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

Collection

Príncipe del sueño [Dream prince]

Image caption
JUAN JOSÉ AQUERRETA

Príncipe del sueño [Dream prince]

  • 1987
  • Painted bronze
  • 23 x 20 x 19 cm
  • Cat. E_124
  • Acquired in 2000
By:
Beatriz Espejo

Juan José Aquerreta has been described as a deeply solitary man, an artist obsessed by the uncertainties of everyday life, by a desire for perfectionism and silence. He is a master of lightness, and seeks to break with theories and definitions just like the characters in Dancing from fear (1938) by Paul Klee, a painting with close parallels to his works. That break can be clearly seen in his landscapes, portraits, abstracts and sculptures. His obsessively meticulous work hints at an archaic classicism marked by order, control and restraint, but his inspiration is drawn from chaos and from a dizzying space that often places him before an image of himself.

Perhaps this is why he has always liked producing portraits. The sculpture Dream prince (1987) is a case in point: the white-painted bronze head stands neutral and cold, with little detail. Without renouncing specific features, he turns this portrait into all possible portraits, including one of himself. Indeed, he resorts to self-portraits in many of his works from this period, depicting himself with blurred faces that are astonishing for the intensity in their opaque gaze. He has stated that in portraits he can find eternity, on a plane in which the turmoil of everyday events fades away.

Beatriz Espejo

 
By:
Roberto Díaz
Juan José Aquerreta
Pamplona/Iruña 1946

Juan José Aquerreta studied drawing and painting at the Pamplona School of Arts and Crafts. In 1966 he moved to Madrid and enrolled at the School of Fine Arts of San Fernando, where he studied under Antonio López García. In 1983 he took up a teaching post at the School of Arts in Pamplona. Since the 1970s he has been producing art linked to the so-called Pamplona School, along with artists such as Pedro Salaberri, Pello Azketa and Mariano Royo. However, his solitary nature means that his work is linked more closely to metaphysical painting and the work of Giorgio Morandi. This can be seen in the synthetic treatment of his compositions, which start from linear preliminary drawings with faint, blurred colours, and in the recurring themes in his work, such as the human figure and self-portraits, landscapes (usually empty) where the countryside borders on the city, and still-lifes. At the turn of the 21st century his work became influenced by the religious themes and techniques of Byzantine icons, which made it even more timeless.

In 1973 he put on his first one-man show at the Sen Gallery in Madrid, and continues to exhibit work at Spanish galleries. He has also been a member of numerous groups devoted to Basque and Navarrese art and joined the 15th Salón de los 16 (Madrid, 1995). In 2001 he received the National Award for Plastic Arts and two years later the Prince of Viana Award for Culture.

Roberto Díaz

 
 
Vv.Aa. Colección Banco de España. Catálogo razonado, Madrid, Banco de España, 2019, vol. 2.