IMPORTANT C UB A N ARTW OR K S
VOLUME TWENTY ONE
Cernuda Arte’s Staff (from left to right):
Harold Ferrer, Juan Carlos Rodríguez, María Rómulo, Diana Benitez, Nico Hough, Ramón Cernuda, Nercys Cernuda, Roxana Martínez, Julissa Morales, Benny López, Eduardo Domínguez.
OSCAR GARCÍA RIVERA (1914 – 1971), High Society Carnival Party, (Fiesta de Carnaval de Alta Sociedad ), ca 1944, oil on canvas, 24 x 48 inches
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 feverish conga contortions, 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 people of different races participating harmoniously in various folkloric settings. This artist of everyday common and ordinary scenes was the first Cuban painter ever to present a one artist show at the United States National Museum, Smithsonian, in Washington, D.C , on October of 1947
Henry CleenewerCk (1825 – 1901), Río Cauto, Island of Cuba, (Río Cauto, Isla de Cuba), 1868, oil on canvas, 27 x 40 3/4 inches [unframed], 37 ½ x 51 1/4 inches [framed]
Henry Cleenewerck (1825-1901) Born in Watou, Belgium, he visits the United States in 1854. By 1863, he is living in Havana where he paints a large commissioned canvas for the Count of Fernandina. During his stay in Cuba, estimated to be for a period of five years, Cleenewerck is lauded for his talent as a landscape painter, one who captured the subtleties and the spirit of the long, lost, dense and colorful tropical jungle that still existed in the countryside in the mid-1850s in Cuba.
His artworks were mostly acquired by the distinguished and wealthy criollo families of the Cuban colonial society. José María Ximeno, in 1865, already possessed various Matanzas scenes of the Yumurí Valley, one night scene of the Canímar River and a painting of a ceiba tree in San Antonio de los Baños.
Cleenewerck's Cuban landscape paintings were presented at the Exhibición de Matanzas in, 1881; in the show Trescientos Años de Arte en Cuba (Three Hundred Years of Art in Cuba), University of Havana, in 1940; in La Pintura Colonial en Cuba (Colonial Painting in Cuba) National Capitol, Havana, 1950; in Pintura Española y Cubana (Spanish and Cuban Painting), Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain, in 1983, and permanently in the collection of the National Museum of Fine Arts in Cuba. In Miami his works have been exhibited at the Bacardí Gallery, in 1988, and at the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Paradise Lost? Aspects of Landscape in Latin American Art, 2003.
Probably 1868, Cleenewerck travels to Paris, where he stays until 1873. There, the artist sells some Cuban landscapes that he might have brought with him from his Cuba years, and others that he paints from his memories. Towards the end of his life, Henry Clenewerck moves to Brussels, Belgium, where he dies in 1901.
raMón Cernuda, One Hundred Years of Cuban Landscape, 1850 to 1950, 2001, page 37.
Exhibited in Important Colonial and Early Republic Masters, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Mar. - Sep. 2023. Illustrated in Linden Lane Magazine Vol 42 # 1 spring 2023, Belkis Cuza Malé, director. A copy of this magazine accompanies the artwork.
History confirms that Esteban Chartrand (1840-1884) was our first Cuban-born landscape artist. He was undoubtedly the first painter on the Island who devoted his artistic creations life to the scenes of the Cuban countryside. Educated in France, where he went to study in 1864, it is known that he imbibed romantic inspirations from the best artists of the Barbizon School, one of whom was one of his teachers, Theodore Rousseau. He also had direct contact with the works of the Hudson River School while studying in Boston in 1860, and made frequent visits to the northeastern United States. His earliest work is dated 1857, and by 1867, Esteban Chartrand enters the national artistic scene, forming, together with his brothers, Philippe and Augusto, the first group of Cuban painters to dedicate itself to the exaltation of the Island’s landscape as a main genre, and to glorify it, based on a wholesome and deep-rooted native pride. Already in 1867, at the inception of the Ten Years’ War, Esteban Chartrand, who was married to one of the Gálvez sisters (a family which at the time was known to favor the pro-independent movement), won La Flor de Oro (The Golden Flower), the First-Place Award in the Juegos Florales Matanceros (Matanzas’ Floral Games) painting contest. The prize-winning work, Paisaje de las Lomas de San Miguel (Landscape of the San Miguel Hills), whose whereabouts are unknown, rendered tribute to the beauty of Matanzas. As a result of these accomplishments, Esteban Chartrand exhibited in South Carolina, in Charleston’s Floral Fair in May of 1870, where he presented the work Atardecer en la Sabana (Dusk in the Savannah). In May of 1876, he was invited to present a painting in the International Exposition of the Centenary of the American Nation, held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he sent the painting Valle del Yumurí (Yumurí Valley). Esteban Chartrand continued to create his outstanding pictorial work during seventeen more years, and proceeded almost exclusively to record on his canvases the landscape of Matanzas and that of Havana. In June of 1881, the artist lists and details, in his own handwriting, all the paintings he has created since his return from Paris in December of 1865. The painter concludes that there were “one hundred and seven works to date”. Based on the titles of the works listed by Chartrand himself, we can deduce that all but one were landscapes of the Island. Later in his life, (1883) when his ailing body could no longer support him and he had to urgently find a better climate that would help soothe the tuberculosis that consumed him, he traveled to Hoboken, New Jersey. Esteban Chartrand reached the Hudson River’s cold banks too late, and on the morning of January 26, 1884, he passed away.
raMón Cernuda, One Hundred Years of Cuban Landscape, 1850 to 1950, 2001, page 12.
esteban CHartrand (1840 – 1884), Landscape with Farmers, (Paisaje con Campesinos), 1881, oil on canvas, 22 x 38 1/8 inches Provenance: Hutter Galleries, New York, NY.
