José Antonio SISTIAGA (1932–2023) - Lot 25

José Antonio SISTIAGA (1932–2023) Untitled, 1965 Polychrome inks, signed and dated twice in the lower left corner. 70 x 100 cm Provenance: Private collection, Saint-Jean-de-Luz. Acquired directly from the artist in 1994. A certificate of authenticity from the Art Sistiaga estate may be provided to the buyer. As the principal founder of the Gaur movement alongside his friend Amable Arias, José Antonio Sistiaga perfectly exemplifies the trajectory of post-war artists. Feeling stifled in Franco’s Spain, which suppressed Basque identity, the young Sistiaga moved to Paris between 1954 and 1961. There, he observed the dynamism of the avant-garde and became fascinated by Abstract Expressionism. Upon returning to his homeland, he settled for a time in the Balearic Islands, where he fully embraced color. José Antonio Sistiaga is one of those gestural painters. From gesture to the apprehension of movement, this would become the recurring theme of his work. In 1970, he culminated in a groundbreaking kinetic experiment: the creation of the only abstract feature-length film in the history of cinema, painted directly onto 35mm film. Copies of the films painted by Sistiaga are part of the collections of the Centre Pompidou, the Cinémathèque Française, the Reina Sofia in Madrid, and the Harvard Film Archive. From Indian ink (lot 23) to colorful gestures (lot 24), and including the rare series of stamps (lot 25), the repetition of ever-changing gestures allowed Sistiaga to transcribe movement into his painting. The artist’s latest series of paintings, Vitesse-Lumière-Couleur, is yet another symbol of this. José Antonio Sistiaga is a complete, total artist. A teacher and mentor, he organizes free expression workshops for children. As a creator of happenings, an intellectual, and a poet, he brings together all the arts and fosters dialogue among them. He accompanies his exhibitions with avant-garde musical selections and chose to feature works by Boulez, Messiaen, and Schönberg during the 1966 exhibition at the Barandiaran Gallery. Based in Ciboure for much of his life, until his death, he was the one of the eight Basque artists who maintained the closest ties to France.