservation and research of the artist’s oeuvre. Preserved by Guezala himself, who kept his distance from the art market throughout his career, the collection was obtained from a grandson and two great-grandchildren, who in turn received it intact from the painter’s daughter, Julia Guezala Guinea (1922–2008).

This extensive array of artworks, documents and assorted objects reflects the cosmopolitan spirit and multidisciplinary approach that characterised Guezala’s career. He was an original artist who, influenced by the winds of renewal that swept through the visual arts in the early twentieth century, worked as a painter, illustrator, poster artist, caricaturist, set designer and ex-libris creator.

The new collection entered the museum with the acquisition of forty-two paintings and works on paper by Guezala and one watercolour by Sonia Delaunay. Valued at 950,000 euros, this purchase was made thanks to the contribution of Friends of the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum and the support of Banking Foundation BBK. The transaction also facilitated the donation of 7400 drawings, poster designs, ephemera, bookplates designed by himself and other artists, photo albums, stamps, heraldry and part of his personal library, and the long-term loan of six works by Guezala and four by other artists, including the draughtsman Luis Bagaria and the painter Anselmo Guinea, father of his first wife Eloísa.

A representative selection of the new collection is currently on display in Rooms 8, 9 and 10 of the Intermission exhibition, dedicated to analysing the sociocultural context of the period when the Bilbao Modern Art Museum existed (1924 to 1945), which was also the context in which Guezala lived and worked. As an artist and supporter of numerous initiatives, Guezala was a driving force of Bilbao’s cultural life: in 1911 he helped to found the Association of Basque Artists, and he later sat on the boards of trustees of the city’s fine arts and modern art museums.

It should be remembered that, in December 1991 and January 1992, the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum hosted the most important exhibition of Antonio de Guezala’s work organised to date. The show was curated by historian Pilar Mur, who also shared her exhaustive research on the artist in a volume published by the museum at that time.

The museum’s interest in Guezala is evident in the notable number of his works present in its collection, including posters and other works on paper, family photographs and, above all, the most iconic painting of the artist’s career and of pre-Spanish Civil War art in general: The Revolving Door or Portrait of Begoña de la Sota (1927). It is accompanied by Concha (1915), Artists’ Night, Ibaigane (1927) and two canvases titled Eresoinka, both from 1939.

The museum had the opportunity—thanks to contribution of Friends of the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum and the support of BBK Banking Foundation—to purchase other exceptional works that enrich the artist’s representation in the collection: the paintings Eloísa Guinea de Guezala (1916) and Streetcar Crash in El Arenal (1922) by Guezala, and the watercolour Dancer (1916) by his friend, painter and designer Sonia Delaunay. It also acquired the remarkable caricatures that Guezala drew of fellow members of the Association of Basque Artists, his design for the poster of the 4th cycling Tour of the Basque Country (1927) and sketches for the deck of cards he designed around 1938.

At the same time, Guezala’s presence in the collection has grown significantly thanks to the family’s donation of their entire substantial inventory of works on paper to the museum. The gift comprises a total of 7400 objects, including bookplates and philatelic materials, plus an extraordinary body of work documenting his facet as a designer and illustrator: original sketches and drawings, prints, posters, and designs for books and magazines. There is also a wide variety of ephemera, such as the menus and invitations he made for tributes to Francisco Durrio, Pío Baroja, Julián de Tellaeche, Juan de Echevarría and Ignacio Zuloaga.

These works attest to his experimental zeal and extensive activity as a graphic designer who worked with all sorts of media and supports. Examples include the autograph book of Eloísa Guinea de Guezala—which ceased to be used after the death of the artist’s first wife but contains an interesting Self-Portrait from 1916—as well as the Caricature of Pedro Mourlane Michelena (1916) and Costume Design for Cakewalk Dancer (1927), executed using a decidedly avant-garde, sophisticated language.

The collection boasts several self-portraits; original sketches for the Madrid exhibition of the Association of Basque Artists at the palace in El Retiro Park (1915) and the ballet Kardin o ¿cuál de los tres? (1931) by Manu de la Sota; an original illustration for the novel Ardi Galdua (1918) by Resurrección María de Azkue; and a design for the cover of the first issue of Arte Vasco magazine.Other noteworthy pieces are Guezala’s sketches for a poster announcing the 1932 bullfight line-up and the interior decor of the Orphanage for the Children of Fallen Soldiers (1936).

The gift also contains 2089 bookplates, including practically all those produced by Guezala and others created by a select group of fellow Catalan, Basque and European artists. As a collector, the artist assembled over four thousand stamps and philatelic materials, which became his principal occupation in the final years of his life. Finally, the donation includes sketchbooks, family photo albums and approximately five hundred books from Guezala’s library, along with the original furniture designed by the artist himself to hold them.

Finally, arrangements were made for the long-term loan of six other works by Guezala—chief among them the portrait of his eldest daughter, ‘Elito’—and four by Anselmo Guinea, Luis Bagaria and José Benito Bikandi.