IMPORTANT CUBAN ARTWORKS, Volume Twenty by CernudaArte

IMPORTANT CUBAN ARTWORKS VOLUME TWENTY

Cernuda Arte 1

Henry Cleenewerck (1825 – 1901), The Ceiba Tree, (La Ceiba), ca 1865, oil on board, 20 ¼ x 21 ¼ inches [unframed], 27 ¼ x 29 inches [framed] Exhibited in Paradise Lost? Aspects of Landscape in Latin American Art, Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, Jan. - Apr. 2003, and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, page 18. Exhibited in Cuban Art in the 20th Century, Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts, Tallahassee, FL, Feb. 12 - Mar. 27, 2016, and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, page 65. Also exhibited in Cuban Art in the 20th Century, Coral Gables Museum, Coral Gables, FL, Jan. - Apr. 2017.

Wifredo Lam, Person with Hat, 1942 (illustrated on the cover) Wifredo Lam (1902 – 1982), Person with Hat, 1942, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on board, 37 x 28 ⅞ inches Please refer to page 23 for more information. Cernuda Arte provides a warranty of authenticity for every artwork offered in this catalog, according to the terms established in the Certificate of Authenticity that Cernuda Arte issues to the buyer(s) of artworks acquired from Cernuda Arte. 2

IMPORTANT CUBAN ARTWORKS VOLUME TWENTY

A word from the Director

s 2023 comes to a close, Cernuda Arte proudly presents the 20th edition of IMPORTANT CUBAN ARTWORKS, our signature annual publication. In this milestone volume, we’ve assembled a collection of creative production from the classic, modern, and contemporary eras. This catalog features rare jewels, fresh voices, and major masterpieces, including 25 artworks that have graced the walls of museums, accumulating over 50 exhibitions between them. In the years since the first volume of IMPORTANT CUBAN ARTWORKS was published, much ink has been spilled about shifting paradigms in the art world. Some changes are drastic and undeniable: over these decades, we’ve witnessed transitions in social values and evolving tastes, increased sophistication among collectors, the rise of previously marginalized voices, the introduction of new technologies for exhibition and communication, and a more globally interconnected market and mindset, to name a few. In this hyper-accelerated era, it can feel as though centuries of trends come and go in just a few years. However, what truly matters – the connection, fulfillment, and appreciation that only art can provide – remains unchanged. Exceptional art is that which endures the test of time, and that has always been our focus. In the immortal words of Carlos Gardel, “veinte años no es nada,” (“twenty years is nothing”). Since our previous edition, the gallery has grown. On May 5th of this year, we celebrated the opening of our third gallery space at 3160 Ponce de León Boulevard in Coral Gables. This new location is just across the street from our first building, established in the year 2000, and our second building, which opened its doors in 2016. This exciting addition has enhanced our programming flexibility considerably. The 3160 salon is a versatile space, dedicated to showcasing areas of specialized interest, such as historic artworks, prints and multiples, and unique works by midcareer artists. As a result of this addition, Cernuda Arte now has 8,500 square feet of exhibition space to present world-class art, with another 12,000 square feet reserved for warehousing and storage. Expanding our galleries, our team, and our collection, has only been made possible by the mutual trust that exists between the gallery, its collectors, and the cultural institutions we collaborate closely with. Since our establishment in 2000, we have been totally dedicated to authentic art of Cuba and the Cuban diaspora. It is a privilege to apply our 23 years of connoisseurship to connect people with high-quality, Cuban artworks of unquestionable authorship, and to be relied on to handle and research top works like those documented in this catalog. (Continued on page 162)

Cernuda Arte’s Staff (from left to right): Diana Benítez, Alvaro Campos, Juan Carlos Rodríguez, Roxana Martínez, Nercys Cernuda, Ramón Cernuda, Nico Hough, María Rómulo, Daniel Ferrer, Thalia Monier, Vicente Enríquez 3

Philippe Chartrand (1825 – 1889), Landscape with Deer, (Paisaje con Ciervo), ca 1870, oil on panel, 16 ⅜ x 12 ½ inches On the reverse, a stamp appears reading “Quintín Valdés y Castillo, Obispo 101, Habana,” also “Mr. Q. G. Dickeson,” a partial label of a gilding company in New York City. Original frame, stretcher and period nails. 4

Esteban Chartrand (1840 – 1883), Sunset, (Crepúsculo), 1867, oil on canvas, 22 x 36 ¼ inches

Esteban Chartrand paints Crepúsculo at age twenty-seven, two years after having finalized his formal education of art in Paris. It is known that there, he took classes from the renowned Barbizon School Master, Théodore Rousseau. In a letter written to his sister Cristina, dated December 10, 1865, he states, “Having completed my studies in Paris, I am now here [Matanzas] and start on Wednesday next on the first sally towards my duty in fulfillment of my profession.” The enthusiasm about his career as a landscape artist is ever-present in his correspondence of the period and in one letter written to Mr. Bayley, his brother-in-law, in Boston, on June 20, 1867 (the same year he executed this landscape), Esteban states, “Fine arts on the ascent. Have several pictures now ready. I send them with Mr. Parkinson to New York.” In New York, Esteban Chartrand was represented by the prestigious Goupil Gallery, that later became Goupil-Knoedler. Ramón Cernuda

Víctor Patricio Landaluze (1828 – 1889), Cutting Sugar Cane, (Cortando la Caña de Azúcar), ca 1880, ink and watercolor on heavy paper laid down on board, 3 ¾ x 5 ⅝ inches Provenance: Private Collection, Havana, Cuba.

Víctor Patricio Landaluze (1828 – 1889), Coachman Praying to The Virgin, (Calesero Rezándole a La Virgen), ca 1880, ink and watercolor on heavy paper laid down on board, 3 ¾ x 5 ⅝ inches Provenance: Private Collection, Havana, Cuba. 6

Víctor Patricio Landaluze (1828 – 1889), Cuban Guajiro on Horse Scares Off a Rooster, (Guajiro a Caballo Espanta Gallo), ca 1880, ink and watercolor on heavy paper laid down on board, 5 ⅝ x 3 ¾ inches Provenance: Private Collection, Havana, Cuba.

Víctor Patricio Landaluze (1828 – 1889), Cuban Guajiro and His Rooster Horseback Riding, (Guajiro y Su Gallo Montan a Caballo), ca 1880, ink and watercolor on heavy paper laid down on board, 5 ⅝ x 3 ¾ inches Provenance: Private Collection, Havana, Cuba.

Víctor Patricio Landaluze (1828 – 1889), Getting Ready for the Party, (Arreglándose para la Fiesta), ca 1880, ink and watercolor on heavy paper laid down on board, 8 ¾ x 7 ¼ inches Provenance: Private Collection, Havana, Cuba.

Vicente Escobar (1757 – 1834), Portrait of Agustín de las Heras, (Rerato de Agustín de las Heras), 1828, oil on canvas, 35 x 27 inches Signed, dated and inscribed with title and “A sus padres D. Feliciano de las Heras y Da. María Carazo Salduero, Habana, Agosto año de 1836.” Exhibited in Sotheby’s, Latin American Art, NY, June, 1999, and illustrated in the corresponding auction catalog, page 88, lot 87. Exhibited in Three Centuries of Afro Cuban Art, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, June - Oct. 2017. This painting is accompanied by a genealogical and historic essay of the Heras Carazo family in the first half of the 19th century in Havana, Cuba by Lic. María Teresa Cornide, undated. 9

Miguel Arias (1841 – 1915), Landscape with Railway Line, (Paisaje con Línea de Tren), ca 1892, oil on canvas, 6 1/8 x 10 1/8 inches Exhibited at In the Mind’s Eye, Landscapes of Cuba, Sep. 2022 - Jan. 2023, Frost Art Museum, Florida International University, Miami, FL, and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, pages 35 (partial) and 50. This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Dr. Olga López Núñez, specialist in Colonial and Early Republic Cuban Art, National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana, Cuba, dated Mar. 10, 2014.

Federico Sulroca (1860 – 1931), Dog and Cats, (Perro y Gatos), 1910, oil on board, 12 x 17 ¾ inches

Federico Sulroca Spencer (1860 – 1931), born in Guanabacoa, Havana, Cuba, studied at the San Alejandro Academy, where he took classes with the illustrious landscape painter Valentín Sanz Carta and the Academy’s Director, Miguel Melero. Sulroca was well recognized for his artistic achievements, winning First Prize in 1905 at the Diario La Marina contest, and in 1908 obtaining the highest distinction at the Atheneum of Havana. In 1912, he became a full Professor at San Alejandro Academy. He was a distinguished member of the National Academy of Arts and Letters. Ramón Cernuda

Miguel Díaz Salinero (1874 – 1943), Portrait of José Martí, (Retrato de José Martí), ca 1920s, oil on canvas, 23 x 18 3/4 inches

Díaz Salinero studied art at the San Alejandro Academy. There he became one of the favored disciples of Maestro Leopoldo Romañach. Afterwards, he was active as a portrait painter and illustrator for the magazine Cuba y América. He was a founding member of the Casa Natal José Martí and an Honorary Member of the institution for the last nineteen years of his life. He is considered to be the most talented physiognomist of Cuban patriot José Martí. The National Museum of Fine Arts in Havana posseses eleven paintings by Díaz Salinero in its collection. Currently, another version of a Díaz Salinero painting of José Martí is being displayed at the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. as part of the historic show 1898: U.S. Imperial Visions and Revisions. Ramón Cernuda 11

Armando Menocal (1863 – 1942), Young Lady with Mantilla, (Joven con Mantilla), ca 1890, oil on canvas, 33 x 21 inches Provenance: Private Collection, Madrid, Spain

Armando Menocal (1863 – 1942) born in Havana, traveled to Spain in 1880 to further his studies at the San Fernando Arts Academy of Madrid. He stayed in Europe until 1889 when he returned to Cuba. This painting, Young Lady with Mantilla, was executed while he was in Madrid, possibly after he concluded his studies at the Academy. Ramón Cernuda

Armando Menocal (1863 – 1942), Bridge of Tren de la Palma, Cristal River, (Puente del Tren de la Palma, Río Cristal), ca 1930, oil on panel, 14 ¾ x 11 ½ inches Exhibited in One Hundred Years of Cuban Landscape, 1850 to 1950, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Dec. 2001 - Feb. 2002, and listed in the corresponding exhibition catalog, page 34, no. 29. Exhibited in Cuban Art and Identity, 1900 – 1950, Vero Beach Museum of Art, Vero Beach, FL, Oct. - Feb. 2014, Professor Juan A. Martínez, Ph.D., Head Curator, and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, page 36.

Leopoldo Romañach (1862 – 1951), Lady with Flowers, (Dama con Flores), ca 1915, oil on canvas, 41 1/4 x 47 1/2 inches Exhibited at Sotheby’s, Latin American Art, New York, Nov. 2000, and illustrated in the auction catalog, no. 107. Exhibited in Cuban Art and Identity: 1900 – 1950, Vero Beach Museum of Art, Vero Beach, FL, Oct. 2013 - Feb. 2014, Professor Juan A. Martínez, Ph.D., Head Curator, and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, pages 13, and 52.

Eduardo Morales (1862 – 1938), Carriage in the Sugar Cane Plantation, (Volanta en el Cañaveral), ca 1915, oil on canvas, 13 1/2 x 17 1/2 inches This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Dr. Olga López Núñez, specialist in Colonial and Early Republic Cuban Art, National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana, Cuba, dated Dec. 14, 2009. 13

Domingo Ramos (1894 – 1956), Landscape with River and Palm Trees, (Paisaje con Río y Palmeras), 1950, oil on canvas laid down on wood, 35 1/2 x 47 1/4 inches Exhibited in Cuban Art in the 20th Century, Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts, Tallahassee, FL, Feb. 12 - Mar. 27, 2016. Also exhibited at the Coral Gables Museum, Coral Gables, FL, Jan. - Apr. 2017, and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, page 74.

Antonio Rodríguez Morey (1874 – 1967), Colonial Patio, (Patio Colonial), 1932, oil on wood, 10 1/2 x 14 1/4 inches Exhibited in Cuban Art: Academic, Modern and Contemporary, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, June - Aug. 2006. 14

Domingo Ramos (1894 – 1956), The Mango Farm, (Finca de Mangos), 1945, oil on canvas, 21 1/2 x 17 3/4 inches Exhibited in Classic Art from the 19th and 20th Century, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Oct. - Dec. 2021. This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Dr. Olga López Núñez, specialist in Colonial and Early Republic Cuban Art, National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana, Cuba, dated Dec.17, 2009.

José Rodríguez Radillo (1915 – 1977), The Water Seller, (El Aguador), 1938, oil on canvas, 30 x 21 1/2 inches

José Rodríguez Radillo (1915 – 1977), was born in Havana. He studied painting and drawing at San Alejandro National Fine Arts Academy and graduated from this institution. He later became a professor of Drawing and Painting, at the San Alejandro Annex School, in Havana. He worked for the magazine Carteles from 1934 to 1946 and was the Art Director of the magazine Ellas since 1938. Rodríguez Radillo won various awards at the National Bellas Artes Salons held yearly in Cuba. He won medals and distinctions at these events in 1938, 1939 and 1944. Ramón Cernuda 15

Víctor Manuel García (1897 – 1969), Landscape with Farmers and Huts, (Paisaje con Campesinos y Bohíos), 1948, oil on canvas, 16 ½ x 11 ¾ inches, also signed and dated on the reverse Provenance: Manuel Abelén, Vice-Consul of Brazil in Cuba, and his wife, Elena Rodríguez de Abelén who acquired it from the artist in the 1940s; Thence by descent to their nephew and niece, Mr. René Rodríguez and Helen Lily Harbour. 16

Víctor Manuel García (1897 – 1969), Sweethearts, (Novios), ca 1948, mixed media on paper laid down on canvas, 30 x 22 inches Exhibited in Víctor Manuel, Transcendencia de la Libertad, Alfredo Martínez Gallery, Coral Gables, FL, undated, ca 1997, and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog. Exhibited in Latin American Art Auction, Miami, FL, Jan. 12, 1997, no. 7 in the catalog.

Víctor Manuel García (1897 – 1969), Portrait of a Young Lady, (Retrato de una Joven), ca 1960s, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on board, 29 ½ x 20 inches This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Ramón Vázquez Díaz, dated July 11, 2019.

Carlos Enríquez (1900 – 1957), Nude, (Desnuda), 1949, ink on heavy paper laid down on board, 20 ⅞ x 16 ½ inches Provenance: Collection of Madame Odette Lavergne, Cannes, France; Collection of Howard Farber, New York, NY. Exhibited in Art Moderne and Contemporain, Besch Commissaire, Hotel Martinez, Cannes, France, Nov. 2009, and illustrated in the auction catalog, page 63. Illustrated in the book Carlos Enríquez: The Painter of Cuban Ballads, by Professor Juan A. Martínez, Ph.D., Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, 2010, page 211. The sitter for this painting was Germaine Lahens, third wife of Carlos Enríquez. 18

Carlos Enríquez (1900 – 1957), Red Horse, (Caballo Rojo), 1954, oil on canvas, 30 x 23 inches Provenance: Private Collection, Pinecrest, FL. Exhibited in Warming up Engines, inaugural exhibition, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Aug. 2000. Exhibited in Carlos Enríquez: The Painter of Cuban Ballads, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Apr. - May 2010, and illustrated digitally on cernudaarte.com, exhibitions. Illustrated in the book Cuban Art: Remembering Cuba Through its Art, Private Collections in Exile, Volume 1, Arte al Día Internacional, 2004, page 132. Illustrated in the book Carlos Enríquez: The Painter of Cuban Ballads, Professor Juan A. Martínez, Ph.D., Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, 2010, page 235.

One of the principal subjects of Enríquez’s art is the horse. When Enríquez’s paintings were included in the Museum of Modern Art’s (MoMA), 1944 exhibition, Modern Cuban Painters, former MoMA director Alfred H. Barr, Jr. wrote: “There is little reserve and no still life in the volatile art of Carlos Enríquez. He suggests the legendary violence and sensuality of his country by fusing desperados, galloping horses, figures of women, and the windy, rolling Cuban landscape into tornados of iridescent color.” 19

This elegant portrait was painted by Carlos Enríquez in 1945, during the artist’s stay in Haiti. The painting is of Madame Fernande Lescot, wife of Dr. Gerard Lescot, son of the president of Haiti from 1941 - 1946. Dr. Gerard Lescot was the Minister of Haitian Foreign Affairs during his father’s presidency. President Elie Lescot and family were well known for their constant support and encouragement of the arts. In this depiction, the artist grasps the elegance of the sitter, the Haitian President's daughter-in-law, as well as the refrained sensuality of the young European woman, Fernande Lescot. Art scholars have often recognized the importance of portrait paintings in the collective body of work of Carlos Enríquez. “At the height of his artistic journey, in terms of critical recognition, Carlos Enríquez was known not only as a painter of Cuban rural scenes and landscapes, but also a portrait painter… In general, he engaged in highly imaginative self-portraiture, nude portraits of his wives, and more traditional portraits of family, friends, and acquaintances… The artist was thought to have 'a special insight into the sitters' inner or ideal self.'” 1

Carlos Enríquez (1900 – 1957), Portrait of Fernande Lescot, (Retrato de Fernande Lescot), 1945, oil on canvas, 32 x 24 inches Provenance: The daughter of the sitter, Colette Lescot Zacharias, by inheritance. Illustrated in the book Carlos Enríquez: The Painter of Cuban Ballads, Professor Juan A. Martínez, Ph.D., Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, 2010, page 197.

During President Elie Lescot’s time in office, the Haitian government initiated a movement of cultural revival and supported endeavors such as Centre d’Art, a cultural institution dedicated to the promotion of Modern Art of the time. In 1945, the show Modern Cuban Painters was held at the Centre d’Art in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, which featured works by twelve major Cuban Vanguardia artists, including Carlos Enríquez, Cundo Bermúdez, René Portocarrero, Wifredo Lam, Mario Carreño, Fidelio Ponce, Roberto Diago, Julio Girona, Mariano Rodríguez, Luis Martínez Pedro, Felipe Orlando, and Amelia Peláez. That same year, Carlos Enríquez held a major one-person exhibition at this same institution. Ramón Cernuda 1

Professor Juan A. Martínez Ph.D., Carlos Enríquez: The Painter of Cuban Ballads, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, 2010, pages 70 and 71.

Carlos Enríquez (1900 – 1957), Woman on Carousel, (Dama en Carrusel), 1956, crayons and pencil on paper, 14 x 11 inches Provenance: Mario Amiguet Collection, Coral Gables, FL. Illustrated in the book Carlos Enríquez: The Painter of Cuban Ballads, Professor Juan A. Martínez, Ph.D., Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, 2010, page 261.

