- Larratxe received the Euskadi Literature Prize last year in the category of Illustration of Literary Works and, as in the previous six years, he was responsible for designing the poster for this year’s Itzulia Basque Country
This year’s Itzulia Basque Country will be held from April 1 to 6 and today the poster that will announce the 63rd edition was presented. For six years now, the Itzulia poster has been designed by the person who won the Euskadi Literature Prize in the category of illustration of literary works. This year the winner and, therefore, author of the poster is Joseba Larratxe. The illustrator received the 2023 Euskadi Literature Prize with the work “Ni ez naiz Mikel Laboa”.
This morning the Museum of Fine Arts of Bilbao hosted the presentation of the Itzulia poster and the Minister of Culture and Linguistic Policy, Bingen Zupiria, was present; the president of OCETA (Cycling Organization of the Basque Country), organizer of Itzulia, Julián Eraso; the author, Joseba Larratxe, and the director of the Museum of Fine Arts of Bilbao, Miguel Zugaza.
Joseba Larratxe explained that when he received the commission to make this year’s poster for the Itzulia Basque Country, two images came to mind: “On the one hand, the stressed faces of the cyclists sweating, with their mouths open or clenching their hands. teeth, going up a mountain. I have always related cycling with that impulse. On the other hand, the figure of the Basque fans came to mind, in the mountain passes of Euskal Herria and abroad, filling the roads with ikurriñas. And it is that the fans are what is most praised in Basque cycling. Later, I discovered that by showing the reflection of the fans in the cyclist’s glasses I could unite those two images into one. That way, we put ourselves in the shoes of the cyclist. and we see what he sees.” Larratxe added, “I found a way to insert the ikurriña into the poster and integrate the bright colors it has well: compose the entire image with the three colors of the ikurriña.”
The Minister of Culture and Linguistic Policy recalled in today’s presentation that the commissioning of the poster from an artist has its origins in the times before the Civil War: “From the Department of Culture and Linguistic Policy we are committed in 2019 to recover a tradition before the Civil War. At that time there were many artists who designed posters. Also of course, for bicycle races. And we saw it clearly. We had to recover that tradition and offer our artists new opportunities to make their work known. and reach audiences that they normally do not reach. This is how we have united culture and sport in this initiative.” Since 2019, the Itzulia posters have been designed by Yolanda Mosquera, Asisko Urmeneta, Miren Asiain, Javier de Isusi and Maite Mutuberria. All of them are preserved in the Museum of Fine Arts of Bilbao.
For his part, the director of the Museum of Fine Arts of Bilbao, Miguel Zugaza, has congratulated the author of the poster, Joseba Larratxe, for “his ability to graphically synthesize the sporting effort and the enthusiastic support of the Basque fans.” He has also highlighted “the important pool of applied arts professionals who, with his work, contribute to disseminating the values of art and culture in the territory.”
For his part, Julian Eraso, president of the organizing association, analyzed “the importance and link between sport and culture. La Itzulia transcends merely sports, today it is news for the cultural and artistic, but on other occasions, it is also a tourist attraction for the territory.” He added, “We have been with this collaboration for several years, but this edition is especially important since it is the 100th anniversary since the first edition, this poster will go down in history.”
Joseba Larratxe
Joseba Larratxe Berazadi is a native of Irun and is known by the nickname Josevisky. He studied architecture at the San Sebastián school, but his passion was always comics. He has made illustrations for Argia, collaborates with the satirical magazine H28 and publishes the comic Aingurak in Gaztezulo. In 2023 he received the Euskadi Literature Prize in the Literary Work Illustration category for “Ni ez naiz Mikel Laboa”.
Itzulia Basque Country 2024
This year’s Itzulia Basque Country celebrates its 100th anniversary since the first edition. It will be held from April 1 to 6. This year’s edition will begin in Irun and end in Eibar. In total there will be six stages: Irun-Irun, Irun-Kanbo, Ezpeleta-Altsasu, Etxarri Aranatz-Legutio, Vitoria-Amorebieta Etxano and Eibar-Eibar.
