82031 - Bilbao Fine Arts Museum

Buy image

82031

Nagel, Andrés

San Sebastián, 15/08/1947

Oil, polyester and fibreglass

180.5 x 109.5 x 67.7 cm

1982

Last quarter of the 20th century

82/302

Acquired in 1982

Nagel's use of a wide range of materials and pre-existing objects, anything from tin cans, rope or plastics to neon tubes and pieces of furniture, with generally human figures that he constructs, occasionally fragmentedly, out of fibre glass placed over an easy-to-model wire mesh support that he then paints, clearly takes Pop Art as its basic reference. But it may in fact be truer to talk about figuration where different expressive attitudes converge: pathos, melancholy, truculence, humour and angst.

Although made under the influence of the installations and reliefs of Georges Segal and Larry Rivers, these remarkably original sculptures also refer to film, comics, poster art, caricature and advertising. Nagel introduced new forms in Basque art and, above all, a new vision of the region's current reality. In this respect at least, he is not far removed from Vicente Ameztoy, with whom he has produced the occasional artwork. [Javier Viar]

Selected bibliography

  • Andrés de Nagel [Cat. exp.]. Madrid, Ministerio de Cultura, Dirección General de Bellas Artes y Archivos, 1983. p. 42, n° cat. 16.
  • Lucie-Smith, Edward. Andres Nagel. New York, Rizzoli, 1992. pp. 36, 45, il.
  • Andrés Nagel : 1974-1995 [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Fundación Bilbao Bizkaia Kutxa = Bilbao Bizkaia Kutxa Fundazioa, 1995. n° cat. 6.
  • Guía Artistas Vascos. Bilbao, Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2008. pp. 174-175.
  • Gida Euskal Artistak. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Eder Museoa, 2008. pp. 174-175.
  • Guide Basque Artists. Bilbao, Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, 2012. pp. 174-175, n° cat. 96b.
  • Viar, Javier. Historia del arte vasco : de la Guerra Civil a nuestros días, 1936-2016. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2017. pp. 424, 429.
  • Bilboko Museoaren alfabetoa = El alfabeto del Museo de Bilbao = The alphabet of the Bilbao Museum = L'alphabet du Musée de Bilbao [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2018. pp. 172-173, n° cat. 97.
  • Después del 68 : arte y prácticas artísticas en el País Vasco, 1968-2018 [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2018. p. 340.