VÍCTOR PATRICIO LANDALUZE (1828 – 1889), Dance of the Little Devil in the Feast of Three King's Day, (Baile del Diablito en Fiesta del Día de Reyes), ca 1880, ink and watercolor on heavy paper laid down on board, 5 ⅝ x 3 ¾ inches
VÍCTOR PATRICIO LANDALUZE (1828 – 1889), Escaped Slave Hiding in the Bushes, (Cimarrón Escondido en la Maleza), ca 1880, ink and watercolor on heavy paper laid down on board, 5 ½ x 4 ⅛ inches
V íct o r P atrici o L andaluze is “Th e most tr u ly C uba n pai n t e r of t h e n inet e ent h c ent u ry : t h e pr ec ur so r o f a n ati o na l art t h at co mes from its p e opl e ” 1 T h i s i s h o w art h ist o ria n D r. L oló de l a T o rrie n te d e s c ri b e s, i n 19 5 0, this ge n re pai n ter w h o arrived in Havana from Bilbao, Spain, in t h e mid n i ne t een t h cen t u ry a n d introduced sce n es from everyday c olonial life, in a reali s tic mann e r that for t he f ir s t tim e i n t he i sl a n d’ s art scene depicted simple pe o ple. Ru n away slave s , freed b la c ks, white m e nial w o r ke r s, p ubl i c se rva n t s, a n d ot h er typical charact e rs f rom s o ci e ty. “What Landaluze achieves wit h his emoti on a l a n d so rr o w fu l art i s t o secure a distinguished p l ace for t h e meek in his paintings. Bla c k me n and w o m en, marv elous a n d full o f grace, f l au n ti n g the ci n namo n o f their color and t h e c harm of their attire parad e i n h i s art . ” 2
“Even though b o rn in Spai n [Landaluze] sh o uld be con s id e red, b e caus e of h i s art , a Cub a n pai n t e r , fu l l o f humor, o ne w h o c aptures th e ways, habits and popular charact e rs o f h i s tim e, ma n y of w h i ch h e de f in e d, s u ch as L ibori o [the quintessential co l o nia l c r i oll o ], c urre n t s ymb ol o f t h e Cub a n p eo pl e.. H i s oi l s, watercolors and drawi n gs c onstitute th e be s t work availa b le to co n sult a n d r e m e m be r t he way of l i f e and typical prototypes of C o lo n ial C uba in t h e se c ond hal f o f the ni n etee n th cen t u ry . ” 3 R AM ÓN C ERNUDA
1 Dr. Loló de la Torriente, Estudio de las Artes Plásticas en Cuba, Havana, Cuba, 1954, page 72. This book was awarded the National Prize of the Ministry of Education of Cuba, in 1950.
2 Ibidem, page 71.
3 Segunda Exposición de Arte Cubano Retrospectivo, Víctor Patricio Landaluze, Lyceum, Havana, Cuba, May 20, 1941, introductory text to exhibition catalog, Mrs. Leonor Barraqué.
VíCtor PatriCio landaluze (1828 – 1889), Farmer and Slave, (Campesi no y Esclava), ca 1870, oil on canvas, 14 1/8 x 10 ⅝ inches
Miguel Melero (1836 – 1907), Sailboat on Moving Waters, (Velero sobre Aguas Vivas), ca 1898, oil on canvas, 21 ½ x 27 3/4 inches
Exhibited in Cuban Art in the 20th Century: Cultural Identity and the International Avant-Garde, Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts, Tallahassee, Florida, Feb. 12, 2016 - Mar. 27, 2016, curated by Segundo J. Fernandez, PhD, and illustrated in the accompanying catalog, pages 26 and 66.
Exhibited in Cuban Art in the 20th Century: Cultural Identity and the International Avant-Garde, Coral Gables Museum, Coral Gables, Florida, Jan. 22, 2017 - Apr. 23, 2017.
Miguel a. Melero (1865 – 1887), The Seaman, (El Marinero), 1887, oil on board, 20 x 15 inches
Miguel Angel Melero, 1865 – 1887. The elder son and disciple of Miguel Melero, was educated in Cuba and in Europe under the tutelage of Federico de Madrazo, a distinguished Spanish painter.
Miguel Angel collaborated with his father in the production of the frescoes of the Chappel of the Colón Cemetery. The National Museum of Cuba includes various works by Miguel Angel Melero in its permanent exhibition, among them a portrait of Pope Gregory X, The burial of Atala, and a portrait of Miguel Angel Buonarotti. The artist died young at age twenty-two, in Paris, France, afflicted with typhoid fever.
raMón Cernuda
aurelio Melero (1870 – 1929), Vase with Roses, (Florero con Rosas), 1907, oil on canvas, 39 ¼ x 25 3/4 inches
Aurelio Melero Fernández de Castro (1870 – 1929) was born in Havana. He was one of two sons of the distinguished painter and educator Miguel Melero, who was the Director of the San Alejandro Arts Academy for twenty-nine consecutive years.
Aurelio studied art at the Academia San Alejandro from 1886 to 1899, and furthered his education in Paris and Madrid, where he lived for a few years. He was a prominent member of the National Academy of the Arts and Letters and a Member of Merit of the Association of Painters and Sculptors of Havana. He taught art at the Fundación Maestro Villate, in Havana, from 1906 to 1929, occupying various positions and eventually becoming the Academy’s Director.
He was a collaborator at the magazines El Fígaro, and Bohemia. He exhibited his paintings in thirteen major shows in Havana, from 1911 to 1928. He won awards in Saint Louis in 1904 and at the Diario La Marina, in 1905. His creations were included in the historical Three Hundred Years of Art in Cuba, at the University of Havana, in April, 1940, along with the most prominent artists of the island up to that moment.
raMón Cernuda
Pastor Argudín Pedroso (1880-1968) his black parents had been enslaved in Havana; his father Argudín Lombillo was enslaved by the Casa de Lombillo in Habana Vieja, and his mother María de Jesús Pedroso had been enslaved by the Casa de Pedroso. Argudín Pedroso attended one of Salvador José Zapata's elementary schools in Havana. At a young age, he studied art under Spanish painter and decorative artist, Francisco Piera. He was promoted for his natural skills, and worked on painting the ceiling of La Merced Church.
He attended college at the Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes San Alejandro in Havana. He studied at the Academy under Leopoldo Romañach, Armando Menocal, Luis Mendoza Sandrino, and Miguel Melero Rodríguez. This was followed by a 1912 scholarship to study in Madrid, Spain at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, where he conferred a bachelor's degree. In Spain, he studied under José Moreno Carbonero, Miguel Blay, Cecilio Plá, and Gonzalo Bilbao.
Argudín Pedroso lived and worked in France, Italy, and the United States during the 1920s and 1930s. He continued his studies at Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma in Rome; followed by training at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris under Émile-René Ménard. Argudín Pedroso was a guest of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, and lived at his house in Brooklyn, New York for almost one year in the 1930s.
Argudín Pedroso is said to have painted some 300 portraits by 1937, many of which were notable people. Some of his portrait subjects included Rafael María de Labra, Cayetano Quesada (Cuban consul in New York City), Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, John La Farge, Rev. John LaFarge Jr., and Abraham Lincoln, among others. Argudin exhibited at the Société des Artistes Indépendants in Paris, starting around 1924; and he was part of the noted group exhibition, "1933 Exhibition of the Work of Negro Artists", hosted by the Harmon Foundation at the Art Centre in New York City.