Carlos Enríquez (1900 – 1957), Cuban Landscape, (Paisaje Cubano), 1947, mixed media on paper laid down on board, 14 x 19 inches Provenance: Private Collection, Coral Gables, FL. Illustrated in the book Carlos Enríquez: The Painter of Cuban Ballads, Professor Juan A. Martínez, Ph.D., Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, 2010, page 201.

Wifredo Lam (1902 – 1982), Person with Hat, (Persona con Sombrero), ca 1942, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on board, 37 x 28 ⅞ inches [unframed], 48 x 39 ½ inches [framed] Provenance: Marta Gutiérrez Fine Arts, Miami, FL; The Brillembourg Capriles Collection. Exhibited in the traveling museum show, Wifredo Lam in North America, which opened at the Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University, Milwaukee,WI, Oct. 11, 2007 - Jan. 21, 2008, and later traveled to: Miami Art Museum, Miami, FL, Feb. 8 - May 18, 2008; Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, CA, Jun. 12 - Aug. 31, 2008; and Salvador Dalí Museum, St. Petersburg, FL, Oct. 2, 2008 - Jan. 10, 2009. Exhibited in North Looks South: Building the Latin American Art Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, June 6 – Sep. 26, 2009. Exhibited in Intersecting Modernities, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, 2013, and illustrated in the corresponding book, no. 42, page 122. Illustrated in Wifredo Lam: Catalogue Raisonné of the Painted Work, Vol. I, (1923-1960), Lou Laurin-Lam & Eskil Lam, Acatos, Paris, 1996, no. 42.05, page 293. Illustrated in Wifredo Lam in North America, Dawn Ades & Edward Lucie-Smith, Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University, 2008, no. 18, page 91. Illustrated in the article, An Apostate Welcomed at Last, Wall Street Journal, D’Arcy, David, Apr. 29, 2008. It has been said that a person cannot go into the same river twice – with the passage of time, both the person and the waters will have become different. In 1942, when Wifredo Lam returned to Cuba after seventeen years in Europe, he experienced the truth of this dictum. The artist’s homecoming trip was not as he had expected, but the soul-searching and revitalization that ensued led him to one of the most prolific and important years of his distinguished career. One year prior, in 1941, Lam and his wife-to-be, the German scientist Helena Holzer, alongside André Breton and other artists and intellectuals in their social circle, had fled to the Caribbean after narrowly escaping the Nazi incursion into France. After months of maritime travel with stops in Martinique, Dominican Republic, and Haiti, Lam finally arrived to Cuba in 1942. The prodigal son had returned, but Havana society no longer felt like home. Instead, he searched for deeper inspiration in the lush glory of the natural tropics, and in the ceremonies, art, and music of the African diaspora. His proximity to Santería and other Afro-Cuban traditions reinvigorated his creativity, displacing the secondhand visual influences of African artifacts he had encountered in Paris with a more sincere and authentic expression of culture. During their time on the island, Lam and Holzer formed a close relationship with vanguard thinkers like Lydia Cabrera and Fernando Ortiz, who believed that the African religion and its gods were fundamental to Cuba's cultural identity. Lam, fully attuned to this idea, began incorporating the symbols of Yoruba magic into his art. In the creative circles of interwar Spain and France, Lam had refined a craft and a language of Western modernism. In Cuba, the artist reconnected with his African heritage, and energetically cultivated an expression that united these two previously disparate aesthetics, fused with the transcultural characteristics of the Caribbean. Person with Hat, 1942, is a brilliant study in artistic syncretism. Lam’s iconic human-horse hybrid, his purest and most personal expression of Afro-Cuban spirituality, dominates the composition. The figure is executed with the emphatic, flattened geometry of Parisian cubism, rendered in steely greys and ochres with shocks of pink and blue. In a magical realist subversion of the symbol, Lam's homme cheval is sporting a wide-brimmed hat, evoking a gentleman’s propriety. Perhaps this work is an insight into the artist's self-perception – Wifredo Lam, the mystic, and Wifredo Lam, the refined sophisticate, embodied and reconciled in the image of a dapper human-animal hybrid, owing as much to Afro-Caribbean folk figuration as to Western modern painting. The artwork has been included in four museums as part of the solo exhibition, Wifredo Lam in North America, as well as in two museum group shows. In 1942, with the wind at his back, Lam produced more than one hundred major artworks. At the end of the year, transformed and enlivened, he began working on his world-famous masterpiece, The Jungle, solidifying his place as a major figure of 20th century art. Person with Hat, produced earlier during this same marathon of inspiration and discovery, is an exquisite document by a visionary in his creative prime. Nico Hough 22

Wifredo Lam (1902 – 1982), Person with Hat, (Persona con Sombrero), ca 1942, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on board, 37 x 28 ⅞ inches [unframed], 48 x 39 ½ inches [framed]

Wifredo Lam (1902 – 1982), Fishing Horn, (Cordel de Pescar), 1946, ink on paper laid down on board, 20 x 24 ½ inches, signed and dated 14.2.46 Haiti lower right; titled on the reverse Provenance: The London Gallery, London; The Estate of Roland Penrose, England; Mayor Gallery, London; Private Collection, San Francisco; Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL; Private Collection, Chicago, IL. Exhibited in Master Drawings New York, Kouros Gallery and Elrick-Manley Fine Art Inc., New York, NY, Jan. 18 - 26, 2008. Exhibited in The EY Exhibition: Wifredo Lam, Centre Pompidou, Musée National d’Art Modern, Paris, France, Sep. 30, 2015 - Feb. 15, 2016. Also exhibited in Wifredo Lam, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain, Apr. 12 - Aug. 15, 2016. Also exhibited in Wifredo Lam, Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom, Sep. 14, 2016 - Jan. 8, 2017. The work is illustrated in the three accompanying museum exhibition catalogs: Wifredo Lam, Catherine David (Editor), Éditions du Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2015, page 110. Wifredo Lam, Catherine David (Editor), Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, 2016, page 116. The EY Exhibition: Wifredo Lam, Catherine David (Editor), Tate Modern Museum, Tate Enterprises Ltd, 2016, page 110. Illustrated in A Concise History of Modern Painting, Herbert Read, London, England, 1968, page 141. This work is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity from Lou Laurin-Lam signed and dated Paris 23-05-2006. Sold prior to the publication of this catalog.

Wifredo Lam (1902 – 1982), Snail, (Caracol ), 1975, bronze sculpture, number 2 of 10, plus five Artist’s Proofs, 19 ½ x 23 ¼ x 6 inches Illustrated in the book Wifredo Lam, by Max-Pol Fouchet, Ediciones Polígrafa, Barcelona, Spain, 1989, page 241.

Wifredo Lam (1902 – 1982), Plate with Fish, (Plato con Pescado), 1962, silver plated sculpture, number 11 of 20, 15 inches in diameter Signed and dated on the front; numbered on the reverse Provenance: Private Collection, Puerto Rico. We are grateful to Monsieur Eskil Lam for having confirmed the authenticity of this artwork.

Wifredo Lam (1902 – 1982), Untitled [Meditating Woman], (Sin Título [Mujer Meditando] ), 1964, oil on canvas, 24 ¼ x 18 ¼ inches Provenance: Studio Sant'Andrea, Milan, Italy; Private Collection, Italy Illustrated in Wifredo Lam: Catalogue Raisonné of the Painted Work, Volume II, 1961-1982, Project Director Eskil Lam, Acatos, 2002, pages 45 and 280, no. 64.20. This artwork is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity, signed by the artist. Sold prior to the publication of this catalog.

In the mid-1960s, Wifredo Lam emerged as a truly cosmopolitan figure in the art world, jet-setting between Europe and the Americas and mingling with legendary figures in 20th century arts and literature. Throughout his travels and connections, the artist polished his synthesis of surrealist aesthetics and diasporic spirituality into an unmistakable and profound style, cementing his status as an international master. In 1964, Lam was honored with the Guggenheim International Award in New York City, and then embarked on a flight to receive the prestigious Marzotto Prize in Italy. That same year, his work graced significant exhibitions on both continents, including solo displays at Galleria Notizie in Turin, Italy, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Caracas, Venezuela. Lam’s pieces were also featured in prominent group exhibitions in 1964, such as Documenta III in Kassel, Germany, and the Paintings from The Museum of Modern Art of New York exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. Throughout 1965, he mostly resided in Europe, where he shared with Pablo Picasso and Giacometti in Paris, savored the summer in Stockholm, and visited the rural studio of the American sculptor Alexander Calder in Central France. In the early part of the year, he collaborated with the Romanian-born avant-garde writer, Gherasim Luca, and provided illustrations for his stunning and cataclysmic poem, Apostroph’Apocalypse. Later in 1965, Wifredo Lam exhibited in the 10th International Exhibition of Surrealism in Paris, L’Ecart absolu.

During this period, his expressions further transcended the conventional boundaries of cubism and surrealism, evolving into a commanding modern mythology. Lam’s recognized icons, namely the femme cheval (horse woman), ancestral ghosts, and animal hybrids, remained his main subjects, but blossomed in their sophistication. Exceptional works from this period, like 1964’s Untitled [Meditating Woman] and the 1965 oil painting, Untitled [Femme Cheval, Bird and Elegua], demonstrate the breadth and elegance of Lam’s pantheon and the artist’s unique ability to channel international influences into a distinctive visual vocabulary. Nico Hough 26

Wifredo Lam (1902 – 1982), Untitled [Femme Cheval, Bird and Elegua], (Sin Título [Mujer Caballo, Pájaro y Elegua]), 1965, oil on canvas, 20 ¼ x 16 ¼ inches, signed and dated on the reverse Provenance: Grasso Collection, Milan; Galleria Gissi, Turin; Private Collection, Europe. Illustrated in Lam, Michel Leiris, Fratelli Fabbri, Milan, 1970, illustrated as no. 179. Illustrated in “Lam: La conquête de l’unité perdue”, Alain Jouffroy, Opus International, no. 26, Paris, June 1971, page 27. Illustrated in Lam, Alain Jouffroy, Editions Georges Fall, Bibli-Opus, Paris, 1972, page 32. Illustrated in Wifredo Lam, Max-Pol Fouchet, 1st edition, 1976, page 243, no. 543; and also in the 2nd edition, 1989, page 263, no. 575, Polígrafa/Cercle d’Art, Barcelona/Paris. Illustrated in Wifredo Lam: Catalogue Raisonné of the Painted Work, Vol. II, 1961-1982, Project Director Eskil Lam, Acatos, 2002, no. 65.06. This work is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate issued by Lou Laurin-Lam, wife of the artist, Paris, Mar. 26, 1990, as well as by a letter signed by Madame Lou Laurin-Lam. 27

Wifredo Lam (1902 – 1982), Untitled [Eleguas of the Roads], (Sin Título [Los Eleguas del Camino]), 1969, oil on canvas, 10 x 13 ¾ inches, signed and dated on the reverse Provenance: Galleria Pace, Milano, Italy; Galleria d'Arte Ferretti, Viareggio, Italy. Illustrated in Le Armi Miracolose di Wifredo Lam, Efolo, Trieste, Feb. 1981, page 17. Illustrated in Wifredo Lam: Catalogue Raisonné of the Painted Work, Vol. II, 1961 - 1982, Project Director Eskil Lam, Acatos, 2002, page 320, no. 69.52. This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by the artist, Aug. 29, 1975. Sold prior to the publication of this catalog.

Wifredo Lam (1902 – 1982), Untitled [Composition of Eleguas], (Sin Título [Composición de Eleguas]), 1973, oil on canvas, 10 x 13 ¾ inches Provenance: Galerie Daniel Lelong, Paris, France; Galleria d’Arte Maggiore, Bologna, Italy; European Private Collection. Illustrated in Wifredo Lam: Catalogue Raisonné of the Painted Work, Vol. II, 1961 - 1982, Project Director Eskil Lam, Acatos, 2002, page 397, no. 73.32. This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Daniel Lelong, President General Director of the Lelong Gallery, Paris, France, Jan. 21, 1991. Sold prior to the publication of this catalog. 28

Wifredo Lam (1902 – 1982), Untitled [Femme and Personnage], (Sin Título [Mujer y Personaje]), 1972, oil on canvas, 23 ¾ x 19 ¾ inches Provenance: Private Collection, Paris, France. This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Madame Lou Laurin-Lam, dated Feb. 15, 1988. Sold prior to the publication of this catalog.

Wifredo Lam (1902 – 1982), Yemaya, (Yemayá), 1977, bronze sculpture, number 29 of 50, 11 ¾ x 8 x 5 ¾ inches Exhibited [different number] in Wifredo Lam: The Changing Image - Centennial Exhibition, Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama, Japan, Oct. 2002 - Jan. 2003, and illustrated in the accompanying publication, page 161. Exhibited [different number] in Tesoro: Pepe Mar’s Love Letter to the Frost, curator Pepe Mar, Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum, Florida International University, Miami, FL, Dec. 2020 - Nov. 2022. Illustrated [different number] in Wifredo Lam: Catalogue Raisonné of the Painted Work, Vol. II, 1961 - 1982, Project Director Eskil Lam, Acatos, 2002, page 223, no. 121. Illustrated [different number] in Wifredo Lam: The Imagination at Work, Alexander Alberro, NY, Pace Publishing, 2022, page 151. Illustrated [different number] in Lam, text by Jacques Leenhardt, HC Editions, page 285.

Wifredo Lam (1902 – 1982), Untitled [Figure and Dreams], (Sin Título [Figura y Sueños]), 1973, oil on canvas, 17 ¾ x 13 ½ inches Signed and dated 1973 on the reverse. Provenance: Galleria d’Arte Cafiso, Milan, Italy; Collection Medea, Milan, Italy; Private Collection, Milan, Italy; Centro d’Arte La Carcaodia, Rome, Italy. Illustrated in Wifredo Lam: Catalogue Raisonné of the Painted Work, Vol. II, 1961 - 1982, Project Director Eskil Lam, Acatos, 2002, page 405, no. 73.73. We are grateful to Monsieur Eskil Lam, son of the artist, for having confirmed the authenticity of this artwork. Sold prior to the publication of this catalog.

Wifredo Lam (1902 – 1982), Untitled [Femme Cheval and Deity], (Sin Título [Mujer Caballo y Deidad]), 1974, oil on canvas, 19 ½ x 15 ¾ inches, signed and dated on the reverse Provenance: Galleria II Prisma, Cuneo, Italy; Galleria d’Arte Borgogna, Milan, Italy; Galleria d’Arte Rizziero, Teramo, Italy; Galleria d’Arte Cafiso, Milan, Italy; European Private Collection. Illustrated in Wifredo Lam: Catalogue Raisonné of the Painted Work, Vol. II, 1961-1982, Project Director Eskil Lam, Acatos, 2002, page 460, no. 74.102. Illustrated in Linden Lane Magazine, Belkis Cuza Malé (Editor), Vol. 42 #1, Spring 2023, front cover. This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Galleria d’Arte Cafiso, Milan, and confirmed by Lou Laurin-Lam, wife of the artist, dated Feb. 27, 1990. 31

Wifredo Lam (1902 – 1982), Untitled [Shower of Color], (Sin Título [Lluvia de Color]), 1977, one-of-a-kind terracotta plate, hand painted by the artist, 16 ¼ inches in diameter Signed by the artist, lower right; signed “Ceramiche S. Giorgio, Albisola” on the reverse. Provenance: Ceramiche S. Giorgio, Albisola, Italy, who acquired it directly from the artist; Il Ponte, Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Milano, Italy; Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL. Exhibited in NSU Art Museum, Remember to React: 60 Years of Collecting, Museum Director Bonnie Clearwater, Fort Lauderdale, FL, Sep. 2018 - Oct. 2019. This artwork is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity, signed by Eskil Lam, son of the artist, dated Nov. 19, 2015.

Wifredo Lam's remarkable suite of prints, Apostroph'Apocalypse, exemplifies his most audacious printmaking work. The series was conceived as am art book, created in collaboration with the avant-garde writer Gherasim Luca during the mid-1960s, amid rising global nuclear tensions. Lam’s draftsmanship reached new heights, reimagining his iconic human-horse hybrids as weaponized phantoms soaring through negative space – sensuous, vivid, and surreal. Beyond the mere assuredness of the line, works from this series have an uncanny texture and color. The distinctive shades are the product of a technique created by Wifredo Lam in collaboration with renowned printmaker Giorgio Upiglio in Milan, which allowed Lam to draw directly on plates coated with powdered pigment. Only 25 copies of Lam's hand-signed and numbered prints from this series, produced on Japanese paper, exist. These individually signed and numbered Japanese paper editions have become among the artist’s most coveted prints. Lam's 14 plates from Apostroph’Apocalypse, executed in a bold and experimental process, have graced esteemed institutions like the Centre Pompidou Paris; National Library, Paris; Nationalmuseum, Stockholm; Villa Medici, Rome; Palazzo della Permanente, Milan; Yokohoma Museum of Art, Yokohama, Japan; Fine Arts Central Academy, Beijing; Institute of Fine Arts, Hong Kong; Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels; Fundació La Caixa, Barcelona; Musée du dessin et de l’estampe Original, Gravelines, France; and the Asian Art Archives, among many others. Nico Hough

Wifredo Lam (1902 – 1982), Apostroph'Apocalypse, (6631), 1967, acquatint on Japanese paper, XVIII/XXV, 20 x 30 ¼ inches

Wifredo Lam (1902 – 1982), Apostroph'Apocalypse, (6620), Wifredo Lam (1902 – 1982), Apostroph'Apocalypse, (6618), 1967, acquatint on Japanese paper, XVIII/XXV, 19 ¾ x 15 inches 1967, acquatint on Japanese paper, XVIII/XXV, 20 x 15 ¼ inches

Wifredo Lam (1902 – 1982), Apostroph'Apocalypse, (6621), 1967, acquatint on Japanese paper, XVIII/XXV, 20 x 15 inches 34

Wifredo Lam (1902 – 1982), Apostroph'Apocalypse, (6622), 1967, acquatint on Japanese paper, XVIII/XXV, 19 ¾ x 15 inches

Wifredo Lam (1902 – 1982), Apostroph'Apocalypse, (6627), Wifredo Lam (1902 – 1982), Apostroph'Apocalypse, (6629), 1967, acquatint on Japanese paper, XVIII/XXV, 19 ½ x 15 inches 1967, acquatint on Japanese paper, XVIII/XXV, 20 x 15 ¼ inches

Wifredo Lam (1902 – 1982), Apostroph'Apocalypse, (6624), Wifredo Lam (1902 – 1982), Apostroph'Apocalypse, (6630), 1967, acquatint on Japanese paper, XVIII/XXV, 19 ¾ x 15 inches 1967, acquatint on Japanese paper, XVIII/XXV, 19 ¾ x 15 inches 35

Wifredo Lam (1902 – 1982), Apostroph'Apocalypse, (6625), Wifredo Lam (1902 – 1982), Apostroph'Apocalypse, (6628), 1967, acquatint on Japanese paper, XVIII/XXV, 19 ¾ x 15 inches 1967, acquatint on Japanese paper, XVIII/XXV, 19 ¾ x 15 inches

Wifredo Lam (1902 – 1982), Apostroph'Apocalypse, (6623), 1967, acquatint on Japanese paper, XVIII/XXV, 20 x 30 ¼ inches 36

Wifredo Lam (1902 – 1982), Apostroph'Apocalypse, (6626), 1967, acquatint on Japanese paper, XVIII/XXV, 20 x 30 ½ inches s

Wifredo Lam (1902 – 1982), Apostroph'Apocalypse, (6619), 1967, acquatint on Japanese paper, XVIII/XXV, 19 ¾ x 30 inches 37

Mariano Rodríguez (1912 – 1990), Multitude (Figures), [Multitud (Figuras)], 1963, ink paper laid down on board, 16 1/2 x 22 1/2 inches This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity, signed by Alejandro and Dolores Rodríguez, son and daughter of the artist, dated Sep. 24, 2001.

