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Monument to the Basque Sheepherder
"Orreaga" by N. Basterrechea
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Monument to the Basque
Sheepherder
Reno is truly Basque Country
Centrally located within the Basque settlement pattern of
the American West, it is a crossroads for the French Basque
and Navarrese populations of California and northern Nevada
and the Spanish Vizcayan Basques of eastern Oregon and
southern Idaho.
Reno
was once a supply center for Basque sheepmen ranging from
Bridgeport to Alturas, California, and well into northern
and central Nevada. It therefore has a significant
Basque-American population, a Basque club, an annual Basque
festival and two Basque restaurants.
The National Monument to the Basque Sheepherder was
dedicated on Aug. 29, 1989. Conceived four years earlier by
Jose Ramon Cengotitabengoa, President of the Society of
Basque Studies in America, the monument was designed to
commemorate the sacrifices of thousands of young Basques,
who for more than a century have come from Europe to all 13
western states to herd sheep.
At times vilified and seldom appreciated, the Basque
sheepherder ultimately triumphed as one of the architects of
the region’s history and economy. He left a legacy that
still endures in the hotels, festivals, clubs and family
life of thousands of Basque-Americans. These grateful
descendants were the prime supporters of the monument
project; witness the hundreds of names on the donors’
plaque. At the same time, nearly half of the $350,000 cost
of the project was raised in Europe, as a grateful Basque
region recognized its longstanding links with the American
West, personified in the solitary figure of the
sheepherder.
The Monument
An international competition was conducted to select the
design. Ten American and European sculptors entered and a
committee of art experts made the difficult choice between
concepts ranging from the traditional and figurative to the
highly abstract. The winning design, entitled
“Bakardade,” or “Solitude” by its author
-- noted contemporary Basque sculptor Nestor Basterretxea --
was conceived as a statement about the past by the present
to the future.
In the design, the solitary figure of a shepherd
carrying a lamb is suggested rather than depicted. The
contours of the figure might have been fashioned by the wind
and rain rather than a human hand. The herder and his charge
blend with the firmament supporting a half moon overhead and
a planetary web traced upon their backs. The impression of
oneness with the universe is enhanced by incorporation of
the site into Rancho San Rafael Park’s Great Basin
nature trail. The link with the past is conserved by the
site’s proximity to former Basque sheep range. The tree
grove in the background would have been an ideal campsite
for any herder and provides a pleasant picnic setting for
today’s visitor. The raised map of the United States
identifies the nation’s principal areas of Basque
settlement while four reader plaques describe aspects of Old
World and New World Basque culture.
Nestor Basterretxea
Basque sculptor Nestor Basterretxea is a recognized figure
on the contemporary European art scene. He has had more than
20 individual exhibits and participated in more than 150
collective exhibits. He is the creator of the massive mural
adorning the crypt of the basilica of the Monastery of
Aranzazu and the design gracing the assembly hall of the
Basque Parliament building in Vitoria-Gasteiz. Poet,
sculptor and cinematographer, Basterretxea’s work has
been the subject of two books.
Born in Bermeo in Bizkaia in 1924, he was exiled by
the Spanish Civil War, living first in France (1936-1942)
and then in Argentina (1942-1952). It was in the South
American nation that he began his artistic career, winning
Argentina’s prestigious “Premio Unico a
Extranjeros” at the National Salon in Buenos
Aires.
Nestor Basterretxea’s work has been described as
an exploration of Basque character, universality and beauty.
His universality resides in the use of modern forms, making
his work an integral part of the vanguard movement in
Spain.
His expression of Basque character is most evident in
his “Cosmogonic Series,” which transcend the
silence of prehistorical time through Basque mythology
expressed in the tangible images of his sculptures. As a
Basque who matured in the Americas, with the National
Monument to the Basque Sheepherder, Nestor Basterretxea
continues to search his ancestral cave in order to express
the character of his people in their emigration to the
American West.
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