February 27, 2007

Global Seminars & Invited Speaker Series

CONTEMPORARY ART LESSONS IN NAVARRA

The architecture of Victor Eusa

D. Fernando Tabuenca.
Architect

The architect Víctor Eusa, born in Pamplona in 1894, is the central figure of architecture in Navarre during most of the 20th century. From 1920, when he finished his programs of study in Madrid, until well into the seventies, nearly a thousand works and projects from his hand left their mark in Navarre, the region where most of his production was concentrated, with sporadic work in neighboring provinces such as Guipúzcoa, Vizcaya and Zaragoza. 

His active period coincides with the construction of the II Ensanche of Pamplona. His works are authentic urban landmarks that characterize the Ensanche, to the point that it has been possible to establish an identification between Eusa and the city (the then existing one). 

The speaker analyzed the architect's career and the formal evolution of his language, starting from his academic training and the successive influences that marked his early years of profession: his travels through Europe and the Orient, Otto Wagner and the Viennese "Sezession", Art-Déco and the Paris exhibition of 1925, Dudok and Dutch architecture, etc. 

Eslava Casino. Pamplona

All of this results in a very expressionist architecture staff, which handles the brick and concrete as their preferred materials, reaches its maturity in the late twenties and lasts until the civil war. His best-known works are concentrated in this period: Casa de Misericordia, Iglesia de los Paúles, high school de Escolapios, seminar, Casino Eslava, ...

seminar of San Miguel. Pamplona

After 1936, his responsibilities as municipal architect of Pamplona, first, and as provincial architect of the Diputación Foral, later, introduced a new urban dimension to his work.

House of Mercy. Pamplona