2021-03-11
A look behind the scenes: Chillida’s path to Wiesbaden (part 1)
A personal account by Reinhard Ernst
“When I got to know my friend and architect Fumihiko Maki a long time ago, he told me that in the 1990s he met Eduardo Chillida, a great sculptor from the Basque country, and was a friend of his until his death.
From this point on I became interested in the works of Eduardo Chillida. I found his sometimes monumental pieces inspiring but also his small-scale works made of stone, steel and paper. A desire grew in me to acquire a sculpture by Chillida. However, the prices for his art had increased enormously, as the Chillida family only sold a few pieces and the owners of Chillida’s works had no interest in selling them.
I read about the approximately 12-hectare sculpture park at the Chillida-Leku Museum in the Basque town of Hernani. My first trip there took place after a discussion I had with Chillida’s son Ignacio. This meeting was initiated by Ursula Bleissner, who headed the Wiesbaden – San Sebastián city-twinning association for many years and knew Ignacio well.
My visit to Hernani was a real eye-opener. What I experienced in this park is difficult to describe. I was surrounded by many marvellous sculptures that I fell in love with at first sight – all set in the hilly Basque scenery. And I also saw Buscando la luz III (Looking for the light III).
Over the years, I paid further visits to the sculpture park and San Sebastián, often combined with a detour to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. During the course of these trips, I became quite convinced that a Chillida sculpture should be part of my collection. I kept in touch with Ignacio and his brother over all those years.
During my first stay in the Basque country, I established my first contact with the then Lord Mayor of Wiesbaden, Helmut Müller – himself a great Chillida fan. It was also he who supported the Wiesbaden Museum through the Frankfurt Rhine-Main Culture Fund, of which he had since become the director. The Chillida exhibition was thus held in our state capital from November 2018 to March 2019. It was certainly an impressive show. It would have been nice to see even one of the great sculptures there but the state museum’s structural engineering situation could not accommodate us.
Our new museum at Wilhelmstrasse 1 is characterised by an expansive lighting effect that is achieved through a glazed inner courtyard. For this atrium, our architect Fumihiko Maki had originally thought of a sculpture that would be produced from black granite.
On 15 October 2020 – a few days before an auction at Sotheby’s in London – I discovered in the relevant auction catalogue that a sculpture by Chillida was to be sold on the evening of 21 October. In the photo, I immediately recognised Buscando la luz III – a work I had photographed myself in Hernani. I was thrilled at this coincidence and knew that this was my chance to acquire a Chillida for our museum. The reserve price seemed high to me but given the current values of Chillida’s sculptures in the art market, it was certainly justified. The following morning, I called my friend Maki. I asked him if he would not object if we were to replace his planned granite sculpture assuming we were able to buy the Chillida work at auction. He was absolutely thrilled and wished us all the best at the auction.
So I tried my luck – and scored a big win. On that particular evening, there wasn’t any devotee willing to spend more than I did on the three-section work made of Corten steel and weighing almost nine tons. What an enhancement it will be for our museum and its visitors.”
But now, this massive work of art still has to wend its way to Germany. Carolin Langer, the art historian and future employee of our Reinhard Ernst Museum, will tell you all about the twists and turns of this story in part two …