The Bilbao Fine Art Museum houses an important collection of regional art. One of the Basque artists featured in this collection is Amalau Zanko — responsible for the sculpture shown here entitled Roble. Roble is the Spanish term for white oak or oak tree — the wood of choice for shipbuilders in Europe for hundreds of years. The center of Basque culture is situated along the Bay of Biscay in north-central Spain and south-western France. This relatively small yet distinctive people group, genetically linked to the Irish and Welsh Celts, were historically known as skilled farmers and seafarers. Due to their geography and access to the required natural resources, they developed a reputation for quality shipbuilding. Although the material and craftmanship has strong links to the region’s nautical traditions, this sculpture is also steeped in the complex and mysterious world of Basque mythology.
The Basque people are currently strongly aligned with Roman Catholicism but did not make this transition until the 10th century. Prior to their conversion, the culture was dominated by folklore based largely on animism — the belief that every natural thing in the universe has a soul or spirit. Animism is not considered a formal religion but rather encompasses a variety of religious practices through which people cultivate relationships with powerful spirits thought to inhabit our physical world. This work is one of 18 wooden sculptures entitled the Cosmogónica Series that Zanko made based on mythological characters, forces of nature and traditional objects of Basque culture. Interestingly, this work was a predecessor to Zanko’s subsequent public sculptures, which were dedicated to the region’s sailors who were lost at sea.