Pastor argudín (1880 – 1968), Sailboat at the Port of Concarneau I, (Velero en el Puerto de Concarneau I ), 1920, oil on wood, 9 ½ x 6 ¼ inches
Pastor argudín (1880 – 1968), Sailboat at the Port of Concarneau II, (Velero en el Puerto de Concarneau II ), 1926, oil on wood, 9 ½ x 6 ¼ inches
Exhibited at the Second Hispanic American Biennal,
Exhibited in Cuban Art in the 20th Century: Cultural Identity and the International Avant-Garde, Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts, Tallahassee, FL, Feb. 12, 2016 - Mar. 27, 2016, curated by Segundo J. Fernandez, PhD, and illustrated in the accompanying catalog, pages 28 and 73.
Exhibited in Cuban Art in the 20th Century: Cultural Identity and the International Avant-Garde, Coral Gables Museum, Coral Gables, FL, Jan. 22, 2017 - Apr. 23, 2017.
“Cuban painter born in Havana on July 8, 1863; he died in the same city on September 28, 1942. A descendant from an illustrious Cuban family, he added on to the excellences of a refined artistic temperament and vast culture, a fervent love of country and liberty.
Menocal studied painting and drawing at the School of Fine Arts at San Alejandro in Havana under the guidance of Miguel Melero. In 1880, his parents sent him to Spain, and there he expanded his knowledge of the arts… At the National Exposition of Madrid, in 1884, he obtained a Second Place Award for his painting, Castilian Generosity… Once the Cuban Republic was proclaimed, Menocal was reintegrated to his position as the Chair of Landscape at the San Alejandro School… He obtained a Gold Medal at the Exposition of California in 1915. In 1918… he accomplished the decoration of the Presidential Palace of Cuba… He became director of the San Alejandro School in 1927 and was a member of the National Academy of Arts and Letters of Havana. Menocal cultivated various modalities of pictorial art with brilliant success, distinguishing himself as an admirable portraitist and eminent landscape artist."
bernard lerner, Enciclopedia del Arte en América, volumen cuatro, Bibliografía Omeba, 1968
arMando MenoCal (1863 – 1942), Cuca Retrieving a Quail, (Cuca Parando una Codorniz), 1915, oil on canvas, 35 ¼ x 48 inches
Havana, Cuba, 1954.
enrique CruCet (1895-1979) was born in Havana on July 12, 1895. The artist depicted landscapes, cityscapes and marine paintings. He commenced his studies in basic and ornamental painting at the Galician Center of Havana where Baldomero Moreira, the Spanish painter and graduate of the San Fernando School of Fine Arts in Madrid, was his professor. As a young man, he departed to Barcelona, where he studied at the studio of Catalan painter, Luis Granier. From there he turned to Paris, and later to Rome. He returned to Cuba in 1918 and exhibited his paintings at the Fine Arts Salon in Havana. This capital’s municipality rewarded his artistic resolve, granting him a scholarship to study abroad. Crucet was a graduate of the National Academy of Fine Arts at San Alejandro. In 1919 he returned to Spain, and in Madrid he completed advanced studies at the celebrated Academy of Fine Arts at San Fernando, obtaining its credentials. Julio Blanco Coris, Antonio Muñoz de Graim, and Joaquín Sorolla were the mentors who markedly influenced Crucet’s artistic personality. On October 19, 1920 he celebrated the first exhibition of his paintings at the Circle of Fine Arts in Madrid.
The artist’s most salient awards encompassed a Third Prize recognition at the International Exhibition in Paris; a Medal of Honor and Honorable Mention at the Iberoamerican Exposition in Seville; the Landscape Award at the Second International Biennial Exposition, and Gold Medal in Santiago, Chile. The artist died in 1979.
raMón Cernuda
CruCet (1895 – 1979), Roses, (Rosas), ca. 1945, oil on wood, 15 1/2 x 11 inches Exhibited in Exposición Enrique Crucet, Patronato de Bellas Artes, Palacio Municipal de La Habana, Havana, Cuba, December, 1946, and listed in the accompanying catalog, no. 48.
enrique
doMingo raMos (1894 – 1956), Landscape and Mountain, (Paisaje y Montaña), ca. 1935, oil on canvas, 37 ¼ x 45 ¼ inches
leoPoldo roMañaCH (1862 – 1951), Study of a Face, (Estudio de un Rostro), ca. 1918, oil on canvas, 17 x 21 inches Illustrated in the book Cuban Art, Past and Present, Vol. 1, Frank Padrón, 2016, page 2.
leoPoldo roMañaCH (1862 – 1951), Seaside, (Paisaje Costero), 1930, oil on canvas, 15 x 24 inches
FeliPe orlando (1911 – 2001), Female Figure, (Figura Femenina), 1946, oil on paper laid down on canvas by the artist, 29 3/4 x 22 inches Illustrated in the book Felipe Orlando, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Federal District, Mexico, 1981, page 45. "La magia de su obra es impresionante". Georges Braque
CARLOS ENRÍQUEZ (1900 – 1957), Odile, (Odile), 1945, oil on canvas, 31 ⅛ x 25 inches, signed and dated lower left, and again on the reverse.
Provenance: Cisneros Gallery, New York, NY; Dr. Miguel González Collection, Miami, FL.
Exhibited in Carlos Enríquez, Cuban Painters Series, Cuban Museum of Arts and Culture, Miami, FL, Mar. 1986, and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, page 32.
Exhibited in Sotheby’s Latin American Art Auction, New York, May 18, 1994, and illustrated in the corresponding auction catalog, lot number 348.
Exhibited in , Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, curated by Professor Juan A. Martínez, Ph.D, Apr. - May 2010, and illustrated digitally on cernudaarte.com, exhibitions Illustrated in the book , author Professor Juan A. Martínez, Ph.D., edited by Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Feb. 2010, page 191.
VíCtor Manuel garCía (1897 – 1969), Landscape, (Paisaje), 1945, oil on canvas, 31 x 25 inches
Provenance: Private Collection, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Exhibited at Sotheby’s, New York, May 28, 1998, and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, lot 242. Illustrated in the book Pintores Cubanos, Oscar Hurtado, Edmundo Desnoes, Ediciones R, La Habana, Cuba, 1962, page 57.