Mariano Rodríguez (1912 – 1990), Masses, (Masas), 1981, gouache on board, 29 1/2 x 21 1/2 inches This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity, signed by Alejandro and Dolores Rodríguez, son and daughter of the artist, dated Sep. 24, 2001.

Mariano Rodríguez (1912 – 1990), Singer I, (Cantante I), ca 1965, oil on canvas, 50 x 45 inches Exhibited in Cuba! First London Exhibition of Contemporary Cuban Art, 1967, Ewan Phillips Gallery, London, England, and illustrated in the accompanying exhibition catalog, page 14. Exhibited in The Cuban Painter Mariano, 1966, Galería Atelier, Cairo, Egypt, and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, nn. Exhibited in Oleos y Dibujos de Mariano, Galería de la Habana, Havana, Cuba, 1995. Exhibited in Christie’s, Latin American Art, New York, NY, June, 1999, and illustrated in the corresponding auction catalog, lot no. 41. Exhibited in Mariano, Variations on a Theme, McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Boston, MA, Sep. - Dec. 2021, Elizabeth Thompson Goizueta, Ph.D., curator, and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, page 177. Exhibited in Mariano, Variations on a Theme, Pérez Art Museum, Miami, FL, Aug. 2022 - Jan. 2023. Illustrated in Mariano, Catálogo Razonado, Volumen II, Fundación Arte Cubano, José Veigas, Beatriz Gago, Artes Gráficas Palermo, Madrid, Spain, page 341, no. 65.04. During the mid-1960s Mariano Rodríguez executed a group of paintings inspired by music, among others Filin, ca 1965, Mozambique, ca 1966 and four Cantantes (Singers), I, II, III and IV. 39

Amelia Peláez (1896 – 1968), The Two Sisters, (Las Dos Hermanas), 1946, oil and mixed media on heavy paper laid down on canvas, 40 x 30 1/2 inches Exhibited in Sotheby's, Latin American Art, New York, NY, Nov. 23, 1999, and illustrated in the corresponding auction catalog, lot no. 62. Exhibited in Amelia Peláez, The Craft of Modernity, Pérez Art Museum Miami, Miami, FL, Dec. 4, 2013 - Feb. 23, 2014, curated by René Morales, Ph.D. and Ingrid W. Elliott, Ph.D., and illustrated in the accompanying exhibition book, pages 86 & 87, Illustrated in the book, Cuban Art: Remembering Cuba Through its Art, Private Collections in Exile, Vol 1, Arte al Día International, 2004, page 117. Illustrated in the book, Amelia Peláez, Ceramics, María Elena Jubrías, Fundación Arte Cubano, Madrid, Spain, 2008, page 17. Sold prior to the publication of this catalog. 40

Amelia Peláez (1896 – 1968), Still Life, (Naturaleza Muerta), 1954, mixed media on board laid down on canvas, 30 x 40 inches Provenance: PepsiCo Corporate Collection, New York, NY. Agustín Otero Collection, Leonardville, MD. Exhibited at the Miami Metropolitan Museum, Coral Gables, FL, May 1977. Exhibited in Christie’s, Latin American Art Auction, New York, NY, Nov. 1984, and illustrated in the corresponding auction catalog, lot number 307. Exhibited in Amelia Peláez, A Retrospective, 1896 – 1968, Cuban Museum of Arts and Culture, Miami, FL, July 15 - Aug. 15 1988, and listed in the corresponding exhibition catalog, page 108, number 37. Exhibited in Amelia Peláez, A Retrospective, 1896 – 1968, Museum of Modern Art of Latin America, (OAS), Sep. 14 - October 29, 1988.

Amelia Peláez (1896 – 1968), Pineapple, (Piña), 1964, mixed media on cardboard, 30 x 22 ½ inches This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity issued and signed by Ramón Vázquez Díaz, dated Apr. 23, 2001. Exhibited in 100 Years of Creations by 20 Women Artists (1922 to 2022), Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, July - Nov. 2022, and illustrated digitally on cernudaarte.com, exhibitions.

“Amelia’s paintings of the 1960s are, in many ways, a return to the baroque style of the 1940s. Although something of the symmetry and decorative flatness of the previous decade was retained, the artist’s twisting black line reappeared, turning from ironwork to embroidery to still-life motifs. The texture is rich and thick in places, like cake icing, and there is incising. In such works, we have the artist’s tripartite division: an upper zone with medio punto [fan-light], a middle zone with tropical fruits and flowers, and a third zone of decorative patterns reminiscent of a crocheted doily or of wrought iron.” Giulio V. Blanc, Amelia Peláez, A Retrospective, 1896 – 1968, Cuban Museum of Arts and Culture, 1988, page 61. 42

Amelia Peláez (1896 – 1968), Tableware, (Vajilla), ca 1960, one-of-a-kind crockery, 18 pieces, individually painted and signed by the artist, six plates, 10 1/2 inches in diameter each; six plates, 8 1/2 inches in diameter each; and six plates, 4 3/4 inches in diameter each. Exhibited in Amelia Peláez, The Craft of Modernity, Pérez Art Museum Miami, Miami, FL, Dec. 4, 2013 - Feb. 23, 2014, curated by René Morales, Ph.D. and Ingrid W. Elliott, Ph.D., and listed in the accompanying exhibition book, page 142. 43

Fidelio Ponce de León (1895 – 1949), Devout Woman, (La Beata), 1943, oil on canvas, 25 x 26 inches Provenance: Sra. Margot del Monte Collection. Exhibited in Exposición Fidelio Ponce de León, 1895-1949, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba, 1958, and appears listed as no. 77 in the corresponding catalog. Exhibited at Christie's, New York, NY, May 19, 1987, lot 136 and illustrated in the auction catalog.

Fidelio Ponce de León (1895 – 1949), Woman and Her Reflection, (Mujer y Su Reflejo), ca 1944, oil on canvas, 24 x 19 1/2 inches Provenance: Private Collection, Madrid, Spain.

Fidelio Ponce de León (1895 – 1949), Homage to Víctor Manuel, (Homenaje a Víctor Manuel), 1935, graphite on paper, 10 3/4 x 8 1/4 inches Illustrated in the book Fidelio Ponce, Mito y Tragedia, Juan Sánchez, Editorial Letras Cubanas; 2007.

Fidelio Ponce de León (1895 – 1949), Martí and the Girl from Guatemala, (Martí y la Niña de Guatemala), 1934, graphite on paper, 10 3/4 x 8 1/4 inches

Fidelio Ponce de León (1895 – 1949), Self Portrait, (Autorretrato), ca 1933-34, graphite on paper along with artist's letter, (composite), 10 3/4 x 16 1/2 inches This self-portrait of Fidelio Ponce was gifted by the artist to Carlos Girón Cerna, Guatemalan Diplomat stationed in Cuba in the 1930s. The letter by Ponce states: “The triumph of my colleagues does not hurt me, what does hurt as much as a rough blow inflicted by the hand of Hercules is the adverse decision of such an 'intelligent' jury.” - Ponce 46

Fidelio Ponce de León (1895 – 1949), Landscape, (Paisaje), 1941, oil on canvas, 24 1/4 x 19 3/4 inches This painting was part of Dr. Carlos Víctor Penna collection, Havana, Cuba and Tampa, FL. Dr. Penna (1911-1998), a distinguished professional librarian, was the Director of UNESCO’s (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Regional offices in Havana. Dr. Carlos Víctor Penna, of Argentinean birth, lived in Cuba from 1951 to 1964. We are grateful to his son, Dr. Víctor Penna, for entrusting works from this esteemed family collection to our gallery.

One of the better known Cuban modernists, a first generation Vanguardia painter, Fidelio Ponce studied sporadically at San Alejandro Academy, beginning in 1913. He developed his definitive style in the early 1930s, one where his paintings did not share the typical vibrant multiplicity of colors of his Cuban contemporaries. Instead, his palette was limited to different shades of white, mother of pearl, ochre, and touches of greens, blues, and pinks, so as to accentuate the drama of his thickly impastoed milky and snowy compositions, where pigments were often applied not only with the paintbrush, but also with the fingers, knives and spatulas. In some of his more daring and hallucinatory paintings, the artists reaches a degree of abstraction then unknown to Cuban art. Pierre Loeb, the renowned French art critic and marchand of works by Joan Miró, Wifredo Lam, and other modernists, said of Ponce’s artwork during the 1940s, “It is a work that does not impose itself through the violence of color contrast, but by the... sentiments discreetly expressed. To the ignorant, the definitive judgment will be ‘too much white, too monotonous, everything is but one color’. To the sensitive and cultivated soul, to the educated eye, white is a color and with extraordinary tonalities...”¹ In his book, Voyages Through Paintings, Loeb clearly permeates the mysteries of Ponce, by relating his unique creations to remembrances of El Greco, Watteau, Cézanne and Monet, but as Loeb states, “Ponce will always have the honor of having tuned his own song, of having materialized his own intimate drama, of having been a creator of quality and nobility... ten of his paintings deserve to be in any of the highly reputed museums of the world.”¹ Ramón Cernuda

¹Juan Sánchez, Fidelio Ponce, Editorial Letras Cubanas, 1985, pages 94 and 95. 47

Jorge Arche (1905 – 1957), Portrait of Monsignor Angel Gaztelu, (Retrato de Monseñor Angel Gaztelu), 1937, oil on canvas, 34 x 28 ½ inches Provenance: Private Collection, Coral Gables, FL. Exhibited in Vero Beach Museum, Cuban Art and Identity, 1900 - 1950, Oct. 2013 - Feb. 2014, guest curator, Professor Juan A. Martínez, Ph.D., illustrated in the exhibition catalog, page 20. Illustrated in the book Cuban Art: Remembering Cuba Through its Art, Private Collections in Exile, Volume 1, Arte al Día Internacional, 2004, page 132. 48

René Portocarrero (1912 – 1985), Madonna with Angels and Child, (Madonna con Angeles y Niño), 1945, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on board, 22 ¼ x 17 ⅝ inches Provenance: Elena Lowenfeld Collection, New York, NY. Exhibited in René Portocarrero (1912 - 1985) Fifteen Creations from the 1940s to 1970s, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Dec. 2020 - July 2021. This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Ramón Vázquez Díaz and José Veigas Zamora, dated Mar. 15, 2015.

“Which artist today can - like Portocarrero - offer us such a varied and rich series of images of The Virgin with such poetic grace, with such transparent and primeval delicacy? His series of Madonnas is a delirious litany of beauty and pictorial excellence. His angels, more than creatures of theological inspiration, they are of poetic creation, pure and delicate pictorial pretexts.” Monsignor Angel Gaztelu, Presencia y Vivencia de René Portocarrero, Jan. 1957, as published in Todo Sobre Portocarrero, Ramón Vázquez Díaz, Axel Li and José Veigas, Ediciones Vanguardia Cubana, 2014, page 142.

René Portocarrero (1912 – 1985), Family at the Valley, (Familia en el Valle), 1944, oil on board, 24 ½ x 31 ¾ inches Provenance: José Martínez Cañas, Miami, FL; Pepsico Art Collection, New York; Isaac Lif Collection, Dominican Republic. Exhibited at Metropolitan Museum and Arts Center, Latin American Painings: Selections from the Martínez Cañas Collection, 1980, no. 26. Exhibited at Sotheby’s Latin American Art, New York, Nov. 27 - 28, 1984, illustrated in the corresponding auction catalog, no. 67. Exhibited at Sotheby’s Latin American Art, New York, May 17 - 18, 1988, illustrated in the corresponding auction catalog, no. 5.

The maestro René Portocarrero intensely exhausted several themes throughout his long and fruitful career. He created voraciously and devoured his canvases, woods and papers, converting them into paintings often related to a common subject and style. Then abruptly, he would consider a series completed and move to other artistic inspirations. In 1944 Portocarrero discovers his passion for rural scenes in the context of luscious tropical landscapes, and renders them in his singular modern style, where the ethos of the baroque, the primitive and the expressionist intersect. The genesis of the guajiro landscape series, was triggered by the artist’s trip to the Viñales Valley in the province of Pinar del Río, where he found a peculiar aesthetic geography and vegetation, inhabited by simple and friendly people. There he confessed to have experienced “an ecstasy at its natural beauty.” The artist committed himself to expressing his epiphany with this land and its humble people throughout his paintings. The result was a remarkable suite of bucolic scenes, a dramatic departure from his previous series of urban scenes of Havana, aristocratic interiors and religious compositions. Among these exceptional works are the two oils on wood, masterworks, The Happy Family and Family at the Valley, two sublime and subjective windows into Portocarrero’s vision of Cuban rural people and their habitat. These two artworks, not only elevate the magnificence of the land but also its inhabitants, combining the elegance of landscape painting with the folkloric joy of genre art. By the end of that year, 1944, Portocarrero had exhausted his emotional drive to create landscapes from this series, and never again went back to these particular creations. Ramón Cernuda 50

René Portocarrero (1912 – 1985), The Happy Family, (La Familia Feliz), 1944, oil on wood, 34 ½ x 29 inches Provenance: Robert Coghlan, Sag Harbor, New York; Sotheby’s, New York, Latin American Painting Sale, 7 May 1980; Blanc Family Collection, Coral Gables, FL; Private Collection, Pinecrest, FL. Exhibited in Wifredo Lam and His Contemporaries 1938 – 1952, Studio Museum, Harlem, New York, Dec. 1992 - Apr. 1993, and illustrated in the accompanying exhibition catalog, page 166, no. 103. Exhibited in Fuego en el Batey, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, July - Aug. 2009, and illustrated digitally on cernudaarte.com, exhibitions. Exhibited in Cuban Art and Identity: 1900-1950, Vero Beach Museum of Art, Vero Beach, FL, curated by Professor Juan A. Martínez, Oct. 2013 - Feb. 2014, and illustrated in the corresponding museum book, page 47, no. 49. Illustrated in the book, René Portocarrero, Ramón Vázquez Díaz, Fundación Arte Cubano, Madrid, Spain, 2015, page 132. 51

René Portocarrero (1912 – 1985), Queens, Maidens and Mermaids, (Reinas, Doncellas y Sirenas), 1942, watercolor and ink on paper laid down on heavy board, 14 ½ x 16 ½ inches Provenance: Dr. and Mrs. Francisco Venegas; Private Collection, Coral Gables, FL. Exhibited at Sotheby’s Latin American Art, Nov. 20 - 21, 2001, New York, illustrated in the auction catalog, page 85, no. 84.

René Portocarrero (1912 – 1985), Portrait of a Lady, (Retrato de Dama), 1945, mixed media on board, 27 ¾ x 20 inches This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Ramón Vázquez Díaz, Fundación Arte Cubano, dated Aug. 17, 2020. 53

René Portocarrero (1912 – 1985), Interior with Women, (Interior con Mujeres), 1947, pastel on heavy paper laid down on museum board, 24 ¼ x 18 ¼ inches Provenance: Stockholm, Sweden; Charles Wood III Collection, Philadelphia, PA. Exhibited in Kubanska målare, Liljevalchs Art Gallery, Stockholm, Oct. 29 - Nov. 27, 1949, and appears illustrated in the corresponding catalog, page 20, no. 72.

Seven Cuban Painters, the 1949 exhibition in Stockholm, Sweden, marked the first public collective showing in Europe of some of the most important Cuban Vanguardia artists. Wifredo Lam, Amelia Peláez, René Portocarrero, Mariano Rodríguez, Cundo Bermúdez, Martínez Pedro and Roberto Diago presented a substantial group of one hundred and five works to the Scandinavian public. This show was promoted with a catalog that included an introductory essay by Alfred Barr Jr., from the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, and was made possible thanks to the collaboration of José Gómez-Sicre and the Pan American Union of Washington, D.C. Interior with Women, by René Portocarrero, was part of this event that pioneered Cuban Modern Art to European audiences. Ramón Cernuda 54

René Portocarrero (1912 – 1985), Women Dancing, (Mujeres Danzando), 1947, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on board, 19 ¾ x 13 ¾ inches Provenance: Wallace Campbell Collection, Jamaica. Illustrated in the book René Portocarrero, Ramón Vázquez Díaz, Fundación Arte Cubano, Artes Gráficas, Palermo, 2015, page 190. We are grateful to Ramón Vázquez Díaz for having confirmed the authenticity of this artwork.

“In 1947, Portocarrero begins to work on a group of pastels that occupy him all of that year and are prolonged sporadically until 1949… in this collection of pastels it is possible to find still lifes with flowers, images from catholic iconography, interiors with elaborate screen panels, groups of dancers, harlequins, and also, the exceptional version of a native satyr… Brilliant colors contained by black lines establish a distorted accent that configures the grotesque and agitated character of these works, reflecting moments of dramatic expressionism.” Graziella Progolotti and Ramón Vázquez

René Portocarrero, Editorial Henschel, Berlin, 1987. 55

René Portocarrero (1912 – 1985), Havana City, (Ciudad de La Habana), 1961, oil on canvas, 18 ⅛ x 14 ¹⁄₁₆ inches Provenance: Private Collection, Madrid, Spain. We are grateful to Fundación Arte Cubano for having confirmed the authenticity of their artwork.

René Portocarrero (1912 – 1985), Woman in White, (Mujer en Blanco), 1962, oil on canvas, 20 x 16 inches Signed upper left. Also signed, dated and titled by the artist on the reverse. Provenance: Private Collection, Madrid, Spain. This work is accompanied by an export permit, issued by the Spanish government, no. 2022/10361.

René Portocarrero (1912 – 1985), Cathedral in Red, (Catedral en Rojo), 1958, oil on canvas, 18 ⅛ x 13 ⅛ inches Provenance: Private Collection, Caracas, Venezuela.

