Genaro de Urrutia
Plentzia (Bizkaia) 1893 - Bilbao 1965

Genaro de Urrutia trained as an artist in the first quarter of the 20th century in Bilbao, Paris and Rome. In his early years the influence of Paul Cézanne was patent in his murals, landscape paintings, regional scenes and still-lifes, as was that of the painters of the trecento and quattrocento after his time in Rome. This classical Italian influence was played off against the influence of Cézannian painter Aurelio Arteta and the geometrical motifs and cold colours of Daniel Vázquez Díaz. His work was highly rated by the followers of noucentisme in Catalonia.

Urrutia was a member of the Association of Basque Artists, which he actually led from 1926 to 1929. He not only showed his work regularly at their headquarters in Bilbao from 1918 to 1936 but also took part in almost all their activities. His work was exhibited in Madrid for the first time in 1925, at the Salón Nancy. In June that same year he was called upon to take part in the 1st Exhibition of the Society of Iberian Artists. His output was curtailed from 1936 to 1939 by the Spanish Civil, though he was involved in decorating the Militia Orphans' Home, a project involving several artists organised by Isidoro Guinea in late 1936. From the end of the war to his death, Urrutia's output comprised mainly murals.

Frederic Montornés