This
is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity dated Oct. 26, 2012, signed
VíCtor Manuel garCía (1897 – 1969), Flowers and Fruits, (Flores y Frutas), ca 1940s, oil on canvas, 26 x 20 inches
Provenance: Private collection, Zaragoza, Spain.
painting
by Ramón Vázquez Díaz and José Veigas.
eduardo abela (1889 – 1965), The City and the Dogs, (La Ciudad y los Perros), ca1958, oil on wood, 13 x 16 inches
Provenance: Manuel Reguera Saumell Collection, Havana, Cuba and Barcelona, Spain.
eduardo abela (1889 – 1965), Lady with Flowers (Dama con Flores), ca 1940-1950, oil on wood, 13 1/2 x 10 inches
Illustrated in the book Eduardo Abela: Cerca del Cerco, José Seoane Gallo, Editorial Letras Cubanas, 1986, Havana, Cuba, page 565.
Manuel Reguera Saumell (1928-2022) was a playwright and novelist who, in his youth, studied and graduated in Architecture from the University of Havana. Attracted to the visual arts, he began his art collection in Cuba in the 1960s, where he befriended Amelia Peláez, Antonia Eiriz, Víctor Manuel, Lidia Cabrera, and Eduardo Abela, among other artists and intellectuals of that period. Reguera Saumell was forced to leave Cuba in 1968 as the repressive policies of the Cuban government became increasingly hostile towards young, critical writers, intellectuals, artists, and the gay community. He settled in Barcelona, where he lived for 44 years, leaving behind an abundant and meritorious body of literary work as well as a respectable art collection.
raMón Cernuda
Jorge arCHe (1905 – 1957), Portrait of Loló de la Torriente, (Retrato de Loló de la Torriente), 1948, oil on canvas, 13 ½ x 10 ½ inches
Jorge Arche (1905-1957) was one of the renowned artists that conformed the first generation of distinguished Cuban Vanguardia painters.
He studied at the Academia Villate for five years and in 1923 he continued his artistic education at San Alejandro Academy in Havana, from where he later graduated. He won awards and accolades in 1935 on the First and Second National Exposition of Paintings and Sculptures in Havana, in 1935-1937, and various more during his life time.
His preference for and success in the genre of portraiture quickly generated much respect and admiration amongst the progressive, intelligentsia of the country during those years, recognizing him as the best interpreter of the physiognomy and the psychological traits of his fellow artists, poets, art critics and intellectuals.
The sitter, Loló de la Torriente (1907-1985) studied law at the University of Havana. She practiced law, journalism, art critique and was a worker's organizer throughout her lifetime. A leftist political leader, Loló de la Torriente was a delegate at the First National Congress of Youth in 1921 and also a delegate at the First Congress of Women, both in Havana. Upon graduation from the school of law in 1929 she was a leader at the National Confederation of Cuban workers during the years of struggle against the government of Gerardo Machado. In 1935 due to her political activism, she was deported from the United States to Cuba where she was imprisoned by the Cuban government for a period of two years. Afterwards, Loló continued her activism via her writings actively developing a career in journalism and in art criticism in México and Cuba. Among many periodicals, she wrote for La Prensa, Cuadernos Americanos, Afroamérica and Gaceta del Caribe.
Later, back in Havana, she collaborated with Casa de las Américas, Unión and Letras Cubanas. raMón Cernuda
wiFredo laM (1902 – 1982), Untitled [Portrait of a Lady], (Sin Título [Retrato de Señora] ), 1932, oil on canvas, 39 ½ x 31 ¾ inches
Provenance: Manuel Reguera Saumell Collection, Havana, Cuba and Barcelona, Spain.
Illustrated in Wifredo Lam: Catalogue Raisonné of the Painted Work, Volume I, 1923 - 1960, Acatos, Project Director: Eskil Lam, page 233, no. 32.02. This work is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity issued by Lou Laurin-Lam, wife of the artist, no. 94 - 41, Paris, April 28, 1994.
In 1923, after receiving a scholarship to study in Europe funded by a philanthropist who specified that it be awarded to a “young person of color in need,” Wifredo Lam set sail from Havana to Madrid, where he lived and worked for 14 years. There, in 1927, Lam met Sébastiana “Eva” Piriz, his first wife. In 1929, Lam and Piriz married and welcomed a son, Wilfredo Victor. In 1931, tragedy struck when Eva and the newborn died from tuberculosis. In his letters, he expressed feeling deep guilt over his inability to save them. Executed shortly after this loss, Portrait of a Lady, was painted when Lam was processing familial grief. Interestingly, it is one of few known works signed Lam Yam, the name of Wifredo Lam’s father who had passed in 1926. The figure in Portrait of a Lady is a young woman draped in a scarf, standing against a dreamlike backdrop, the landscape and the impossible architecture hinting at the artist’s burgeoning surrealism. The figure bears more than a passing resemblance to Eva Piriz.
niCo HougH
wiFredo laM (1902 – 1982), Woman, (Mujer), 1938, oil on heavy paper laid down on canvas, 28 x 25 ½ inches
Provenance: Private Collection, Geneva, Switzerland; Private Collection, Mexico City, Mexico. Illustrated in Wifredo Lam: Catalogue Raisonné of the Painted Work, Volume I, 1923 - 1960, Acatos, Project Director: Eskil Lam, page 257, no. 38.38. This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Monsieur Eskil Lam, Paris, January 22, 2013.
Nineteen thirty-eight, the year this painting was executed, was a transformative time for Wifredo Lam. He exits Spain, leaving behind the horrors of the Civil War and all its devastation, and reaches Paris with only a few of his most recent paintings. Days later he meets Pablo Picasso in his studio, and for him it was love at first sight. Picasso later recalled having said to the young man, “I think you have some of my blood in you; you must be a relative or a cousin.” Almost immediately Picasso introduced Lam to la crème de la crème of France's modernists, Braque, Miró, Leger, Matisse, Kahnweiler, Zervos, and others. Picasso and his “cousin” plan an exhibition together, one that would catapult the Cuban's reputation to greater heights. The following year, the project takes place at the Perls Galleries in New York, elevating Lam’s recognition to the main peloton of the International Avant Garde.
raMón Cernuda
wiFredo laM (1902 – 1982), Untitled [Four Figures and Eleguas], (Sin Título [Cuatro Figuras y Eleguas] ), 1958, pastel on heavy paper laid down on board, 23 ¼ x 35 ½ inches signed and dated 'Wifredo Lam 1958' (lower left)
wiFredo laM (1902 – 1982), Branches, (Ramas), 1955, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on board, 22 ⅞ x 35 1/8 inches
Provenance: Private Collection, Barcelona, Spain.