René Portocarrero (1912 – 1985), At the Carnival, (En el Carnaval ), 1970, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on board, 19 ¾ x 25 ¾ inches Provenance: Private Collection, Alden, Germany.

René Portocarrero (1912 – 1985), Flowers, (Flores) 1969, oil on canvas, 16 ¾ x 12 ⅞ inches Provenance: Private Collection, Zaragoza, Spain. This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by José Veigas Zamora and Ramón Vázquez Díaz, dated March 8, 2011. 59

Cundo Bermúdez (1914 – 2008), Mercedes and the Sea, (Mercedes y el Mar), 1986, mixed media on paper laid down on board, 30 x 22 inches Exhibited at Christies, Latin American Art, New York, New York, 2008, and illustrated in the accompanying auction catalog, lot 99. This painting is accompanied by a Photo Certificate of Authenticity signed by Cundo Bermúdez, dated July 12, 1986. 60

Cundo Bermúdez (1914 – 2008), Lady in Gray Background, (Dama en Fondo Gris), ca 1951, mixed media on paper, 11 ¾ x 8 ½ inches Provenance: Dr. José Gómez-Sicre Collection, Washington D.C, gift of the artist; Manuel Delgado Collection, Caracas, Venezuela. On the reverse it states: “Dedicated to Pepe with the affection and friendship of always, Cundo”

Cundo Bermúdez (1914 – 2008), Five Figures, (Cinco Figuras), ca 1960s, mixed media on paper, 10 x 13 ½ inches Provenance: Dr. José Gómez-Sicre Collection, Washington D.C, gift of the artist; Manuel Delgado Collection, Caracas, Venezuela.

Cundo Bermúdez (1914 – 2008), The Sisters, (Las Hermanas), 1994, lithograph on heavy paper, #59/150, unframed, 39 ½ x 27 ¾ inches Provenance: Manuel Delgado Collection, Caracas, Venezuela.

Cundo Bermúdez (1914 – 2008), Lady in Red Background, (Dama en Fondo Rojo), 1994, lithograph on heavy paper, #141/150, unframed, 39 ¼ x 27 ½ inches Provenance: Manuel Delgado Collection, Caracas, Venezuela.

Cundo Bermúdez (1914 – 2008), Caribbean Lady, (Dama del Caribe), 1994, lithograph on heavy paper, #5/150, unframed, 41 ½ x 32 ½ inches Provenance: Manuel Delgado Collection, Caracas, Venezuela.

Cundo Bermúdez (1914 – 2008), Maria, (María), 1995 lithograph on paper, #126/150, unframed, 39 ½ x 27 ¾ inches Provenance: Manuel Delgado Collection, Caracas, Venezuela.

Cundo Bermúdez (1914 – 2008), Woman with Flower, (Mujer con Flor), ca. 1955, mixed media on cardboard, 11 ½ x 8 ¾ inches Provenance: Juliet and David Blair Collection, Miami, FL. 63

Felipe Orlando (1911 – 2001), Woman with Hat, (Mujer con Sombrero), undated, oil on board, 25 x 15 3/4 inches

Felipe Orlando (1911 – 2001) is a leading figure of the second generation of Avant Garde artists in Cuba. Along with René Portocarrero, Mariano Rodríguez, Mario Carreño, Cundo Bermúdez, and other creators of his time, Felipe Orlando impulses a modernist aesthetic in the arts by passionately advocating for the recognition of “the new” verses the old. When in 1944 Alfred Barr invites him to participate along with twelve other artists in the seminal exhibition Modern Cuban Painters at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Orlando shines at the MOMA with a display of six surrealist paintings. Shortly afterwards, his renditions traveled to the National Gallery in Washington D.C., the San Francisco Museum of Art, the Portland and Seattle Art Museums, and to eight other museums in the United States. Throughout his life, Felipe Orlando participated in over fifty one-person shows and over one hundred group exhibits in North, Central, and South America, and also in Europe. Throughout the 1940s to the 1990s, his art was exhibited at multiple prestigious museums and cultural institutions, such as the Panamerican Union Museum in Washington DC, the Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris; the Contemporary Art Institute, in Boston, MA; the Corcoran Gallery in Washington; The National Gallery of Ottawa, Canada; the Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela; the Venice Biennial, Italy; the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana; the 5th Biennial in Sao Paolo, Brazil; the Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, FL; the Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL, and many others. Orlando’s art, while reminiscent of certain traits of Chagall’s poetics and Bonnard’s predilections for interior settings, achieves its own identity in the elegance of the forms and the mystery of the compositions. His masterly deconstruction and reconstruction of the geometrical planes adds tension to the dynamics of his oils. Ramón Cernuda

Felipe Orlando (1911 – 2001), Three Officials in a Forest, (Tres Funcionarios en un Bosque), ca 1970, oil on paper laid down on canvas, 44 x 56 inches

"The principal figures of the Second Vanguard were all born in the decade of the 1910s. Instead of looking at Paris as the fountain of Modernism, as did the first Vanguardia [generation], they looked at Mexico, but not only to the work of the Mexican Muralists. They found inspiration in the artists associated to the Contemporáneos magazine; the painters Manuel Rodríguez Lozano, Julio Castellanos, Agustín Lazo, María Izquierdo and the sculptor Luis Ortiz Monasterio, who as a group privileged easel painting and formal experimentation over muralism and politically explicit art. The companions of Mariano Rodríguez, within this second generation were, René Portocarrero (1912 – 1985), Alfredo Lozano (1913 – 1997), Mario Carreño (1913 – 1999), Cundo Bermúdez (1914 – 2008), Luis Martínez Pedro (1910 – 1989), and Felipe Orlando (1911 – 2001). This is the principal nucleus of the Cuban artists of the Second Vanguard". Professor Alejandro Anreus, Ph.D., Vida y Obra, Mariano Rodríguez, Edición Estudios Culturales, Miami, FL, Publisher José Ramón Alonso-Lorea, page 5.

José Mijares (1921 – 2004), Blonde Child, (Niña Rubia), ca 1950s, mixed media on board, 19 x 15 inches Provenance: Manuel Delgado Collection, Caracas, Venezuela

José Mijares (1921 – 2004), Figures, (Figuras), 1978, mixed media on cardboard, 9 1/4 x 11 1/4 inches Provenance: José Gómez Sicre Collection, Washington, DC. Dedicated by the artist to "Pepe G. Sicre", 1978.

José Mijares (1921 – 2004), Imaginary Landscape, (Paisaje Imaginario), 1995, oil on canvas, 35 3/4 x 48 inches Provenance: Manuel Delgado Collection, Caracas, Venezuela 66

José Mijares (1921 – 2004), Fishermen's Town, (Pueblo de Pescadores), 1949, oil on canvas, 31 1/4 x 40 1/4 inches Provenance: Guido Adriaenssens Collection. Exhibited in Twentieth Century Cuban Art from the Collection of Ramón Cernuda and Nercys Ganem, Interamerican Art Gallery, Miami Dade College, Feb. - Mar. 1988, and illustrated in the accompanying exhibition catalog, page 18.

Servando Cabrera Moreno (1923 – 1981), Peacock Number Two, (El Segundo Pavo Real), 1973, oil on canvas, 39 x 58 7/8 inches This work is titled by the artist on the back. Signed and dated on the front and signed and dated again on the reverse.

Servando Cabrera Moreno (1923 – 1981), Countryside Couple, (Pareja Guajira), 1964, ink on heavy paper laid down on board, 22 x 27 inches Provenance: Collection of Madame Odette Lavergne, Cannes, France. Illustrated in the Besch Commissaire-Priseur Exhibition Catalogue of the Mme. Odette Lavergne Collection, Cannes, France, Nov. 1, 2009, page 49, said catalog is included with the artwork. 68

Servando Cabrera Moreno (1923 – 1981), The Cycle of Happiness, (El Ciclo de La Felicidad), 1981, oil on canvas, 39 x 29 inches

Cabrera Moreno’s "erotic style achieves a formidable display of suggestions through the combination and the stylization of ambiguous forms of the human anatomy. Cabrera Moreno guides us through the occult gardens of sexuality, and there in its most interior details, he finds its poetry, a poetry hidden by the philistinism of the bourgeoisie conventions. In the intimacy of the bodies, the artist reveals an unsuspected universe full of beauty. Carnal love is presented as a true physical fusion where the bodies abandon their individuality to amalgamate one with the other”. Gerardo Mosquera, Exploraciones en la Plástica Cubana, - Gerardo Mosquera, page 35. (translation Cernuda Arte) 69

Francisco Antigua (1920 – 1983), Column, (Columna), ca 1960, wood sculpture, 22 1/8 x 5 1/8 x 4 3/8 inches Exhibited in Pancho Antigua, Esculturas y Grabados, National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana, Cuba, 1988. This one-of-a-kind sculpture is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Ramón Vásquez Díaz, dated Feb. 25, 2011.

Francisco (Pancho) Antigua (1920 – 1983) was born in Havana, Cuba in 1920. He studied at San Alejandro Academy from 1938 to 1942, and again from 1956 to 1959. He was a founding member of the seminal group The Eleven (Los Once) a collective of painters and sculptors who pioneered a new style of poetic abstraction and non-figurative art in Cuba. This cadre of artists was active from 1953 to 1962, placing these two sculptures by Antigua herein illustrated firmly in the most important period of this artistic movement. Other prominent members of The Eleven were, Guido Llinás (1923 – 2005), Agustín Cárdenas (1927 – 2001), Hugo Consuegra (1929 – 2003), Tomás Oliva (1930 – 1996), and Raúl Martínez (1929 – 1995). Ramón Cernuda 70

Francisco Antigua (1920 – 1983), The Embrace, (El Abrazo), ca 1954, mahogany wood sculpture, 48 x 8 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches Provenance: Mrs. Olga Hernández, widow of the artist. This sculpture is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity, signed by Olga Hernández, widow of the artist, dated Nov. 20, 2013. 71

Rafael Soriano (1920 – 2015), Untitled [Facing the Infinite], (Sin Título [Mirando el Infinito]), ca 1980, oil on canvas, 16 x 20 inches Provenance: Dr. José Gómez-Sicre Collection, Washington D.C.; Manuel Delgado Collection, Caracas, Venezuela. This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity issued by the Rafael Soriano Foundation, and signed by Dra. Hortensia Soriano, daughter of the artist.

Rafael Soriano (1920 – 2015), Reclining Woman, (Mujer Reclinada), ca 1980, pastel on heavy paper laid down on board, 22 x 30 inches Provenance: Dr. José Gómez-Sicre Collection, Washington D.C.; Manuel Delgado Collection, Caracas, Venezuela. This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity issued by the Rafael Soriano Foundation, and signed by Dra. Hortensia Soriano, daughter of the artist. 72

Rafael Soriano (1920 – 2015), Astral Message, (Mensaje Astral), 1972, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 ¼ inches Provenance: Private Collection, Coral Gables, FL. This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity issued by the Rafael Soriano Foundation, and signed by Dra. Hortensia Soriano, daughter of the artist.

Umberto Peña (1937 – 2023), Ayyy Shasss, (Ayyy Shasss), 1967, oil on canvas, 66 3/4 x 58 3/4 inches Provenance: Javier Mora Collection, Coral Gables, FL. Exhibited in Contemporary Cuban Paintings, Galerie Libre, Montreal, Canada, July 1967. Exhibited in V Biennale de la Jeune Peinture, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France, Sep. - Nov. 1967. Exhibited in Panorama del Arte en Cuba, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba, Jan. 1968. Exhibited in Cuba á Grenoble, Maison de la Culture de Grenoble, Grenoble, France, June - Aug. 1969.

“The work of art is a scream of freedom."

Christo

Talented, disciplined and fiercely bright, Umberto Peña is considered by many art historians and critics, an excellent painter and a masterful graphic designer. Pop Art, expressionism, neo-figuration, comic imagery and poster art influenced his work from the 1960s. Peña was born in Havana, Cuba. He studied art for four years in Havana’s San Alejandro Academy. In 1960, the artist traveled to Mexico City and to Paris to further expand his horizons. In the City of Light, he connected with the art of many masters. The impact of Chaim Soutine’s paintings imprints the development of his work. Back in Havana and through the 60s, Peña became a valiant exponent of a new plastic vocabulary and a principal propeller of fine graphic design on the island. Castro’s ominous dictum in 1961 “Words to Intellectuals”, clearly demanded from artists and intellectuals unconditional allegiance toward the hierarchy in power. In the mid-1960s, episodes of censorship, repression and ostracism were rampant in Cuban society. Umberto Peña, like other artists (Antonia Eiriz, Servando Cabrera Moreno and Chago Armada, to name a few), clashed with bureaucracy and fought to maintain their spaces and voices. Against dogma and limits, Peña’s art became rebellious, one of biting critique - intense and loud. Eventually, on the grounds of artistic impropriety, he was labeled by government functionaries as an insubordinate person. It was precisely at this moment of existential crisis that his creative pictorial process took flight. Gut-clutching works such as, Ayyy Shasss, (1967) – with an unbridled representation of distorted body parts – illustrate Peña’s shocking depictions in this series. It is a work immersed in raw outrage. Pain and disgust prevail. In its composition, the brutish assemblage of images is crafted in chromatic shrillness of reds, oranges, yellows, greens and pinks which allow for the artist’s acidic dissent. This nightmarish picture features a complex mix of teeth, tongues, internal organs, bodily fluids, toilets and lightning bolts that release a sharp cutting sound via onomatopoeia: “Shasss”. The artist’s references to the scatological and the vulgar may be viewed as a scream of protest. Faced with harsh criticism and infamy at the time, the artist suffered a personal crisis and painfully gave up painting to devote himself to graphic design. Umberto Peña paved the way for many succeeding generations of young artists who came into the scene in the 70s and 80s. Among respected cultural circles, he was admired as an all-around intellectual. And to many, he was known as El Maestro. Nercys Cernuda 74

Antonia Eiriz (1929 – 1995), Untitled [The Voters], (Sin Título [Los Votantes]), ca 1963, ink and mixed media on heavy paper laid down on canvas, 28 3/4 x 24 3/4 inches Exhibited in Selections of Cuban Modern and Contemporary Protest Art, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, July - Oct. 2021, and illustrated digitally on cernudaarte.com, exhibitions. Exhibited in 100 Years of Creations by 20 Women Artists (1922 to 2022), Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, July - Nov. 2022, and illustrated digitally on cernudaarte.com, exhibitions. Illustrated in the book Cuban Art, Past and Present, Vol. 1, Frank Padrón, 2016, page 140. This painting is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity signed by Manuel Gómez, widower of the artist. 75

Nicolás Guillén (1938 – 2003), Mother and Child, (Madre e Hijo), 1998, mixed media on canvas, 34 1/4 x 24 1/4 inches Provenance: Acquired from Rosa Chediak, Ph.D., Miami, FL.

Nicolás Guillén (1938 – 2003), Man with Red Hat, (Hombre con Sombrero Rojo), 1988, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on board, 47 x 27 3/8 inches Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist. Exhibited at Nicolás Guillén Landrián and His Arrested Paintings, Cuban Museum of Arts and Culture, Miami, FL, Jan. 1989.

Nicolás Guillén (1938 – 2003), Juan Bruno 1, (Juan Bruno 1), 1992, mixed media on paper laid down on museum board, 35 1/2 x 24 inches Sold prior to the publication of this catalog.

Nicolás Guillén (1938 – 2003), The Winged Traveler, (El Viajero Alado), 1988, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on board, 42 1/4 x 35 inches Exhibited at Nicolás Guillén Landrián and His Arrested Paintings, Cuban Museum of Arts and Culture, Miami, FL, Jan. 1989.

Roberto Estopiñán (1921 – 2015), Prisoner, (Prisionero), 1967, mixed media on paper, 22 x 15 inches Provenance: Gift of the artist to Dr. José Gómez-Sicre, Washington, D.C.; Manuel Delgado Collection, Caracas, Venezuela.

Roberto Estopiñán (1921 – 2015), Two Fates, (Dos Destinos), 1967, mixed media on paper, 17 ½ x 22 ¾ inches Provenance: Gift of the artist to Dr. José Gómez-Sicre, Washington, D.C.; Manuel Delgado Collection, Caracas, Venezuela.

Roberto Estopiñán (1921 – 2015), Double Standing Torsos, (Doble Torsos de Pie), Feb. 1981, one-of-a-kind bronze sculpture, 21 x 9 x 5 ½ inches Exhibited in Estopiñán, Sculpture and Related Drawings, Schweyer-Galdo Editions, Birmingham, MI, 1983, and illustrated in the exhibition catalog, page 72. 79

Gina Pellón (1926 – 2014), Hint of a Face, (Indicio de un Rostro), 1990, oil on paper, laid down on canvas by the artist, 24 x 18 inches Provenance: Private Collection, Denmark. Gina Pellón (1926 – 2014), Now! Quickly, (¡Ahora! Súbito), 2010, mixed media on canvas, 38 ¾ x 51 inches Provenance: Private Collection, New York. Exhibited in Gina Pellón, Still Going Strong, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Nov. - Dec. 2010, and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, page 20.

Gina Pellón (1926 – 2014), The Warm Rose, (La Rosa Cálida), 1988, oil on canvas, 31 ¾ x 25 ½ inches Provenance: Lic. Jesús Martín Rodríguez, Madrid, Spain. 81

Gina Pellón (1926 – 2014), The Dancer Dances, (La Bailarina Baila), 2010, collage on heavy paper, 11 ½ x 8 inches Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist. Exhibited in Gina Pellón, Still Going Strong, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Nov. - Dec. 2010, and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, page 9.

Gina Pellón (1926 – 2014), Happy Young Lady, (Muchacha Feliz), 2010, collage on heavy paper, 11 ½ x 8 inches Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist. Exhibited in Gina Pellón, Still Going Strong, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Nov. - Dec. 2010, and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, page 9.

Gina Pellón (1926 – 2014), Rainbow Games, (Juegos del Arcoiris), 2010, collage on heavy paper, 11 ½ x 8 inches Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist. Exhibited in Gina Pellón, Still Going Strong, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Nov. - Dec. 2010, and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, page 9.

Gina Pellón (1926 – 2014), Let's Dance, (Ven a Bailar), 2009, mixed media on canvas, 57 ½ x 44 ¾ inches Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist. Exhibited in Gina Pellón, Still Going Strong, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Nov. – Dec. 2010, and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, page 16. Exhibited in Cuban Art in the 20th Century: Cultural Identity and the International Avant Garde, at the Florida State Museum of Fine Arts, Tallahassee, FL, Feb. 12 to Mar. 27, 2016, and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, page 103. Also exhibited in Cuban Art in the 20th Century: Cultural Identity and the International Avant Garde at the Coral Gables Museum, Coral Gables, FL, Jan. 23 to Apr. 23, 2017. 83

Gina Pellón (1926 – 2014), Troupe of Ladies, (Tropa de Señoras), 1995, oil on canvas, 77 ½ x 87 ½ inches Illustrated in Gina Pellón: Peintures, 1965 - 1999, Edizioni Ae dell’Aurora, Verona, Italy, 1999, page 115. A photographic file of this painting appears in the Archives of the artist, as prepared by Gina Pellón, Folio 1994 - 1995. Cernuda Arte represents the Estate of the artist.

