Helena Almeida: 'Seduzir' [To Seduce, 2002] (detail)

Collection

Cariátide [Caryatid]

Image caption
ALFREDO SADA

Cariátide [Caryatid]

  • 1990
  • Wood coated in patinated lead
  • 200 x 31 x 16 cm
  • Cat. E_88
  • Acquired in 1991
By:
Beatriz Espejo

Archaeology and mythology were the two themes that inspired Alfredo Sada's most genuine works — those in which he shed the skin of his sculpture, eschewing stone in favour of lighter materials, such as wood or plaster, and later working with lead. It was a change that was to gain the artist great recognition. Caryatid (1990) and The Edge of the Horizon (1990) both date from this stage in his career. At that time, Sada was working on several blocks and series. One focused on the human figure; a second centred on plant and animal motifs; and a third was made up of 'archaeological finds', a classification that extended to caryatids, atlantes, capitals, warriors' helmets, Egyptian deities and ceremonial instruments, in an oeuvre in which the symmetry of pure forms and a sense of balance predominate.

Caryatid (1990) is a version of the classic female statue, made of wood and lead. The most significant feature is the enigmatic 'temporal trompe l'oeil' Sada recreates by patinating the lead, concealing the nature of the metal to transport us to some other time. His sculptures often bear scars and textures, lime marks and patinas, as if they were items of industrial archaeology.

Sada preferred to lead an austere life, eschewing the loud or garish. Consequently he turned to his work in search of a kind of ascetic escape. In this he was like so many others who, disenchanted with their times, have preferred to step back and seek refuge in a melancholic flight provided by memories of some distant past. His work appears to have been rescued from the past, becoming an aesthetic refuge.

Beatriz Espejo

 
By:
Beatriz Espejo
Alfredo Sada
Falces (Navarre) 1950 - Falces (Navarre) 1992

Alfredo Sada was one of the most outstanding Navarrese sculptors of his generation, winning the National Sculpture Prize in 1991. In his short career, he attained a high level of conceptual and technical development, with work that is full of poetry and technical skill. He was self-taught until 1970, when he enrolled at the School of Applied Arts and Crafts in Pamplona/Iruña. The 1972 'Pamplona Encounters' (Encuentros de Pamplona), an international festival of avant-garde art, music, poetry and cinema, greatly influenced his work in wood, leading him to break down the limits between the sculpture and its enveloping space. Between 1979 and 1981 his sculptures underwent a mutation in which he eschewed iconically recognisable models to take a more decidedly abstract focus.

His first solo exhibition was held in 1983 in Pamplona/Iruña. By that time, most of his work was in stone, although in the mid 1980s, inspired by archaeological motifs, he took a strong stylistic and thematic shift, developing discs and circles that twisted in on themselves to create more serene and balanced pieces. The big change came in 1988, when he attended the Contemporary Art Workshops organised by the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid. He started to cover his sculptures in lead to evoke some distant past.

His works are found in a number of major collections including the Juan March Foundation, the Círculo de Bellas Artes de Madrid, the Museum of Navarre and the Cultural Centre in Paris. His few solo exhibitions included shows at the Culture Hall, Caja de Ahorros de Navarra (Pamplona/Iruña, 1983), the Museum of La Rioja (Logroño, 1990) and the Galería Emilio Navarro (Madrid, 1990). In 1994, the Caja de Ahorros Municipal de Pamplona held a posthumous exhibition of his work.

Beatriz Espejo

 
 
Vv.Aa. Colección Banco de España. Catálogo razonado, Madrid, Banco de España, 2019, vol. 3.