Exhibited in Wifredo Lam, Galería Joan Prats-Artgràfic, Barcelona, Spain, 1976; and exhibited again in Wifredo Lam, Galería Joan Prats- Artgràfic, Barcelona, Spain, 1993. Illustrated in Wifredo Lam, Max-Pol Fouchet, First Edition, 1976, pg. 102, no. 110, and Wifredo Lam, Max-Pol Fouchet, Second Edition, 1989, pg. 106, no. 110.
Exhibited in The Lost Generation: Women Ceramicists and the Cuban Avant-Garde, McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Boston, MA, Jan. to Jun., 2024, curated by Dr. Elizabeth Thompson Goizueta. Also exhibited, same exhibition, at Frost Art Museum, Florida International University, Miami, FL, Jun. 29 to Sep. 29, 2024, and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, page 172. This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Eskil Lam, son of the artist, Paris, May 27, 2024.
wiFredo laM (1902 – 1982), Untitled [Figure in Flight], (Sin Título [Figura en Vuelo]), 1947, gouache ink on paper, 9 x 8 inches, signed and dated on the reverse
Provenance: Guido Adriaenssens Collection, Atlanta, GA.
Exhibited in Drawings: Seven Cuban Masters, Cuban Museum of Arts and Culture, Miami, Florida, Jan. 20 - Feb. 26, 1986.
This work is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity issued by Lou Laurin-Lam, wife of the artist, Paris, Feb. 24, 1992, as well as by a letter signed by Madame Lou Laurin-Lam.
wiFredo laM (1902 – 1982), Homenaje a Ana María Peicetto, Albisola Mare, Italia, (Homage to Ana María Peicetto, Albisola Mare, Italy), 1964, ink and oil on heavy paper laid down on canvas, 13 ½ x 19 ½ inches This painting was part of the exhibition, Wifredo Lam, Un Percorso, Galeria Grupo Credito, Valtellinese, Milano, Italy. It was also exhibited at the Palazzo Sertoli, Milano, Italy, Nov. 15, 2002 to Jan. 23, 2003, and illustrated in the exhibition catalog on page 125.
The work is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Madame Lou Laurin-Lam, on June 9, 1999.
wiFredo laM (1902 – 1982), Portrait, (Retrato), 1969, oil on canvas, 25 3/4 x 21 ¼ inches, signed and dated on the reverse.
Provenance: Private Collection, Paris, France; Galerie Fabien Boulakia, Paris, France; Private Collection, Switzerland. This painting was exhibited in Wifredo Lam, L'Oiseau Du Possible (1930-1975), Galerie Fabien Boulakia, Paris, France, 2004, and illustrated in the exhibition catalog, pages 98-99.
Exhibited in Baroque de la Superposition, Musée des Beaux-Arts André Malraux, Le Havre, France, 1977, and illustrated in the exhibition catalog on page 24, and listed on page 35, no. 76.
Illustrated in Lam, M. Leiris, Fratelle Fabbri, Milan, Italy & Harry N. Abrams Inc. Publisher, New York, 1970, no. 170 and no. 174.
Illustrated in Wifredo Lam, Max-Pol Fouchet, First Edition, 1976, page 241, no. 523, and in Wifredo Lam, Max-Pol Fouchet, Second Edition, 1989, page 261, no. 555.
Illustrated in Wifredo Lam, Lucien Curzi, Edizioni Bora, Bologna, Italy, 1978, page 40, no. 47.
Illustrated twice in Wifredo Lam: Catalogue Raisonné of the Painted Work, Volume II, 1961-1982, Project Director: Eskil Lam, Acatos 2002, on page 82, no. 3 and again on page 319, no. 69.46. This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed and dated by Madame Lou Laurin-Lam, Paris, Feb. 21, 2011, no. 11-05.
wiFredo laM (1902 – 1982), Untitled [Couple with Elegua], (Sin Título [Pareja con Elegua]), 1973, oil on canvas, 14 x 17 ¾ inches, also signed in the reverse.
Provenance: Private Collection, Madrid, Spain.
Illustrated in Wifredo Lam: Catalogue Raisonné of the Painted Work, Vol. II, 1961 - 1982, Project Director Eskil Lam, Acatos, 2002, page 148 full color, as no. 39, and again, on page 410, cat. no 73.101.
Sold prior to the publication of this catalog.
wiFredo laM (1902 – 1982), Untitled [Three Personnages], (Sin Título [Tres Personajes]), 1975, oil on canvas, 10 x 13 ¾ inches, signed and dated in the front, and again on the reverse.
Provenance: Private Collection, Milano, Italy; Galleria Proposte D'Arte, Legnano, Italy.
Illustrated in Wifredo Lam: Catalogue Raisonné of the Painted Work, Vol. II, 1961 - 1982, Project Director Eskil Lam, Acatos, 2002, page 467, no. 75.24.
This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by the artist, dated 1975.
WIFREDO LAM (1902 – 1982), Untitled [Figures], (Sin Título [Figuras]), 1973, oil on canvas, 31 ½ x 39 ¼ inches
Provenance: Private Collection, Milan.
Exhibited in the two-museum show, Wifredo Lam ou L’Éloge du Métissage, Rome, Villa Medici, Nov.1992 - Jan. 1993; which later traveled to the Palazzo della Permanente, Milan, Italy, Feb. - Mar. 1993, and illustrated in the corresponding catalog, page 163.
Exhibited in the two-museum show, Wifredo Lam. Cuba Italia. Un Percorso, Milan, Refettorio delle Stelline and Sondrio, Palazzo Sertoli and Museum of History and also at Art Palazzo Sassi de’ Lavizzari, Nov. 15, 2002 - Jan. 25, 2003, and illustrated in the corresponding catalog page 109, no. 63.
Illustrated in Wifredo Lam, 1st edition, Max-Pol Fouchet, Poligrafa-Cercle d’Art, Barcelona-Paris, 1976, as no. 673. Also illustrated in Wifredo Lam, Max-Pol Fouchet, 2nd Ed., Editiones Poligrafa, Barcelona, 1989, as no. 705.
Illustrated in Wifredo Lam: Catalogue Raisonné of the Painted Work, Volume II, 1961-1982, Project Director: Eskil Lam, Acatos, 2002, page 438, no. 73.250.