Angel Acosta León (1930 – 1964), Self Portrait, (Autorretrato), 1959, mixed media on Masonite, 30 x 19 ⅞ inches This painting is dated on the front and signed on the back with a dedication, “To my friend Fermín, so that we always be children… Acosta León, Cuba." Exhibited in Acosta León/Sosabravo, Galería Habana, Arte y Cinema, Vedado, Cuba, Nov. 1959. Illustrated in Vida Cultural y Artística, Dos en Una, Rafael Marquina, Información, Havana, Dec. 12, 1959.

“In 1959, Angel Acosta León presented in the gallery Arte y Cinema a collection of self-portraits that was the best to see in the capital city (Havana), as the artist displayed masterful skills in craftsmanship, composition and application of dramatic coloration, achieving in each piece a mental state of innermost intimacy. Tenderness, helplessness, cruelty and a scent of longing for death transpire." 1 1

Loló de la Torriente, Imagen de Dos Tiempos, Editorial Letras Cubana, Havana, 1982, pages 187 and 188. 85

Angel Acosta León (1930 – 1964), Excentric Clock, (Reloj Excéntrico), ca 1960, ink on paper laid down on board, 10 ½ x 8 inches Illustrated in the book Angel Acosta León and His Magic, Rosa Chediak, Ph.D., 2013, page 145. This work is accompanied by a copy of the publication and a Certificate of Authenticity, signed by Eugenia Acosta León, sister of the artist.

Angel Acosta León (1930 – 1964), Night Vision, (Visión Nocturna), ca 1960, mixed media on paper laid down on board, 8 ¼ x 11 inches Illustrated in the book Angel Acosta León and His Magic, Rosa Chediak, Ph.D., 2013, page 83. This work is accompanied by a copy of the publication and a Certificate of Authenticity, signed by Eugenia Acosta León, sister of the artist.

Angel Acosta León (1930 – 1964), The Secret Coffeepot, (La Cafetera Secreta), ca 1963, mixed media on paper laid down on board, 10 ½ x 8 inches Illustrated in the book Angel Acosta León and His Magic, Rosa Chediak, Ph.D., 2013, page 166. This work is accompanied by a copy of the publication and a Certificate of Authenticity, signed by Eugenia Acosta León, sister of the artist.

Angel Acosta León (1930 – 1964), Telephone, (Teléfono), ca 1962, mixed media on paper laid down on board, 3 ½ x 5 inches Illustrated in the book Angel Acosta León and His Magic, Rosa Chediak, Ph.D., 2013, page 82. This work is accompanied by a copy of the publication and a Certificate of Authenticity, signed by Eugenia Acosta León, sister of the artist.

Oscar García Rivera (1914 – 1971), was born in Pinar del Río, Cuba in 1914. He studied art at the San Alejandro Academy, in Havana, and graduated in 1939. García Rivera chose a pictorial idiom related to the French and Spanish Impressionists, where light, color and loose brushstrokes are utilized to capture the fleeting moment of autochthonous Cuban subject matters. He preferred everyday motifs of popular urban scenes – jovial gatherings of musicians and dancers, multitudes in conga dance, carnival parades, ballroom and street parties, as well as, religious ceremonies, both of the Afro-Cuban Santería and the Catholicism of the white population. Oftentimes, his canvases would bring together people of different races participating harmoniously in various folkloric settings.

Oscar García Rivera (1914 – 1971), Street Dance of The Sultana, (Comparsa La Sultana), ca 1950, oil on canvas board, 13 x 24 inches

In this magnificent composition, Oscar García Rivera, a preeminent painter of quotidian Cuban life and its culture, focuses on portraying the joyous atmosphere and energy of the Comparsa La Sultana, which originated in the Colón neighborhood of Havana. Founded in 1937, this group of street dancers that banded together once every year for the Havana Carnival, was integrated by youths who gathered to reflect the customs and typical dresses of Oriental culture, attracted by the pomposity of the costumes and colorful performances. The subject of the erotic behavior of the odalisks, (women in a harem), was of special interest to the group. The Comparsa La Sultana became one of the most acclaimed artistic events in the Havana Carnival scenario and continues its tradition to the present times. Ramón Cernuda

Oscar García Rivera (1914 – 1971), Street Festivity by The Malecón, (Verbena por El Malecón), ca 1940, oil on canvas, 10 ⅜ x 14 ⅞ inches Provenance: Private Collection, Dominican Republic.

Oscar García Rivera’s popular genre art scenes depict a broad spectrum of Cuban festival culture, from the Arabic and African-inspired Street Dance of The Sultana, to the Spanish Verbena tradition represented in Festivity by the Malecón, and the elegant, aristocratic masquerades seen in High Society Carnival Party. His masterful, naturalist paintings reveal the great cultural wealth and diversity of mid-century Cuba, positioned in time between tradition and modernity.

Oscar García Rivera (1914 – 1971), High Society Carnival Party, (Fiesta de Carnaval de Alta Sociedad ), ca 1944, oil on canvas, 24 x 48 inches Provenance: Collection Michael Netsky, Miami, FL. 89

Agustín Cárdenas initiated his art studies in 1943 at the prestigious San Alejandro Academy in Havana, Cuba. That year, he excelled in the subject of Drawing under the direction of the notable Professor Emilio Rivero Merlín, obtaining the highest grades. Cárdenas later took courses in advanced drawing with Professor Manuel de la Vega and won recognition at the Academy in this category. Both, Professor Mariano Miguel and Professor Ramón Loy, signed the artist’s award for draftsmanship on June 10, 1949. During his artistic beginnings Cárdenas developed a prolific body of drawings on paper. The early ones, from 1943 to 1949, covered social themes, black race issues, female nudes, portraits and self-portraits. Agustín Cárdenas well understood the importance of developing the craft of draftsmanship before embarking on his successful career as a sculptor and a major Cuban artist in the surrealist camp. These works on paper by Agustín Cárdenas are part of a larger collection of drawings that were executed during the Agustín Cárdenas (1927 – 2001), artist's formative years at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes, Self-Portrait, (Autorretrato), ca 1943 - 1949, San Alejandro, from 1943 to 1949. This cache of works was graphite on paper, 7 x 6 inches kept for decades by the artist's brother, Luis Cárdenas Alfonso, and later by his sister-in-law, Hilda Peñalver Sánchez. In many of these drawings, Agustín Cárdenas depicts scenes of everyday life. Common folk of the working class, beggars, farmhands and people of color. This subject matter of social commentary in the body of work of Cárdenas has not been fully researched, and deserves to be recognized. Ramón Cernuda

Agustín Cárdenas (1927 – 2001), Couple with Hats, (Pareja con Sombreros), 1949, graphite on paper, 7 x 6 inches 90

Agustín Cárdenas (1927 – 2001), Peasants, (Campesinos), 1949, graphite on paper, 7 ¼ x 6 ¼ inches

Agustín Cárdenas (1927 – 2001), Rhythmical Moment, (Momento Rítmico), ca 1975, bronze sculpture, numbered 6 of 6, 15 x 5 x 6 ½ inches Provenance: Private Collection, Stockholm, Sweden. This artwork is stamped with the seal of Fonderia Mariani, Pietrasanta, Italy. 91

Hermanas Scull (Haydée Scull, 1931 – 2007; Sahara Scull, 1931 – 2008), Empedrado Street, Old Havana, (Calle Empedrado, La Habana Vieja), ca 1985, three-dimensional mixed media collage on canvas board, 24 x 30 inches

Identical twins Haydée and Sahara Scull, (also known as the The Hermanas Scull, Scull Sisters, or Scull Twins), were unique figures in the art world. The Hermanas Scull dedicated themselves to a collaborative art style, broadly classifiable as three-dimensional painting, that focused almost exclusively on popular urban scenes in South Florida and pre-Castro Cuba. Through this cooperative combination of painting and sculpture, the Hermanas Scull became the first known collective in Cuban art history. Haydée and Sahara Scull chose to follow in a tradition of other naïve artists such as Henri Rousseau, Grandma Moses, Red Grooms, and Purvis Young.

Hermanas Scull (Haydée Scull, 1931 – 2007; Sahara Scull, 1931 – 2008), Self-Portrait of the Twins in the Garden, (Autorretrato de las Gemelas en el Jardín), ca 1980, three-dimensional mixed media collage on canvas board, 24 x 36 inches

Self-Portrait of Twins in the Garden, ca 1980, is one of the few known straightforward self-portraits ever executed by the Scull Sisters. The artwork places them in a lush and idyllic garden in their native Cuba, surrounded by national symbols and a trio of happy animals. Haydée had left her home country for Miami in 1969, followed by Sahara in 1973 – years before the creation of this work. Self-Portrait of Twins in the Garden presents an alternate history that imagines the exiled artists happily roaming in their birthplace, unburdened by the turbulences that had permanently disrupted their way of life decades earlier. Nico Hough

Roberto Fabelo (b. 1950), Persistence of the Animal, (Persistencia del Animal), 2012, oil on canvas, 92 ½ x 78 ¾ inches Provenance: Galería La Acacia, Havana, Cuba; Private Collection, Lisbon, Portugal. This artwork is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity issued by the artist, Roberto Fabelo. 94

The internationally acclaimed artist Roberto Fabelo (b. 1950), known for his prowess in painting, illustration, sculpture, and engraving, has firmly established himself as a contemporary master. Throughout his long career, and in recent years especially, Fabelo's achievements have been substantial. In 2023 alone, he received the honor of a duo exhibition alongside the legendary Francisco Goya at the Conde Duque Culture Center in Madrid, (Mundos. Goya y Fabelo), followed by a solo exhibition at the Goya Museum in Zaragoza, (Divertimentos). Also in 2023, he unveiled striking monumental outdoor installations in Northern Spain (Roberto Fabelo: Leadership), and at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., where his exhibit, Roberto Fabelo: Survivors, garnered national media attention, including a feature in Forbes magazine. These sculptural presentations made prominent use of the rhinoceros, an icon strongly associated with Fabelo's body of work. Perhaps the most nuanced symbol in Fabelo’s vocabulary of images, the artist’s use of the rhinoceros is heavily influenced by the 1959 play, Rhinoceros, by Franco-Romanian writer Eugène Ionesco. This three-act play, among the best-known productions of the post-war Theatre of the Absurd, offers a darkly comedic exploration of conformity, societal pressures, and totalitarianism. Set in a small town, the story unfolds as its citizens undergo gradual transformations from human beings into rhinoceroses, serving as an overt metaphor for fascism and the loss of individuality under autocratic rule. The narrative centers on the protagonist who resists the beastly metamorphoses and the sinister allure of herd mentality until he eventually becomes the last human being on Earth. Ionesco wrote the play as an allegory for his own experiences as a Jewish Romanian navigating the rise of Nazism and the violent anti-Semitic nationalist group known as the Legion, but the universal message of Rhinoceros can easily apply to the mass psychology of other despotic regimes and populist movements today.

Roberto Fabelo (b. 1950), We Are Not Animals, (No Somos Animales), 2011, oil on canvas, 60 ¼ x 30 ¾ inches Provenance: Galería La Acacia, Havana, Cuba; Private Collection, Lisbon, Portugal. We are grateful to the artist, Roberto Fabelo, for having confirmed the authenticity of this artwork.

In many of his works, Fabelo employs the image of the rhinoceros as a visual cue for groupthink, drawing from both his own experience and Ionesco’s text. We Are Not Animals, 2011, and Persistence of the Animal, 2012, can both be understood as responses to Ionesco. We Are Not Animals is sympathetic to the individual resisting mob mentality, while Persistence of the Animal depicts the transformation from human to beast with astonishing force. 95

Roberto Fabelo (b. 1950), Woman and Rhinoceros, (Mujer y Rinoceronte), 2005, watercolor on paper laid down on board, 44 ⅜ x 60 inches Exhibited in ROBERTO FABELO (b. 1950): The Theater of Life - Twenty Artworks from the 1990's to Today, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Apr. - July 2021, and illustrated digitally on cernudaarte.com, exhibitions.

Beyond Ionesco’s text, the rhinoceros is universally recognized as a symbol of vigor and masculinity, themes that Fabelo skillfully explores. The rhino, with its imposing musculature and thick skin, is associated with brute force and a fierce dedication to protecting its herd. Paradoxically, the animal has also become an emblem of extreme vulnerability. Due to unfounded beliefs regarding the aphrodisiac properties of its horn, rhinos have fallen victim to catastrophic levels of poaching. This illicit hunting, combined with the fragility of the creature's habitat, has pushed the rhinoceros to the brink of extinction worldwide. Fabelo leverages these conflicting ideas of strength and vulnerability in his examination of the rhino as an ideal of masculine power. The artist frequently juxtaposes the rhino with one of his preferred representations of femininity, most often the mermaid. In his creations, mermaids symbolize temptation, the realm of the impossible, and a potent femininity, drawing parallels with the beautiful beings that seduced sailors to their ruin in Homer's epic, The Odyssey. Despite the rhinoceros' primitive power, it is always depicted as small in scale when compared to the feminine figure of the siren. Perched atop the mermaid, Fabelo's stampeding and uncontrollable rhinoceroses take on a subdued and submissive quality. The beautiful and psychological watercolor work, Woman and Rhinoceros, 2005, presents these ideas elegantly. At first glance, it seems the rhinoceros is dominant upon the figure of the siren. A closer look reveals that they are both upon an flotation device, and that the background is populated by boats. The mermaid, surrounded by dark waters, is in her element, and it is the small and primitive rhinoceros that needs her for survival. To the right of the composition, above the artist's signature, is a discarded rhinoceros horn. The animal's power is an illusion. 96

Roberto Fabelo (b. 1950), Romantic Rhinoceros, (Rinocerontes Románticos) 2017, acrylic on embroidered silk, 55 ¾ x 47 ¾ inches Exhibited in EXPO Chicago 2023, Arsenal Hall, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL, Apr. 2023.

Throughout his prolific career, Roberto Fabelo has consistently integrated literary and archetypal symbols into his art, deftly applying them to stunning effect. This holds true not only for his brutish rhinos and enchanting mermaids, but also for other well-known symbols in his body of work, such as his renowned cockroaches, (Franz Kafka's neurotic symbol of modern identity). Fabelo interprets these images through a visual language that encompasses expressionism, surrealism, post-war art, and academic art, skillfully melding influences from a diverse range of masters, including Francisco Goya, Albrecht Dürer, Hieronymous Bosch, James Ensor, and Robert Rauschenberg, among many others, to produce some of the most exquisite and thought-provoking creations in global contemporary art. Nico Hough

Roberto Fabelo (b. 1950), Enriquito, (Enriquito),1991, oil crayon on paper laid down on board, 52 ½ x 36 inches Exhibited in Jewels on Paper, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Aug. - Dec. 2004, and illustrated digitally on cernudaarte.com, exhibitions.

Roberto Fabelo (b. 1950), The Sovereign, (La Soberana), 1988, oil crayon on paper laid down on board, 48 ½ x 36 inches Exhibited in ROBERTO FABELO (b. 1950): The Theater of Life Twenty Artworks from the 1990's to Today, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Apr. - July 2021, and illustrated digitally on cernudaarte.com, exhibitions.

Roberto Fabelo (b. 1950), Crazy for Suyu, (Locos por Suyu), 2010, oil on canvas, 62 x 46 ½ inches Exhibited in ROBERTO FABELO (b. 1950): The Theater of Life - Twenty Artworks from the 1990's to Today, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Apr. - July 2021, and illustrated digitally on cernudaarte.com, exhibitions. This painting is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity, signed by the artist. 99

Alfredo Sosabravo (b. 1930), The Kiss, (El Beso), 2005, oil and collage on canvas, 32 x 39 ¼ inches Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist

The prolific Alfredo Sosabravo (b. 1930) has been committed to the Pop Art movement since the 1960s. In the artist’s hands, the concept of Pop is often inverted – whereas the most visible participants of Pop Art in New York and London have focused on mass production (and mass reproduction) of the image, Sosabravo’s best-known work is labor-intensive and unique. Even now, at the age of 93, Sosabravo is totally involved in the painting, sewing, and sculpting of his dynamic creations, rather than relying on a workshop or production assistants. Sosabravo’s artistic accomplishments are extensive, with his first solo show dating back to 1958. The artist has exhibited works in Cuba, the United States, Mexico, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Chile, Japan, Germany, Poland, France, India, Colombia, Finland, Argentina, and more over the course of his long and distinguished career. Notable recent museum exhibitions include Sosabravo: Memoria Documental, a retrospective held at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Havana in 2020; participation in the historic group show, Wild Noise/Ruido Salvaje at the Bronx Museum of the Arts in 2017; and the solo show, Sosabravo: A Latin American Between Tradition and Modernity, 2012, at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Rome, among others. Alfredo Sosabravo has received prestigious awards both in Cuba and internationally, including the “Orden Félix Varela” Award in 1994, the National Plastic Arts Award in 1997, and Doctor Honoris Causa in Art in 2000. Nico Hough 100

Alfredo Sosabravo (b. 1930), Entering the Carnival, (Entrando al Carnaval ), 2012, oil and collage on canvas, 63 x 38 ¼ inches Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist 101

Belkis Ayón (1967 – 1999), The Sentence #93.07, (La Sentencia #93.07 ), 1993, collography on heavy paper, number 4 of 6, 36 x 26 ½ inches, hand-signed, numbered, titled and dated by the artist Exhibited [different number] in Siempre Vuelvo. Colografías de Belkis Ayón, Exposición Homenaje, Séptima Bienal de La Habana, Galería Habana, Havana, Cuba, 2000, and illustrated in the exhibition catalog. Exhibited [different number] in Kunst aus Kuba, Sammlung Ludwig/ Art from Cuba, The Ludwig Collection, Museum Ludwig im Russischen Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 2002, and illustrated in the accompanying catalog. Exhibited [different number] in Cuba: Art and History from 1868 to Today, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Canada, 2008, and illustrated in the accompanying exhibition catalog. Illustrated [different number] in the book Nkame, Belkis Ayón, Catalogue Raisonné, Dr. Katia Ayón, Turner, 2010, page 198, no. 93.07. Illustrated [different number] in the book Behind the Veil of a Myth: Belkis Ayón, Cristina Vives, The Station Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston, Texas, 2018, pages 96 and 99.