This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Eskil Lam, son of the artist, Paris, May 27, 2024.
wiFredo laM (1902 – 1982), The Two Brothers, (Los Dos Hermanos), 1972, oil on canvas, 19 ½ x 15 ¾ inches, signed and dated on the reverse. Provenance: Private Collection Europe.
Also exhibited in Sotheby’s, Hong Kong, Oct. 1st, 2018, and illustrated in the corresponding auction catalog, lot number 773. This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity, signed by Eskil Lam, son of the artist, dated Mar. 10, 2016.
wiFredo laM (1902 – 1982), Untitled [Femme Cheval, Eleguas and Bird], (Sin Título [Mujer Caballo, Eleguas y Pájaro]), 1973, oil on canvas, 23 ½ x 31 ¼ inches, signed and dated on the reverse.
Provenance: Galleria del Naviglio, Milan, Italy.
This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Eskil Lam, numbered 24-07, and dated Apr. 20, 2024.
WIFREDO LAM (1902 – 1982), Untitled [The Couple], (Sin Título [La Pareja]), 1971, mixed media on cardboard, 18 ¾ x 26 inches
Provenance: Private Collection, Paris, France.
Exhibited at Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Jan. 29, 1989, and listed as lot 184 in the auction catalog. This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Eskil Lam, dated Apr. 20, 2024, numbered 24-06.
wiFredo laM (1902 – 1982), Untitled [Lady with Hat], (Sin Título [Dama con Sombrero]), 1978, mixed media and pastel laid down on board, 11 ¾ x 16 ½ inches, signed, inscribed and dated lower left W. Lam, St. Gallen 20.10.78. Provenance: Erker Galerie, St. Gallen, Switzerland. This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Eskil Lam, numbered 24-29.
In 1978, Wifredo Lam spent time in St. Gallen, Switzerland, recovering his health after having suffered a stroke. Lam, the inveterate painter, found time and energy to produce a repertoire of works on heavy paper, brilliantly executed with bravado and resolve, as if defying the inevitable end. Lam turned over these artworks to the Erker Galerie in St. Gallen, by then one of the well-known and prestigious exponents of modernism in Europe.
The galerie, run by Franz Larese and Jürg Janett, exemplified the advancement of artistic moments in direct dialogue with leading intellectuals and writers of distinction. The circle of leading artists and intellectuals associated with Erker Galerie, which also ran a publishing house, is legendary, from Martin Heidegger, Eduardo Chillida, Die Kunst, Halldór Laxness, Asger Jorn, Joseph Brodsky, Antoni Tàpies, and others.
Wifredo Lam had deposited his last artistic hurrah in great hands.
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wiFredo laM (1902 – 1982), Untitled [The Family], (Sin Título [La Familia]), 1978, mixed media and pastel laid down on board, 11 ¾ x 16 ½ inches, signed, inscribed and dated right WLAM, St. Gallen 1 Oct 1978.
Provenance: Erker Galerie, St. Gallen, Switzerland. This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Eskil Lam, number 24-31.
wiFredo laM (1902 – 1982), Untitled [Figures], (Sin Título [Figuras]), 1976, mixed media and pastel laid down on board, 22 x 30 inches, signed and dated lower right.
Provenance: Erker Galerie, St. Gallen, Switzerland. This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Eskil Lam, numbered 24-33.
WIFREDO LAM (1902 – 1982), Untitled [Seated Figure in the Bush], (Sin Título [Figura Sentada en el Matorral]), 1967, oil on canvas, 51 ⅛ x 38 ⅛ inches
Provenance: Galerie Maeght Lelong, Paris; Centro d'Arte Moderna Tornabuoni, Florence; Private Collection, Switzerland (acquired from the above in 1997).
Exhibited in Wifredo Lam, Malerei: Vic Gentils, Bildhauerei, The Kestner-Gesellschaft in Hanover, Germany, Moderna Museet, and Brussels, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Stockholm, Sweden, 1966 - 1967.
Exhibited in Wifredo Lam, Galerie Maeght Lelong, Paris, France, 1987, no. 6, and illustrated in color page 12
Exhibited in Wifredo Lam, Galerie Maeght Lelong, Zürich, Switzerland, 1987, no. 4, and illustrated in color non-numbered page (titled La forêt).
Illustrated in Wifredo Lam: Catalogue Raisonné of the Painted Work, Vol. II, 1961 - 1982, Project Director Eskil Lam, Acatos, 2002, page 298, no 67 12. and illustrated in color page 69
PLENI LUNA
The Pleni Luna series was created by Wifredo Lam and completed on October 30, 1974 at Atelier Guillard, Gourdon à Cachan. This exquisite edition of 262 sets, signed and numbered by the artist, was realized on Arches paper and was accompanied with poems by José Pierre. This series has been exhibited in over twenty renowned museums worldwide.
The Pleni Luna series appears registered and illustrated in both Catalogue Raisonnés of Wifredo Lam prints. The Wifredo Lam Catalogue Raisonné of Lithographs, Musée de Gravelines, pages 139 and 140, and in LAM Catalogue Raisonné, Prints Estampes Gráfica HC editions, 2016, pages 368 to 379.
WIFREDO LAM (1902 – 1982), Pleni Luna #145/262, Antelope’s Sister, Number 7416, (Soeur de la Gazelle), 1974, lithograph on heavy paper laid down on acid free board, 25 ½ x 19 ¾ inches
WIFREDO LAM (1902 – 1982), Pleni Luna #145/262, Beautiful Thorn, Number 7412, (Belle Épine), 1974, lithograph on heavy paper laid down on acid free board, 25 ½ x 19 ¾ inches
WIFREDO LAM (1902 – 1982), Pleni Luna #145/262, Clearing, Number 7413, (Clairiére), 1974, lithograph on heavy paper laid down on acid free board, 25 ½ x 19 ¾ inches
WIFREDO LAM (1902 – 1982), Pleni Luna #145/262, Innocence, Number 7417, (Innocense), 1974, lithograph on heavy paper laid down on acid free board, 25 ½ x 19 ¾ inches
WIFREDO LAM (1902 – 1982), Untitled [Personnage], H.C. (Sin Título [Personaje] H.C.), 1976, lithograph heavy paper, Artist's Proof 29 ¾ x 21 ¾ inches
Provenance: Manuel Delgado Collection, Caracas, Venezuela. Illustrated in Wifredo Lam: Oeuvre Gravé et Lithographié, Catalogue Raisonné, Ed. Musée de Gravelines, France, 1993, page. 161, no. 7617.
WIFREDO LAM (1902 – 1982), Pleni Luna #145/262, Ascension of Sap, Number 7410, (Montée de Séves), 1974, lithograph on heavy paper laid down on acid free board, 25 ½ x 19 ¾ inches
aMelia Peláez (1896 – 1968), The Tree, (El Árbol ), ca 1925, oil on canvas board, 12 ½ x 8 ½ inches
Exhibited in Amelia Peláez, Retrospectiva, 1929-1943, Institución Hispano-Cubana de Cultura, Havana, Cuba, July- Aug., 1943, curated by José Gómez Sicre.
Exhibited in Amelia Peláez, Exposición Retrospectiva, National Museum of Fine Arts, Habana, Cuba, Nov. 1968, and listed as no. 6 in the exhibition catalog.
Exhibited in Subasta Habana, Havana, Cuba, Nov. 2006, and illustrated in the corresponding auction catalog, number 22. This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Ramón Vázquez Díaz, dated Feb. 6, 2007.
Not much of Amelia Peláez's early pictorial production, during her formative years at the San Alejandro Academy of Fine Arts and before her trip to Europe in 1927, has been saved for the history of Cuban art. A few canvases of her excursions to Puentes Grandes, small works on wood of sailboats in port, and amazing landscapes that flirted with abstraction make up the scant information known of the artist’s origins. Could it be that Amelia or someone close to her destroyed most of her initial creation, as was the case with various other Cuban vanguard painters?
What is certain is that this early stage of Amelia's work had already thrilled the Cuban critics, and Jorge Mañach, among others, heralded the arrival of a great painter. Her favorite teacher and major influence at that time, Leopoldo Romañach, had bestowed upon her his spirit, naturally imbued with a delicate Romanticism. The young painter quickly assimilated and excelled her teacher. Her few landscapes of those years lionized her as, according to Ramón Vázquez Díaz, "one of the best landscape artists of the moment”.
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aMelia Peláez (1896 – 1968), Talking Profile in Orange and Brown, (Rostro en Naranja y Marrón Hablando), 1930, crayon on paper laid down on acid free board, 16 ¼ x 10 inches
Provenance: Guido Adriaenssens Collection.
aMelia Peláez (1896 – 1968), Landscape, (Paisaje), 1927, ink and crayon on paper, 11 x 17 inches
Provenance: Guido Adriaenssens Collection.
aMelia Peláez (1896 – 1968), Grey Fish, (Pescados Grises), 1931, oil on canvas, 38 x 51 inches
Provenance: Luis Amado Blanco Collection, Havana, Cuba; Private Collection, Los Angeles, California.
Exhibited in Amelia Peláez del Casal, January-February 1935, Lyceum, Vedado, Havana, Cuba, and listed no. 19 (Pescado Gris) in the exhibition brochure.
Exhibited in Exposición de Pintura, Víctor M. García, Amelia Peláez, Domingo Ravenet and Carlos Enríquez, August 8, 1936, Lyceum, Vedado, Havana, Cuba, and listed no. XII (Pescados Grises) in the exhibition brochure.
Exhibited in Amelia Peláez, Exposición Retrospectiva, November 14, 1968, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba, and listed in the corresponding exhibition catalog, no. 58.
Exhibited in The Lost Generation: Women Ceramicists and the Cuban Avant-Garde, McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Boston, MA, Jan. to Jun., 2024, curated by Dr. Elizabeth Thompson Goizueta.
Also exhibited, same exhibition, at Frost Art Museum, Florida International University, Miami, FL, Jun. 29 to Sep. 29, 2024, and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, page 135.
Illustrated in Diálogos Constructivistas en la Vanguardia Cubana: Amelia Peláez, Loló Soldevilla and Zilia Sánchez, Galerie Lelong, New York, Apr. -Jun. 2016, page 6.
[Amelia] “Peláez studied with [Alexandra] Exter in Paris from May 1931 to January 1934, shortly before her return to Havana. During this time they worked in collage, studied book illustration, created set designs, and explored still life. Peláez reported that she owed Exter ‘her greatest advancement and technical understanding.’ Indeed Exter’s experimental interpretation of Cubism and Futurism, animated by the dynamic potential of color, appears to have inspired Peláez’s approach to a lifetime of painting, even after her return to Cuba [1934]… Exter’s strategy of centering the composition on a weighty object around which swirled ‘whirlwinds of geometric forms,’ often spinning off planes, influenced Tatlin’s Monument to the Third International (19191920), a work foundational to Russian Constructivism.
ingrid w elliot, PH d., excerpt from the catalog essay Between the Real and the Invisible, Diálogos Constructivistas en la Vanguardia Cubana: Amelia Peláez, Loló Soldevilla and Zilia Sánchez, Galerie Lelong, New York, April-June 2016, pages 5 and 6.
aMelia Peláez (1896 – 1968), Interior with Balcony, (Interior con Balcón), 1947 mixed media on heavy paper laid down on board, 22 x 30 inches
Exhibited in Amelia Peláez: The Craft of Modernity, at the Pérez Art Museum, Miami, FL, Dec. 4, 2013 to Feb. 23, 2014, and illustrated in the corresponding catalog, page 91.
Exhibited in Cuban Art in the 20th Century: Cultural Identity and the International Avant Garde, at the Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts Tallahassee, FL, Feb. 12 – Mar. 27, 2016; illustrated on the cover and on page 81 of the accompanying catalog.
Exhibited in The Lost Generation: Women Ceramicists and the Cuban Avant-Garde, McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Boston, MA, Jan. to Jun., 2024, curated by Dr. Elizabeth Thompson Goizueta.
Also exhibited, same exhibition, at Frost Art Museum, Florida International University, Miami, FL, Jun. 29 to Sep. 29, 2024, and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, page 139.
In the most insightful analysis of [Amelia] Peláez’s stylistic sources in Cuban architectural decoration, artist Robert Altmann introduced the issue: “The paintings of Amelia Peláez are a conscious vision of the dominant role of ornament in relation to the theme of still life and of the elements of Cuban ornamental art of the last century.”(1) “In her own studio,” he observed, “Amelia Peláez accumulates vestiges of the colonial past: corinthian columns, mamparas, sculpted chairs, and other objects that remind her at every glance of a precise stylistic language [that of Cuban nineteenth-century ornamental art].”(2) About the specific connections between her style and the precise visual language of colonial architectural decoration, Altmann was one of the first to point out that her use of color and chiaroscuro suggests the filtration of light created by the medio punto, and that her linear arabesques construct a limited, static space defined by perforated screens parallel to the picture plane, not unlike the space found in traditional Cuban ornamental iron and wood works. He concluded that Peláez’s paintings were a carryover and a rehabilitation of forgotten ornamental tradition found in Cuban nineteenth and early-twentieth-century architecture and crafts.