Belkis Ayón (1967 – 1999), The Sentence #93.06, (La Sentencia #93.06 ), 1993, collography on heavy paper, number 3 of 6, 36 ¾ x 26 ¾ inches, hand-signed, numbered, titled and dated by the artist Exhibited [different number] in Cuba Kunst Heute, Staatlichen Kurhaus, Bad Steben, Germany, 1997. Exhibited [different number] in Kunst aus Kuba, Sammlung Ludwig/ Art from Cuba, The Ludwig Collection, Museum Ludwig im Russischen Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 2002, and illustrated in the accompanying catalog. Exhibited [different number] in Nkame, Belkis Ayón (1967 - 1999), Convent of San Francisco de Asís, Havana, Cuba, 2009. Illustrated [different number] in the book Nkame, Belkis Ayón, Catalogue Raisonné, Dr. Katia Ayón, Turner, 2010, page 197, no. 93.06. Illustrated [different number] in the book Behind the Veil of a Myth: Belkis Ayón, Cristina Vives, Station Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston, Texas, 2018, pages 94 and 97. Sold prior to the publication of this catalog.

102

Belkis Ayón (1967 – 1999), Asleep, (Dormida), 1995, collography on heavy paper, number 4 of 6, 26 ¾ x 38 ¾ inches, hand-signed, numbered, titled and dated by the artist Exhibited [different number] in Unterstütze mich, halte mich hoc him Schmerz. Belkis Ayón / Sosténme en el dolor, Kirche St. Barbara, Breinig, Germany, 1995, and illustrated in the accompanying catalog. Exhibited [different number] in Two Contemporary Cuban Artists: Belkis Ayón and Nelson Domínguez, Hofstra Museum, Joan and Donald E. Axinn Library, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY, 1996. Exhibited [different number] in Siempre Vuelvo. Colografías de Belkis Ayón, Exposición Homenaje, Séptima Bienal de La Habana, Galería Habana, Havana, Cuba, 2000, and illustrated in the exhibition catalog. Exhibited [different number] in Kunst aus Kuba, Sammlung Ludwig / Art from Cuba, the Ludwig Collection, Museum Ludwig im Russischen Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 2002, and illustrated in the accompanying catalog. Exhibited [different number] in Siempre Vuelvo. Colografías de Belkis Ayón, Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2004. Exhibited [different number] in Belkis Ayón, Origen de un Mito, Galería Villa Manuela, La Habana, Cuba, 2006, and illustrated in the accompanying catalog. Exhibited [different number] in Nkame, Belkis Ayón (1967-1999), Convent of San Francisco de Asís, Havana, Cuba, 2009. Exhibited in Ajiaco: Stirrings of the Cuban Soul, by Gail Gelburd, Lyman Allyn Art Museum, New London, CT, 2009, and illustrated in the accompanying catalog, pages 36 - 37 and front cover. Illustrated [different number] in the book Nkame, Belkis Ayón, Catalogue Raisonné, Dr. Katia Ayón, Turner, 2010, page 214, no. 95.02.

103

José Bedia (b. 1959), Oyá Ta Vení, (Oyá Ta Vení ), 2001, oil on canvas, 23 x 35 inches Provenance: Galería Ramis Barquet, New York, NY Exhibited in José Bedia, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, May - Dec. 2020, and illustrated digitally on cernudaarte.com, exhibitions.

José Bedia (b. 1959), We’re Going to Have to Move the Table, (Vamos a Tener que Mudar la Mesa), 2004, oil on canvas, 81 x 120 inches Provenance: Galería Ramis Barquet, New York, NY Exhibited in Pintura y Escultura, Subastas Segre, Madrid, Sep. 2016, and illustrated in the corresponding auction catalog, page 229. 104

José Bedia is a contemporary multi-media artist born in 1959 in Havana, Cuba, where he studied at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes San Alejandro and later at the Instituto Superior de Arte. One of the most prominent figures of the famed “Eighties Generation” of Cuban artists, Bedia’s formidable public career began with his contributions to the inaugural Havana Biennial in 1984. In 1989, the artist had his first major international show as part of the group exhibition Magiciens de la Terre at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, France. In 1990, he was chosen to represent Cuba at the Venice Biennale. That same year, Bedia fled from Cuba to Mexico, before relocating to Florida in 1993. His work has been exhibited extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Central and South America, including solo shows at the Miami Art Museum, Miami, FL; New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA; Fowler Museum, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA; El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM; NSU Ft. Lauderdale Museum, Fort Lauderdale, FL; and Het Domein Museum in the Netherlands, among many others. His works have been exhibited in some of the world’s pre-eminent private and public collections, such as, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY; Tate Museum, London; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; the Pérez Art Museum, Miami, FL; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; Smithsonian National Museum, Washington D.C.; Whitney Museum, New York, NY; Colección Daros, Zurich; Museum of Fine Arts, Havana, Cuba; among others. Nico Hough

José Bedia (b. 1959), Voce É Pomba Gira Mesma, (You are the Same Enchantress), 2012, acrylic on canvas, 105 x 50 ¾ inches Provenance: Private Collection, Lisbon, Portugal This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity, signed by the artist, dated Aug. 30, 2022. 105

Manuel Mendive (b. 1944), The Message of the Gods, (El Mensaje de los Dioses), 2003, soft sculpture, one-of-a-kind, 32 3/4 x 18 x 16 1/2 inches Provenance: The Center for Cuban Studies, New York, NY, who acquired it directly from the artist. 106

Manuel Mendive (b. 1944), Shango, (Changó), 1999, mixed media on canvas in sculptured metal frame, 65 1/4 x 29 1/4 x 1 inches This painting is presented in a one-of-a-kind sculpted metal frame created by the artist. It is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Dr. Guillermina Ramos Cruz. Dr. Ramos Cruz is the author of the book Lam y Mendive, Arte Afrocubano, Linkgua Ediciones, Barcelona, Spain, 2009. 107

Manuel Mendive’s bronze sculpture, Magical Heads is a work about embarking on a new journey and the preparations it requires. Within the contemporary art firmament, Manuel Mendive’s potent, spiritual works are unmistakable. Over the course of decades, the artist has crafted a unique vocabulary, pulled from both his own inspiration and from the inherited cultural myth of the displaced African Yoruba. The bronze sculpture, Magical Heads, unfurls a rich narrative— of omens and voyages, gods and ancestors— through its symbols. Per Santería tradition, birds exchange messages between the earthly world and the spiritual realms. In Magical Heads, the artist’s placement of birds upon the crown of the figure’s head echoes the use of Halos by the early Italian renaissance painters, specifically the maestro Fra Angelico, whom Mendive cites as a major influence. The hybrid human-bird figure is repeated again on the lower portion of the sculpture, surrounded by the flattened cutout shapes of the ex-votos. Ex-votos are devotional objects that give thanks for granted wishes and prayers, and connect closely to the image of the bird, the conduit for these spiritual communiqués. In addition to symbolizing communication with the divine, Mendive’s multi-headed, fused avatars are icons of change and potential. These symbols become especially significant when one is embarking on a new path, as is likely the intention of the figure in Magical Heads. To heed the message of the spirits and advance, one must be prepared. Magical Heads is populated with Yoruba icons of spiritual protection. Notably, the sculpture is adorned with cowrie shells. These shells are believed to bring good luck and to protect the spirit of the wearer. Cowries also play a role in consultas or divination, through which a Babalawo or priest communes with the Orishas (spirits) by tossing consecrated cowries and interpreting their orientation. These consultas are often done before a major change or voyage. The figure in Magical Heads wears a collar, a sacred item traditionally inherited during important ceremonies, assigning the wearer the defense of an Orisha, and below the collar, the figure wears multiple pouches. In the Santería tradition, these pouches, called resguardos, are filled with herbs, charms, and relics to protect the wearer. Each resguardo is customized for the individual’s needs. Strapped to the figure’s back is a forked branch, known as a garabato. The garabato is a tool for clearing brush and removing difficulties and obstacles on your path, and is associated with Elegua, the deity of crossroads, journeys, and chance, as well as beginnings and endings. With the blessings and protection of the Gods, the spirits, and his ancestors, the traveler is ready. Nico Hough

108

Manuel Mendive (b. 1944), Magical Heads, (Cabezas Mágicas), 2007, bronze sculpture, number 2 of 9, 40 1/2 x 20 1/4 x 10 1/2 inches The mold for this sculpture was created by Manuel Mendive in 2007. The casting and production were initiated in 2022. Exhibited [original mold] in El color blanco, azul, verde y el color de mi piel, Museo Regional de Antropología de Yucatán, Yucatán, Mexico, Jan. 9 - Mar. 30, 2008, and illustrated in the corresponding catalog, page 31. Illustrated [original mold] in the book Mendive, Collage Ediciones, Selvi Artes Gráficas, Valencia, Spain, 2015, page 176. This artwork is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity, signed by the artist, and Alexander González Carbó. 109

Manuel Mendive (b. 1944), The Dialogue, (El Diálogo), 2003, acrylic on canvas, 39 1/2 x 43 1/4 inches This painting is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity, signed by the artist. Also accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Dr. Guillermina Ramos Cruz. Dr. Ramos Cruz is the author of the book Lam y Mendive, Arte Afrocubano, Linkgua Ediciones, Barcelona, Spain, 2009.

Manuel Mendive (b. 1944), The Fruits of the Sea, (Los Frutos del Mar), 2006, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on museum quality board, 22 x 30 inches 110

Manuel Mendive (b. 1944), The Evening's Conversation, (La Conversación de la Noche), 1990, pastel on heavy paper laid down on board, 30 x 22 1/2 inches Provenance: Private Collection, Lyon, France. This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Dr. Guillermina Ramos Cruz. Dr. Ramos Cruz is the author of the book Lam y Mendive, Arte Afrocubano, Linkgua Ediciones, Barcelona, Spain, 2009. 111

Manuel Mendive (b. 1944), By the Ceiba Tree, (Alrededor de la Ceiba), 1988, oil on canvas, 28 x 37 3/4 inches

By 1988, after years of marginalization, Manuel Mendive had achieved significant international recognition in the art world. His work was the subject of solo exhibitions at the October Gallery in London and at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in Paris. In that same year, Mendive was chosen to represent Cuba in the 43rd Venice Biennale and was honored with the Alejo Carpentier Medal, a prestigious award recognizing excellence in Cuban literature and art. During this period of the artist’s career, he executed some of his finest artworks. The dreamlike scene depicted in By the Ceiba Tree, 1988, draws from Afro-Cuban folklore, presented through the lens of surrealism. The canvas is adorned with Chagall-esque figures, ethereal and interconnected, rendered in a tropical wash of diluted oil paints. The artist’s use of transparencies and exquisite gradients brilliantly imbue his subjects – deities, spirits, and the collective soul – with fitting otherworldliness. At the center of the artwork is the mighty Ceiba tree. According to Santerían belief, the Ceiba holds sacred significance as a shelter to the Gods and ancestors. To show respect, practitioners nurture its roots with offerings as a tribute, and in return, the tree bears edible fruit, as well as medicinal bark and flowers. In addition to their religious meaning, these trees are also historically important, as their broad coverage provided displaced Africans privacy to worship throughout long centuries of intolerance. In this composition, the Ceiba tree is exultant and vital, charged with the energies of the forest, the gods, and the ancestral spirits. The Ceiba extends its branches towards believers and angels on the right of the canvas, who express their respect through bows and kisses. On the left side of the artwork, a devotee is depicted enjoying the fruit of the tree, symbolizing the dual aspects of this relationship. Nico Hough 112

Manuel Mendive (b. 1944), Olofi Owner of the Landscape, (Olofi, Dueño del Paisaje), 1994, oil on canvas, 46 x 74 1/4 inches

The peaceful scene in Olofi, Owner of the Landscape, depicts divine spirits roaming alongside believers in a lush Eden. Within the work, all energies are shared – a man nourishes a ceiba tree, just as the garden nourishes the man. Everything is magical, sincere, alive and in harmony. Olofi is a title of respect given to Olodumare, the Supreme creator God of the Yoruba pantheon. For the Cuban Yoruba, Olodumare has three manifestations, each syncretized with Catholic beliefs: Olodumare is the divine essence, (the Father); Olorun is the creative act, (the Son); and Olofi is the creation itself, a conduit between heaven and earth, (the Holy Spirit). The devout give praise to Olofi simply by respecting the earth -- he has no temples in his honor, nor does he have consecrated priests. The work is part of an informal series executed by Manuel Mendive during the 1990’s in honor of Olofi. A sister painting by the artist, Olofi and the World, executed in the same year with the same medium, technique, and dimensions, is in the permanent collection of the Pérez Art Museum Miami. Nico Hough

113

Carlos Alfonzo (1950 – 1991), Untitled [The Festival], (Sin Título [El Festival] ), 1975, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on board, 18 ½ x 17 ½ inches, signed and dated on the bottom right Provenance: Family of the artist. This artwork is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Alicia Alfonzo, sister of the artist.

Carlos Alfonzo was born in 1950 in Havana, Cuba, and attended the San Alejandro Academy of the Arts from 1969 to 1973. Following his graduation, he taught art history at the University of Havana until 1977 and exhibited extensively on the island. Despite his recognitions and success, Alfonzo felt trapped and alienated due to the enforced conformity of the Cuban regime, which obligated him to suppress his sexuality and spirituality. In 1980, following a harrowing international and personal crisis, Alfonzo got his wish, and emigrated to Miami. 114

Carlos Alfonzo (1950 – 1991), Where the Heart is Gambled, (Donde se Juega el Corazón), ca 1975, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on board 78 x 19 ¼ inches, signed and dated on the reverse Provenance: Family of the artist. This artwork is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Alicia Alfonzo, sister of the artist.

By the time of his untimely death from AIDS in 1991, Carlos Alfonzo had established himself as a promising artist in the United States. His work had been displayed in important galleries and museums on both coasts, and he had received numerous accolades. Although he wouldn't live to see the event, Alfonzo's participation in the major Whitney Biennial in 1991, where his work was presented in league with other defiant creatives such as Cy Twombly, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and Keith Haring, solidified his place as a participant and pioneer of the neo-expressionism movement in the late 20th century. Much can be said of the tragedy and beauty of Carlos Alfonzo’s short career. The courageous exploration of painful and stigmatized subject matters around illness and identity, and the haunting automatism which preoccupied the artist’s production towards the end of his life looms large over his biography. But prior to his emigration to Miami and the urgent, often monumental bombast of his later work, Carlos Alfonzo produced a series of exquisite, humanistic ink and mixed media works on paper and cardboard. These early works from the artist’s Cuban period were signed Carlos José or C.J., before the artist moved to United States and was re-baptized as Carlos Alfonzo. They reveal a softer, more lyrical side of Alfonzo, who at the time identified himself both as an artist and as a poet. Alfonzo’s early works simplify the human form to basic geometries, drawing inspiration from artists like Paul Klee and Jean Dubuffet. While it may be tempting to draw comparisons between Alfonzo’s early compositions and the work of pop art wunderkind Keith Haring, it’s important to note that Alfonzo’s works pre-date Haring’s first known paintings. It is unknown whether Haring ever had exposure to these early works by Alfonzo. Alfonzo’s compositions in the 1970’s, with their striking contrasts and lively movements, provide glimpses into the artist’s life in Cuba. His early works prominently featured anonymized human figures alongside symbols of national identity and personal conflict, such as stars, crescent moons, palm trees, Cuban fauna, and contradicting directional arrows. From 1975 to 1979, Alfonzo’s illustrations matured, cultivating a robust language of images and delving deeper into spontaneity and distortion, creating a captivating and prescient body of work. 115

Carlos Alfonzo (1950 – 1991), Untitled [Three Figures], (Sin Título [Tres Figuras] ), 1979, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on board, 25 ½ x 19 ¾ inches, signed and dated on the bottom left Provenance: Family of the artist. This artwork is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Alicia Alfonzo, sister of the artist. 116

Carlos Alfonzo (1950 – 1991), Untitled [Trapped], (Sin Título [Atrapado] ), ca 1975, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on board, 20 ¼ x 14 inches, signed on the bottom right Provenance: Family of the artist. This artwork is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Alicia Alfonzo, sister of the artist.

Carlos Alfonzo (1950 – 1991), Morning Falls, (Cae la Mañana), 1976, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on board, 19 ¾ x 14 inches, signed, titled and dated on the bottom right Provenance: Family of the artist. This artwork is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Alicia Alfonzo, sister of the artist.

117

Carlos Alfonzo (1950 – 1991), Untitled [The Labyrinth], (Sin Título [El Laberinto] ), 1976, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on board 17 ¾ x 13 ½ inches, signed and dated on the bottom right Provenance: Family of the artist. This artwork is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Alicia Alfonzo, sister of the artist.

Carlos Alfonzo (1950 – 1991), Nine Figures and Palm Trees, (Nueve Figuras y Palmas), 1976, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on board, 14 ¾ x 24 ¾ inches, signed and dated on the bottom right Provenance: Family of the artist. This artwork is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Alicia Alfonzo, sister of the artist.

118

Carlos Alfonzo (1950 – 1991), Untitled [Nine Figures Inside a Maze], (Sin Título [Nueve Figuras dentro del Laberinto] ), 1979, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on board, 25 ½ x 19 ¾ inches, signed and dated on the bottom right Provenance: Family of the artist. This artwork is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Alicia Alfonzo, sister of the artist.

In 1980, pivotal events occurred that would change everything for Alfonzo: the Peruvian Embassy Crisis and the Mariel Boatlift. Thousands of Cubans, driven by the pursuit of political freedom and economic opportunities, sought any means possible to flee the island. Carlos Alfonzo obtained an exit visa and left for the United States in April of 1980. Before long, Alfonzo found his footing in his adopted home and developed a strong new artistic voice. As part of this creative rebirth, the artist ceased signing his works as Carlos José, and established himself finally as Carlos Alfonzo. Nico Hough

119

Clara Morera (b. 1944), The Angel of the Waters, (El Angel de Las Aguas), 2022, mixed media on canvas, 61 x 37 inches

Clara Morera (b. 1944), The Watchers, (Los Guardianes), 2023, mixed media on canvas, 54 ¾ x 34 inches Sold prior to the publication of this catalog.

120

Clara Morera (b. 1944), The Victor, (El Vencedor), 2023, mixed media on canvas, 48 ½ x 35 ½ inches Sold prior to the publication of this catalog.

Clara Morera (b. 1944), The Seraphine, (La Serafina), 2023, mixed media on canvas, 42 ½ x 32 inches

121

Miguel Florido (b. 1980), Lighthouse of Hope, (Faro de Esperanza), 2018, mixed media on canvas, 9 3/4 x 13 3/4 inches

Miguel Florido (b. 1980), In Distress, (Angustiada), 2017, acrylic on canvas, 13 3/4 x 9 3/4 inches Exhibited in Florido: Choices, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Apr. - June 2018, and illustrated digitally on cernudaarte.com, exhibitions.

122

Miguel Florido (b. 1980), Tied to You, (Atado a Ti), 2005, oil on canvas, 39 1/4 x 31 1/2 inches Provenance: Private Collection, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Miguel Florido (b. 1980), I Miss You Even Though Nothing is the Same, (Te Extraño Aunque Nada es Igual), 2005, oil on canvas, 9 3/4 x 13 3/4 inches Exhibited in Miguel Florido in Focus, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Aug. - Nov. 2017, and illustrated digitally on cernudaarte.com, exhibitions.

123

Miguel Florido (b. 1980), You are the Salt of My Life, (Tú eres la Sal de Mi Vida), 2021-2023, oil on canvas, 49 x 10 inches

Florido’s awe-inspiring depictions explore the magic of mundane objects that bare the mark of time, of simplicity, of humbleness… the awareness of a present or past moment. They embody an air of stillness and intimacy, a spirit of wonder that draws the viewer closer to the inner realm of the artist. This persistent taste for the essence of things is principally evident in the artist’s still life renditions. They are sophisticated yet candid… inspired by everyday things such as, kitchen utensils, fruit, vegetables, flowers, cans, baskets, handkerchiefs or doors that recall a memory, a longing – treasured objects that evoke deep emotions, imbued in a persistent nostalgia. Nercys Cernuda

Miguel Florido (b. 1980), Ode to the Carrot, (Oda a la Zanahoria), 2021-2023, oil on canvas, 23 1/2 x 31 1/2 inches

124

Miguel Florido (b. 1980), You are My Light, (Eres Mi Luz), 2011, oil on canvas, 55 1/2 x 55 inches Provenance: Private Collection, Palm Beach, FL.

125

Joel Besmar (b. 1968), The End of Times, (El Final de los Tiempos), 2022, oil on canvas, 55 x 51 inches

Joel Besmar (b. 1968), The Collapse of Freedom, (El Colapso de la Libertad), 2023, oil on canvas, 23 3/4 x 31 3/4 inches

126

Joel Besmar (b. 1968), Sophia's Lovers, (Los Amantes de Sofía), 2023, oil on canvas, 79 x 58 inches 127

Lilian Garcia-Roig (b. 1966), Distant View of Grand Hills, (Gran Mogote a la Distancia), 2017, acrylic on heavy paper laid down on wood, 22 x 30 inches Exhibited in Lilian Garcia-Roig: Made in Cuba, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Nov. - Dec. 2018, and illustrated in the accompanying catalog, page 23.

Lilian Garcia-Roig (b. 1966), The Million Hill Diptych, (Díptico del Mogote El Millón), 2017, acrylic on heavy paper laid down on wood, 22 x 60 inches Illustrated in the catalog Lilian Garcia-Roig: Made in Cuba, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Nov. 2018, page 4.

128

Lilian Garcia-Roig (b. 1966), Diptych of Hills, (Díptico de Mogotes), 2017, acrylic on heavy paper laid down on wood, 30 x 45 inches Illustrated in the catalog Lilian Garcia-Roig: Made in Cuba, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Nov. 2018, page 27.

Lilian Garcia-Roig (b. 1966), Grand Hill and Passage Views, (Gran Vista de Mogote y Paisaje), 2017, acrylic on heavy paper laid down on wood, 22 x 30 inches Exhibited in Lilian Garcia-Roig: Made in Cuba, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Nov. - Dec. 2018, and illustrated in the accompanying catalog, page 16. 129

Vicente Hernández (b. 1971), Flight of the Angel, (El Vuelo del Angel), 2011, mixed media on canvas, 27 1/2 x 35 inches Exhibited in To Leave or Not to Live, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, July - Sep. 2019, and illustrated digitally on cernudaarte.com, exhibitions.

Vicente Hernández (b. 1971), The Housing Exchange, (La Permuta), 2008, oil on canvas, 29 x 58 1/2 inches Exhibited in Vicente Hernández, From a Strange Town, Aug. - Sep. 2009, and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, page 24. 130

Vicente Hernández (b. 1971), Another American Dream, (Otro Sueño Americano), 2010, mixed media on canvas, 19 1/2 x 39 1/4 inches Exhibited in IMPORTANT CUBAN ARTWORKS, Volume Nine, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Dec. 2011 - Mar. 2012, and illustrated in the corresponding gallery catalog, page 94.

Vicente Hernández (b. 1971), All Aboard!, (¡Todos a Bordo!), 2020, oil on canvas, 59 x 79 inches Exhibited in Selections of Cuban Modern and Contemporary Protest Art, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, July - Oct. 2021, and illustrated digitally on cernudaarte.com, exhibitions. 131

Yasiel Elizagaray (b. 1987), Engulfed, (Sumergida), 2023, oil on canvas, 59 x 19 ⅜ inches

Yasiel Elizagaray was born in 1987 in Yaguajay, Sancti Spíritus, Cuba, and graduated from the Universidad Pedagógica de Arte, Sancti Spíritus, with a Bachelor’s degree in Plastic Arts and the Humanities in 2008. Elizagaray has participated in over 20 group exhibitions in Cuba, the United States, and Germany, as well as in important art fairs in Europe. The artist has achieved much acclaim – in 2019, Yasiel Elizgaray was the recipient of the Circle Foundation of the Arts’ Artist of the Year Award. He has been represented exclusively in the United States by Cernuda Arte since Spring 2023. Elizgaray’s work focuses on deconstructing portraiture and figure painting, applying a cerebral, earthy expressionism and dramatic chiaroscuro to his subjects. The artist is known for his broad vocabulary of techniques in the application of oil paints, transforming the medium from a textural impasto to a shimmering gouache within one canvas. These distinct and psychological works, which demonstrate the influence of master painters such as Frank Auerbach, Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon, Anselm Kiefer and Adrian Ghenie, are reflections of a world growing increasingly complex, where the human condition is perceived as in a process of decomposition. Nico Hough

132

Yasiel Elizagaray (b. 1987), Woman in Red, (Mujer en Rojo), 2023, oil on canvas, 39 ⅜ x 31 ½ inches

Yasiel Elizagaray (b. 1987), Portrait in an Empty Room, (Retrato en una Habitación Vacía), 2023, oil on canvas, 31 ½ x 39 ⅜ inches

Yasiel Elizagaray (b. 1987), Nocturnal Figure, (Figura Nocturna), 2023, oil on canvas, 59 x 19 ⅜ inches 133

Giosvany Echevarría (b. 1971), A Clear Night, (Una Noche Clara), 2023, oil on canvas, 33 ¼ x 62 inches

Giosvany Echevarría (b. 1971), Sacred Inspiration, (Inspiración Sagrada), 2023, oil on canvas, 39 ¾ x 78 ¾ inches

134

Giosvany Echevarría (b. 1971), Divine Waterfall, (Divina Cascada), 2022-23, oil on canvas, 62 x 33 ½ inches 135

136

Danuel Méndez (b. 1989), The Sisters, (Las Hermanas), 2023, acrylic on canvas, 14 x 11 inches

Danuel Méndez (b. 1989), The Impressionist Afternoon, (La Tarde Impresionista), 2023, acrylic on canvas, 14 x 11 inches

Danuel Méndez (b. 1989), The Lady with a Yellow Dress, (La Dama con un Vestido Amarillo), 2020, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24 inches

Danuel Méndez (b. 1989), Tree Composition, (Composición de un Árbol), 2020, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24 inches

Danuel Méndez (b. 1989), The Lady of the White Flower, (La Dama de la Flor Blanca), 2023, acrylic on canvas, 72 x 60 inches

Danuel Méndez (b. 1989), The Future, (El Futuro), 2023, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 48 inches

137

Danuel Méndez (b. 1989), Emerald Green, (Verde Esmeralda), 2022, acrylic on canvas, 84 x 48 inches

Danuel Méndez (b. 1989), A Whim, (Un Capricho), 2023, acrylic on canvas, 72 x 72 inches

138

Danuel Méndez (b. 1989), Freedom, (Libertad), 2023, oil on canvas, 48 x 36 inches

Danuel Méndez (b. 1989), The Secret, (El Secreto), 2020, acrylic on canvas, 14 x 11 inches

Danuel Méndez (b. 1989), Sunday's Sparrow, (Gorrión Dominical), 2021, oil on canvas, 20 x 16 inches 139

Danuel Méndez (b. 1989), Patience, (Paciencia), 2022, acrylic on canvas, 82 x 60 inches

Danuel Méndez (b. 1989), Woman and Stroller, (Mujer y Coche), 2023, acrylic on canvas, 80 x 60 inches

140

Danuel Méndez (b. 1989), The Medical Student, (La Estudiante de Medicina), 2023, acrylic on canvas, 72 x 60 inches

Danuel Méndez (b. 1989), Character, (Carácter), 2023, acrylic on canvas, 72 x 72 inches

141

Enrique Casas Castellanos was born in Matanzas, Cuba, in 1976. He has been a professional artist since 1997, following his graduation from the Provincial School of Plastic Arts in Matanzas. The artist lives and works in Cuba, where he has won first prize in the prestigious Leopoldo Romañach Landscape Salon. The artist’s work revives a neo-impressionistic approach to landscape, using visible brush work and unblended color to command dream-like, subjective scenes of his native land. His paintings, while unmistakably contemporary in their application of pigment and dramatic, filmic angles, link with a storied tradition of classical 19th and early 20th century art movements in the romantic treatment of the natural scenery and our place within it. The human figure is never represented, only implied by the presence of distant boats and abandoned architecture. Much of Casas’ landscape work evokes the intense and welcoming blues of Monet’s maritime paintings, the hazy lyricism of Eugene Boudin, and the peaceful desolation of Courbet’s rocky beaches, taken to a further point of abstraction by bold and vigorous strokes of paint.

Enrique Casas (b. 1976), The End of Hope, (El Final de la Esperanza), 2023, oil on canvas, 15 3/4 x 19 inches Exhibited in Enrique Casas: Time Has Stopped, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Sep. 2023 - Jan. 2024.

The artist’s muse is the Caribbean, with its tropical light and windswept waters. Casas’ Cuba is a world of distance and yearning, a paradise lost where color, light, and form crystallize into a stirring and nostalgic vision. Enrique Casas is exclusively represented by Cernuda Arte. Nico Hough

Enrique Casas (b. 1976), The River, (El Río), 2023, oil on canvas, 19 x 16 inches Exhibited in Enrique Casas: Time Has Stopped, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Sep. 2023 - Jan. 2024. Enrique Casas (b. 1976), The House by the Coast, (La Casa en la Costa), 2023, oil on canvas, 16 x 19 inches Exhibited in Enrique Casas: Time Has Stopped, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Sep. 2023 - Jan. 2024.

142

Enrique Casas (b. 1976), A Pause at Midday, (Una Pausa al Mediodía), 2023, oil on canvas, 24 x 18 inches Exhibited in Enrique Casas: Time Has Stopped, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Sep. 2023 - Jan. 2024.

Enrique Casas (b. 1976), Visions, (Visiones), 2023, oil on canvas, 19 3/4 x 14 1/2 inches Exhibited in Enrique Casas: Time Has Stopped, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Sep. 2023 - Jan. 2024.

Enrique Casas (b. 1976), Another Life, (Otra Vida), 2023, oil on canvas, 15 3/4 x 19 inches Exhibited in Enrique Casas: Time Has Stopped, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Sep. 2023 - Jan. 2024. 143

Enrique Casas (b. 1976), All Paths Lead to the Light, (Todos los Senderos Conducen a la Luz), 2023, oil on canvas, 15 3/4 x 18 3/4 inches Exhibited in Enrique Casas: Time Has Stopped, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Sep. 2023 - Jan. 2024.

Enrique Casas (b. 1976), The Sands of Eden, (Las Arenas del Edén), 2023, oil on canvas, 14 1/2 x 19 3/4 inches Exhibited in Enrique Casas: Time Has Stopped, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Sep. 2023 - Jan. 2024.

Enrique Casas (b. 1976), Time Has Stopped, (El Tiempo Detenido), 2023, oil on canvas, 14 1/2 x 19 3/4 inches Exhibited in Enrique Casas: Time Has Stopped, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Sep. 2023 - Jan. 2024.

Enrique Casas (b. 1976), Three Trees, (Tres Árboles), 2023, oil on canvas, 14 1/2 x 19 3/4 inches Exhibited in Enrique Casas: Time Has Stopped, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Sep. 2023 - Jan. 2024. 144

Enrique Casas (b. 1976), Peaceful Mist, (Pacífica Neblina), 2023, oil on canvas, 11 x 39 1/2 inches Exhibited in Enrique Casas: Time Has Stopped, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Sep. 2023 - Jan. 2024.

Enrique Casas (b. 1976), The Time That's Gone, (El Tiempo Que Ya Pasó), 2023, oil on canvas, 24 x 45 1/4 inches Exhibited in Enrique Casas: Time Has Stopped, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Sep. 2023 - Jan. 2024.

145

Juan Roberto Diago (b. 1971), I Can Not Speak, (No Puedo Hablar), 2000, mixed media on canvas, 31 5/8 x 23 3/4 inches Exhibited in " ... social, intelectuar, y chic" at the Museo Del Ron, Havana, Cuba, Mar. 2000, and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, page 33. Exhibited in Mi historia es tu historia / My history is your history, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, June - July, 2001, and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, non-numbered page. Exhibited in Diago: The Pasts of This Afro-Cuban Present, curated by Prof. Alejandro de la Fuente, Ph.D., Cooper Gallery of African and African American Arts, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, Feb. 2 - May 5, 2017. Exhibited in Diago: The Pasts of This Afro-Cuban Present, curated by Prof. Alejandro de la Fuente, Ph.D., and Dr. Jill Deupi, Ph.D., Lowe Museum at the University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, Oct. 24, 2019 - Jan. 19, 2020, and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, page 30. Illustrated in the book Diago: The Pasts of This AfroCuban Present, Prof. Alejandro de la Fuente, Ph.D., Harvard University Press, 2017, page 78.

I Can Not Speak (No Puedo Hablar), 2000, forcefully outlines the themes that have made Diago's creative voice so vital. Rendered in densely applied pigment, resin, and mixed media, the center of the image features an early iteration of the artist's best-known symbol, the African mask. In this work, the mask is affixed to a loosely depicted and distressed human form, reminiscent of Jean-Michel Basquiat's skeletal figurations. The subject's asymmetrical eyes and arms are composed from mismatched motifs and placed in the foreground of a raised canvas patchwork in an early demonstration of the artist's use of collage to represent Afro-Caribbean culture and identity. Etched above the subject are the words "I ALWAYS WAIT." Below that, the subject's mouth has been replaced with a text that reads "I CAN NOT SPEAK." These statements serve as a meditation on disenfranchisement as well as a call to action made by a young artist in full command of his creative powers. In the year 2000, I Can Not Speak was included among other standout Diago artworks in the three-person show, "... social, intelectuar y chic ... ," at the Museum of Rum in Havana, alongside works by Manuel Mendive and Eduardo "Choco" Roca Salazar. In 2001, I Can Not Speak was prominently featured in the artist's first solo show in the United States, My History is Your History at Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL. In a testament to the resonance of the painting's potent commentary , I Can Not Speak was also selected for the major traveling retrospective on the artist's life and career, Diago: The Pasts of this Afro-Cuban Present, curated by Professor Alejandro de la Fuente, at the Harvard University Ethelbert Cooper Gallery, 2017, and later at the Lowe Museum of the University of Miami, curated by Professor Alejandro de la Fuente and Dr. Jill Deupi in 2019-20. Nico Hough

146

Juan Roberto Diago (b. 1971), There is a Life, (Hay una Vida), 2004, mixed media on metal and wood, 47 1/2 x 31 1/2 inches, signed and dated on the reverse. Exhibited in 9 Paintres Contemporains Cubains, Principality of Monaco, July - Aug. 2005. Illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, page 64. 147

Juan Roberto Diago (b. 1971), The Free Man, (El Hombre Libre), 2022 , bronze sculpture, one-of-a-kind, 75 ¾ x 50 x 27 inches Provenance: Acquired directly from the Artist. This artwork is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity, signed by the artist. 148

Juan Roberto Diago’s The Free Man (2022) is the first monumental bronze sculpture ever produced by the artist throughout his three-decade career, and an impressive encapsulation of his themes and processes. Juan Roberto Diago was born in Havana in 1971 and graduated from San Alejandro Academy in 1990, where he studied sculpture. In the decades that followed, the artist explored a wide variety of techniques and mediums ranging from assemblages to installations to paintings, with virtually no focus on formal sculpture. In 2021, Juan Roberto Diago revisited the art of bronze sculpture with an ambitious series of unique busts, collectively known as The Free Man Series. Throughout The Free Man Series, the artist rejects the en vogue mass production model of bronze casting, in favor of a labor intensive and artisanal process that results in distinctive works. This successful return to form culminated in the titular, one-of-a-kind masterpiece, The Free Man (2022). The Free Man (2022) is a recognition of autonomy and authority, as well as a declaration of ancestral pride. The artist employs his most iconic image – the African Mask – symbolizing identity, strength, and ritual. Here, the mask is divided down the center, a commentary on the fracturing of identity that has been caused and perpetuated by displacement, conflict, and inequity among the diasporic African communities. While at once recognizing historical trauma, the imposing figure of The Free Man wears a necklace – another powerful icon used by the artist – signifying independence. The Free Man’s elegant, exaggerated neck is unbowed by these hardships, and the figure remains defiant. Nico Hough

Juan Roberto Diago (b. 1971), reverse view, The Free Man, (El Hombre Libre), 2022, bronze sculpture, one-of-a-kind, 75 ¾ x 50 x 27 inches

149

Flora Fong (b. 1949), Water for You, Water for Me, (Agua Pa Tí, Agua Pa Mí ), 2009, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 32 inches Exhibited in Flora Fong & Li Domínguez Fong, The Mother, The Son: Two Artists, One Passion, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Fall 2010, and illustrated in the exhibition catalog, page 17.

After a long career of fifty-three years of artistic output, Flora Fong, the painter, draftsman, teacher and sculptor, who embodies the ethnicities of the Oriental East and the European West, this year, 2023, has been extended the highest artistic recognition in her country, The National Award of Plastic Arts in Cuba, a much deserved acknowledgement to this hugely talented creator who with bold coloration, spontaneous figurative drawing and looseness of composition has given a unique perspective of the tropics, free from constraints or confinement, not bound by formalities or norms. A Caribbean that refuses the strict, the exact, the thought-out or preconceived, has been claimed and conquered by Flora as her creative territory. Flora Fong; the arts teacher of twenty years had among her students luminaries, such as Tomás Sánchez and José Bedia. Her disciples recognized her generosities with time, technique and the secrets of the trade. Cernuda Arte has proudly represented Flora Fong for over twenty years since the gallery’s beginning, taking her works all throughout the United States, and placing over three hundred of her paintings in private and institutional collections. Congratulations Flora, a well lived life of success in the Arts. Ramón Cernuda

Flora Fong (b. 1949), Fruits from the Tropics, (Frutos del Trópico), 2007, acrylic and pastel on canvas, 51 x 38 inches

150

Flora Fong (b. 1949), China Town, (Barrio Chino), 2007, acrylic on canvas, 51 ¼ x 38 ¼ inches Exhibited in Contemporary Art from the Island and the Diaspora, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Jan. - Mar. 2021, and illustrated digitally on cernudaarte.com, exhibitions.

Flora Fong (b. 1949), Crossing the Large Waters is Essential, (Es Preciso Cruzar las Grandes Aguas), 2009, mixed media on canvas, 59 x 78 ¾ inches Exhibited in Flora Fong & Li Domínguez Fong, The Mother, The Son: Two Artists, One Passion, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Fall 2010, and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, front cover.

151

Arturo Rodríguez (b. 1956), Female Nude, (Desnudo de Mujer ), 1988, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on canvas, 29 ¾ x 22 ¼ inches Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist.

Arturo Rodríguez was born in Las Villas, Cuba, in 1956. He emigrated to Spain in the early 1970s, and later permanently relocated to Miami. Years later, the artist returned to Spain for his first solo show Arturo Rodríguez: “New Paintings”, which took place at Galería Arte Original, Madrid, 1979. Rodríguez quickly established himself as a notable painter in Florida and the United States. Works by Arturo Rodríguez have been exhibited in important institutions throughout the country, such as: Frances Wolfson Art Gallery, Miami-Dade Community College, FL (1986); Barbara Greene Gallery, Bay Harbor Island, FL (1991); Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL (1991); Fondo Del Sol Museum, Washington D.C (1991); Minnesota Museum of Art, St. Paul, MN (1992); Lehigh University Art Galleries, Bethlehem, PA; John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, FL (1993); Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, FL (1994); Peninsula Fine Arts Center, Newport News, VA (1994); Alternative Museum, NY (1996); University at Buffalo Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY (2006); Frost Art Museum, Miami, FL (2014), and many more.

Arturo Rodríguez (b. 1956), Madhouse, (La Casa de los Locos), 1979, oil on canvas, 46 x 34 inches Provenance: Private Collection, Miami, FL.

152

Arturo Rodríguez (b. 1956), Self-Portrait, (Autorretrato), 1986, oil on heavy paper laid down on canvas, 30 x 22 inches Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist.

The art of Arturo Rodríguez has also expanded out of the United States to other countries. His works have been exhibited at Galería de Arte Contemporáneo, Madrid, Spain (1983); National Library of Canada, Ottawa, Canada (1987); Galería Arvil, Mexico City, Mexico (1990); Galería Alonso Arte, Bogota, Colombia (1994); Centre d’Art Santa Monica, Barcelona, Spain (1996); Des Tapisseries Museum, Aix-en-Provence, France (1998); Editart Gallery, Geneve, Switzerland (2002). Over the course of his celebrated career, the artist has received the Florida Arts Council Fellowship (1980); twice The Cintas Foundation Fellowship (1982, 1988); South Florida Cultural Consortium Visual Arts Fellowship (1988); Florida Arts Council Fellowship (1990); two Florida Individual Artist Fellowship Awards (1990-91, 1998-99); as well as the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Fellowship (2014). Works by Arturo Rodríguez are part of the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY; Jerusalem Museum, Israel; and The Norton Museum, West Palm Beach, FL, among others.

Arturo Rodríguez (b. 1956), Nocturne, (Nocturno), 1994, oil on canvas, 28 x 20 inches

153

Irina Elén González (b. 1978), Shipwreck, (Naufragio), 2023, acrylic on canvas, 39 ⅜ x 31 ½ inches

Irina Elén González (b. 1978), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, (Sueño de Una Noche de Verano), 2011, acrylic on canvas, 31 ½ x 39 ½ inches 154

Sandro De La Rosa (b. 1972), Adrift, (A la Deriva), 2022, oil on canvas, 48 x 36 inches

Sandro de la Rosa was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1972, and graduated from the renowned San Alejandro Academy of Art twenty years later. In his early career, the artist exhibited frequently in Cuba. Internationally, he has taken part in the Japan, Slovakia, and Spain biennials. Sandro has had three personal exhibitions and has participated in over thirty group shows. The artist has participated in important fine art fairs in the U.S. including Art Miami, Arteaméricas, Palmbeach3, Modernism & Art20 NY, Art D.C., CIRCA Puerto Rico, Art Chicago, Art Hamptons NY, and the Los Angeles Art Show. His works are part of important private collections in the United States, France, Spain, Italy, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica. Sandro de la Rosa has been represented exclusively by Cernuda Arte since 2002.

Sandro De La Rosa (b. 1972), My Passion, (Mi Pasión), 2011, oil on canvas, 63 x 55 ¼ inches

155

Humberto Calzada (b. 1944), Space - The Text of Memory 1 and 2, (Espacio - El Texto de la Memoria 1 y 2), 1987, oil on canvas (two panels), 53 x 60 inches Each panel is signed, dated and titled separately on the reverse. Provenance: The Tupperware Corporate Collection, Orlando, FL; Acquired from the artist in 1989.

156

Humberto Calzada (b. 1944), Space - The Text of Memory 3, (Espacio - El Texto de la Memoria 3), 1987, oil on canvas, 53 x 30 inches Signed, dated and titled on the reverse. Provenance: The Tupperware Corporate Collection, Orlando, FL; Acquired from the artist in 1989.

157

Carmelo González (1920 – 1990), The Chair, (La Silla), 1960, oil on canvas, 26 x 18 inches, signed Carmelo, lower center Illustrated in Pintores Cubanos, Oscar González Hurtado and Edmundo Desnoes, Ediciones R, Havana, Cuba, 1962, page 164. 158

Mariano Rodríguez (1912 – 1990), Pineapple, Oranges, and Bananas [from the series Fruits and Reality], (Piñas, Naranjas y Plátanos [de la serie Frutas y Realidad]), ca 1969, acrylic on canvas, 59 x 56 inches Exhibited in Mariano: 45 Artworks from the 1930s to the 1980s, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Jan. - Apr. 2018. Exhibited in Mariano: Variations on a Theme, McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Boston, MA, Elizabeth T. Goizueta, curator, Sep. - Dec. 2021, and illustrated in the accompanying exhibition book, page 191. This artwork is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Dolores Rodríguez, daughter of the artist.

159

Wifredo Lam (1902 – 1982), Untitled [Silence of the Jungle], (Sin Título [Silencio de la Jungla] ), ca 1945, oil on canvas, 49 ½ x 39 ½ inches Exhibition and publication history continued on page 161. 160

Provenance: Castillo Vázquez Collection, Havana, Cuba, who received it as a gift from the artist; Private Collection, New York. Exhibited in Wifredo Lam en la Colección Castillo, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam, Havana, Cuba, Dec. 1993, no. 13. Illustrated in Wifredo Lam en las colecciones cubanas, José Manuel Noceda, Havana, 2002, page 111, [listed as Naturaleza, (Nature)], no. 100, page 236. A copy of the publication accompanies the artwork. Illustrated in Wifredo Lam: Catalogue Raisonné of the Painted Work, Vol. I, (1923-1960), Lou Laurin-Lam & Eskil Lam, Acatos, Paris, 1996, no. 45.64, page 385.

Executed during Wifredo Lam's legendary return trip to Cuba in the 1940s, Untitled [Silence of the Jungle], captures the artist's fascination with Caribbean flora and African mysticism. In this remarkable composition, Lam revisits the same themes and figurative style he explored in his magnum opus, The Jungle, just two years earlier. Like The Jungle, the canvas of Untitled [Silence of the Jungle] is populated with robust, jointed sugar plants, luxuriant vegetation, tropical palm fronds, and enigmatic, supernatural creatures. The prominent inclusion of sugarcane is a symbolic cornerstone of Lam's work throughout this creative period, alluding to Cuba's status as a major sugar exporter at the time. The artist used this plant to symbolize both the essence of Cuban nature and the colonial systems of exploitation afflicting the island. Untitled [Silence of the Jungle] immerses the viewer in the thick underbrush, bathed in diffused light and rendered in a restrained palette of earth tones and deep blues. Amidst the foliage, one can discern the spectral figure of a human-vegetal hybrid, inspired by Orishas, divinities of the natural world from Afro-Cuban spiritual tradition. Nico Hough

Tomás Sánchez (b. 1948), Shore, (Orilla ), 1988, acrylic on canvas, 42 ½ x 57 ¾ inches, signed and dated Tomás Sánchez, 88, center right, also signed, titled, and dated Tomás Sánchez, "Orilla," 1988, on reverse Provenance: Collection, Costa Rica. This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity, issued by the Fundación Tomás Sánchez, and signed by the artist. 161

This year saw remarkable landmarks in the visibility of Cuban art. Following the release of our last catalog, the visionary artist Manuel Mendive (b. 1944) held a solo exhibition at the Palazzo della Cancellería in the Vatican, titled Life is Beautiful. This showcase of African Yoruba-inspired art within the Holy See marked a significant step in the mainstream recognition and representation of Afro-Cuban cultural contributions worldwide. A few months after that watershed moment, it was announced that the updated high school curriculum for United States Advanced Placement African American studies would incorporate the works of the modern Cuban master, Wifredo Lam (1902-1982), in many parts of the country starting in 2024. This year alone, works by Wifredo Lam have been exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, Museo Tamayo in Mexico City, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Kunsthalle Wien Museum in Vienna, and in other high-profile shows from New York City to Seoul. This September, an iconic selection of Lam’s work was prominently featured in a major presentation at the 35th Bienal de São Paulo, the largest contemporary art event in the Southern hemisphere. There is more exciting news upcoming for Wifredo Lam collectors that will be made public soon, but for now, our lips are sealed. In the summer of 2023, the contemporary maestro Roberto Fabelo (b. 1950) took center stage with a blockbuster solo exhibition at the Goya Museum in Zaragoza, Spain, titled Divertimentos. Additionally, his works were featured in a two-person exhibition alongside the great Francisco Goya, Mundos, Goya y Fabelo, at the esteemed Conde Duque Culture Center in Madrid. Fabelo further made waves with his stunning and surreal sculpture installations at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and in Zaragoza’s Plaza del Pilar. (Notably, both of these works featured rhinoceroses, a symbol we delve into within this volume, commencing on page 94.) Stateside, the contemporary multimedia artist, José Bedia, was included in the group show at the New York MoMA, Chosen Memories. Bedia’s work has also been selected as a subject in Bridging the Sacred: Spiritual Streams in 20th-Century Latin American and Caribbean Art, 1920–1970, a MoMA research topic focusing on the relationship between modern art and spiritual beliefs in Latin America and the Caribbean. Works by Bedia, alongside other important Cuban artists like Belkis Ayón, were on view earlier this year as part of a group show at the Museo del Barrio in Harlem, a show that has since traveled to North Miami’s Museum of Contemporary Art. The McMullen Museum of Art at Boston College will soon be presenting a major exhibition, The Lost Generation: Women Ceramicists and the Cuban Avant-Garde | La generación perdida: mujeres ceramistas y la vanguardia cubana, curated by Dr. Elizabeth Thompson Goizueta, from January to June of 2024. Cernuda Arte and a group of the gallery's friends and clients are proud to be loaning more than twenty works to the show, including several important paintings and ceramics by Amelia Peláez, René Portocarrero, and other Vanguardia artists. Institutionally and academically, the field of Cuban art is as dynamic as ever. Here at the gallery, we are thrilled to resume a robust schedule of events, including our long-running lecture series. In particular, we are grateful to Professor Alejandro Anreus for traveling from the Garden State all the way to Florida to deliver his insight on art history. We thank all those who regularly support these events, from collectors to artists to admirers. In the post-pandemic modality, with art’s social dimension largely restored, enthusiasm for experiencing and engaging with creative production is energized and alive. We are saddened by the departure of a great painter and a dear friend. Umberto Peña, renowned expressionist artist, peacefully passed away at the age of 85 on June 22, 2023, in Salamanca, Spain. In his life as a painter and designer, Peña’s works were known for their extraordinary boldness and a daring experimental spirit that skillfully blended the vibrant colors and bold lines of pop art with a neo-figurative style and provocative themes. His audacious bravado and pointed, scatological references to the vulgarity and intolerance that drowned culture around him put him on a path of confrontation with the Gods of Olympus that reigned on the island. His continued defiance obliged him to abandon the brushes. Silence was the only option to complicity. Migration was the only path to freedom. During his time in Miami in the early 2000s, Peña collaborated with Cernuda Arte and became the gallery’s inaugural graphic designer, adopting the pseudonym Rice and Beans for his one-person design firm. He contributed his exceptional design skills to the early editions of IMPORTANT CUBAN ARTWORKS, as well as exhibition catalogs for fellow artists such as Flora Fong and Alfredo Sosabravo. We are thankful for all he taught us, and dedicate this volume to his memory.

All in all, we are much satisfied with the new offering that we present in this catalog. These artworks will adorn the walls of our gallery and our fair booths for the months to come, until they find other loving souls that will cherish them. Ramón Cernuda 162

INDEX Acosta León, Angel (1930 – 1964) 85, 86 (2), 87 (2) Alfonzo, Carlos (1950 – 1991) 114, 115, 116, 117 (2), 118 (2), 119 Antigua, Francisco (1920 – 1983) 70, 71 Arche, Jorge (1905 – 1957) 48 Arias, Miguel (1841 – 1915) 10 Ayón, Belkis (1967 – 1999) 102 (2), 103 Bedia, José (b. 1959) 104 (2), 105 Bermúdez, Cundo (1914 – 2008) 60, 61 (2), 62 (4), 63 Besmar, Joel (b. 1968) 126 (2), 127 Cabrera Moreno, Servando (1923 – 1981) 68 (2), 69 Calzada, Humberto (b. 1944) 156, 157 Cárdenas, Agustín (1927 – 2001) 90 (3), 91 Casas, Enrique (b. 1976) 142 (3), 143 (3), 144 (4), 145 (2) Chartrand, Esteban (1840 – 1883) 5 Chartrand, Philippe (1825 – 1889) 4 Cleenewerck, Henry (1825 – 1901) 2 De La Rosa, Sandro (b. 1972) 155 (2) Diago, Juan Roberto (b. 1971) 146, 147, 148, 149 Díaz Salinero, Miguel (1874 – 1943) 11 Echevarría, Giosvany (b. 1971) 134 (2), 135 Eiriz, Antonia (1929 – 1995) 75 Elizagaray, Yasiel (b. 1987) 132, 133 (3) Enríquez, Carlos (1900 – 1957) 18, 19, 20, 21 (2) Escobar, Vicente (1757 – 1834) 9 Estopiñán, Roberto (1921 – 2015) 78 (2), 79 Fabelo, Roberto (b. 1950) 94, 95, 96, 97, 98 (2), 99 Florido, Miguel (b. 1980) 122 (2), 123 (2), 124 (2), 125 Fong, Flora (b. 1949) 150 (2), 151 (2) García Rivera, Oscar (1914 – 1971) 88, 89 (2) García, Víctor Manuel (1897 – 1969) 16, 17 (2) Garcia-Roig, Lilian (b. 1966) 128 (2), 129 (2) González, Carmelo (1920 – 1990) 158

González, Irina Elén (b. 1978) 154 (2) Guillén, Nicolás (1938 – 2003) 76 (2), 77 (2) Hernández, Vicente (b. 1971) 130 (2), 131 (2) Lam, Wifredo (1902 – 1982) Cover, 23, 24, 25 (2), 26, 27, 28 (2), 29, 30 (2), 31, 32, 33, 34 (4), 35 (4), 36 (3), 37 (2), 160 Landaluze, Víctor Patricio (1828 – 1889) 6 (2), 7 (2), 8 Méndez, Danuel (b. 1989) 136 (4), 137 (2), 138 (2), 139 (3), 140 (2), 141 (2) Mendive, Manuel (b. 1944) 106, 107, 108, 109, 110 (2), 111, 112, 113 Menocal, Armando (1863 – 1942) 12 (2) Mijares, José (1921 – 2004) 66 (3), 67 Morales, Eduardo (1862 – 1938) 13 Morera, Clara (b. 1944) 120 (2), 121 (2) Orlando, Felipe (1911 – 2001) 64, 65 Peláez, Amelia (1896 – 1968) 40, 41, 42, 43 Pellón, Gina (1926 – 2014) 80 (2), 81, 82 (3), 83, 84 Peña, Umberto (1937 – 2023) 74 Ponce de León, Fidelio (1895 – 1949) 44, 45, 46 (3), 47 Portocarrero, René (1912 – 1985) 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58 (2), 59 Ramos, Domingo (1894 – 1956) 14, 15 Rodríguez Morey, Antonio (1874 – 1967) 14 Rodríguez Radillo, José (1915 – 1977) 15 Rodríguez, Arturo (b. 1956) 152 (2), 153 (2) Rodríguez, Mariano (1912 – 1990) 38 (2), 39, 159 Romañach, Leopoldo (1862 – 1951) 13 Sánchez, Tomás (b. 1948) 161, Back Cover Scull, Hermanas (Haydée Scull, 1931 – 2007; Sahara Scull, 1931 – 2008) 92, 93 Soriano, Rafael (1920 – 2015) 72 (2), 73 Sosabravo, Alfredo (b. 1930) 100, 101 Sulroca, Federico (1860 – 1931) 10

Catalog Coordinator: Diana Benitez • Photography: Diana Benitez, Daniel Ferrer & Thalia Monier Layouts: Daniel Ferrer, Nico Hough & Thalia Monier • Proofreading: Nercys Cernuda & Nico Hough Printing: Bellak Color, Doral, FL.

163

Tomás Sánchez (b. 1948), Low Cloud Seen from the Mountain, (Nube Baja desde la Montaña ), 1987, acrylic on canvas, 66 x 78 ¾ inches Signed, Tomás Sánchez, and dated, 87, on the lower right, also signed, Tomás Sánchez, titled and dated, 1987, on the reverse. Provenance: Private Collection, New York, NY. Illustrated in the book, Tomás Sánchez: Paisaje Interior, Martha Zamora, Petróleos Mexicanos, Mexico, 1994, page 98, illustrated in color.

Cernuda Arte 164

3155 Ponce de León Boulevard, Coral Gables, Fl 33134-6825 TEL: (305) 461 1050 FAX: (305) 461 1063 E-MAIL: CERNUDAARTE@MSN.COM WWW.CERNUDAARTE.COM