(1)(2)Robert Altmann, “Ornamento y Naturaleza Muerta en la Pintura de Amelia Peláez”, Orígenes, La Habana, No. 8, Invierno, 1945.
Juan A. Martínez, Cuban Art and National Identity, The Vanguardia Painters, University Press of Florida, 1994, page 133.
aMelia Peláez (1896 – 1968), Reclining Woman, (Mujer Reclinada), 1961, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on museum quality board, 29 x 40 inches
Provenance: Private Collection, New Jersey
Exhibited in The Lost Generation: Women Ceramicists and the Cuban Avant-Garde, McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Boston, MA, Jan. to Jun., 2024, curated by Dr. Elizabeth Thompson Goizueta. Also exhibited, same exhibition, at Frost Art Museum, Florida International University, Miami, FL, Jun. 29 to Sep. 29, 2024, and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, page 223.
This artwork is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Ramón Vázquez Díaz.
aMelia Peláez (1896 – 1968), Bottle, (Botella), 1951, one of a kind, signed, hand-painted ceramic, 3 ½ x 2 ½ inches, signed ‘AP 51’ on the bottom
Provenance: Dr. Adalberto Quintana Collection, San José, Costa Rica, who acquired directly from his medical patient, Carmen Peláez, sister of the artist.
Produced by the artist at the Taller Santiago de Las Vegas, Cuba.
aMelia Peláez (1896 – 1968), Self Potrait in Ash Tray, (Autorretrato en Cenicero), 1959, one of a kind, signed, hand painted ceramic, 9 ¼ x 2 inches, signed ‘AP 59’ on the bottom
Provenance: Dr. Adalberto Quintana Collection, San José, Costa Rica, who acquired directly from his medical patient, Carmen Peláez, sister of the artist.
Produced by the artist in the Taller de Cerámica Amelia Peláez, Bruno Zayas Street, La Víbora, Havana, Cuba.
aMelia Peláez (1896 – 1968), Coffee Cup and Plate, (Taza de Café y Plato), 1952, one-of-a-kind, signed, hand-painted ceramic, 2 ¼ x 4 ⅝ x 4 ⅝ inches, signed ‘AP 52’ on the bottom Provenance: Dr. Adalberto Quintana Collection, San José, Costa Rica, who acquired directly from his medical patient, Carmen Peláez, sister of the artist.
Produced by the artist at the Taller Santiago de Las Vegas, Cuba.
aMelia Peláez (1896 – 1968), Mug, (Jarra), 1952, one-of-a-kind, signed, hand painted ceramic, 3 ¾ x 5 x 4 inches, signed ‘AP 52’ on the bottom Provenance: Dr. Adalberto Quintana Collection, San José, Costa Rica, who acquired directly from his medical patient, Carmen Peláez, sister of the artist. Produced by the artist at the Taller Santiago de Las Vegas, Cuba.
Exhibited
Also exhibited in Ravenet:
doMingo raVenet (1905 – 1969), Spring, (Primavera), 1943, oil on canvas, 40 x 24 inches
in Fifth Exposition, Patronato de las Artes Plásticas, Municipal Palace, Havana, Cuba, May 1944 and listed in the catalog, no. 69.
Exposition of Oils and Watercolors, Lyceum, Havana, Cuba, June 1944.
Fidelio PonCe de león (1895 – 1949), The Little Niece, ( La Sobrinita), 1946, oil on canvas, 24 x 20 inches
Provenance: Jorge Fernández de Castro and Marta Sardiñas Collection, Havana, Cuba.
Exhibited in Ponce, Lyceum Society of Havana, Cuba, April 1949, no. 26 in the exhibition catalog.
Exhibited at Christie's, Latin American Art Auction, New York, November 23, 1999, lot no. 128.
– 1949), Flower Vase, (Florero), ca 1933, oil on canvas, 26 x 29 inches
Provenance: Joseph Cantor, who acquired it from the artist’s widow in Havana, in 1951; Sotheby’s Latin American Art, New York, November 29, 1984, Lot 14; Private Collection, New York.
Exhibited in Exposición Ponce, Ministry of Education, Parque Central, Havana, October 1949; listed in the exhibition catalog as Flowers, number 22.
This painting will be included and illustrated in the forthcoming book, Fidelio Ponce de León, A Cuban Original, by Professor Juan A. Martínez.
Fidelio PonCe de león (1895
This work is illustrated in the book Luis Martínez Pedro, Revelaciones, Beatriz Gago, Editor, Fundación Arte Cubano, 2017, pages 186 and 187.
Luis Martínez Pedro was born in Havana in 1910. In 1929, he studied architecture for two years at the University of Havana and then transferred to the San Alejandro Academy of Fine Arts for a short period of time. Because of political and social unrest at the times, he left the country in 1931 and traveled to the United States where he continued his art studies in the universities of Lakeland, Florida and in Tulane, New Orleans. While living in the US, he joined the Arts and Crafts of New York to study design. He returned to Cuba in 1933, where he exhibited multiple times in Havana. In 1943, the artist had his first solo exhibition in the Lyceum Lawn Tennis Club of Havana.
In 1944, Martínez Pedro participated in the groundbreaking group exhibition, Modern Cuban Painters at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York. This event propelled his career and in 1945, his work is showcased, for the first time, at the prestigious Perls Galleries in New York. Later on, the artist had various subsequentsuccessful one person exhibitions at this same gallery.
As an influential figure of the Cuban modenists, Luis Martínez Pedro’s personal idiom was always related to his country –the island’s flora and fauna, its myths, ceremonies and customs. Unlike many artists of his day, Martínez Pedro –who was a superb draftsman– would typically use mixed media to create his compositions: gouache, ink, charcoal, crayon, watercolors and more.
In the 1960s, the artist worked as a designer and professor in the National School of Arts. The artist changed direction in the 1970s, when he began a series on the Cuban Flora.
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luis Martínez Pedro (1910 – 1989), Woman in Interior with Bird and Flower Vase, (Mujer en Interior con Pájaro y Florero), 1949, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on canvas, 29 1/2 x 41 1/4 inches
luis Martínez Pedro (1910 – 1989), Figure, (Figura), 1948, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on board, 23 ½ x 17 ½ inches
This painting was exhibited at Sotheby's Latin American Art, New York, May 20, 1992, and it appears illustrated in the corresponding auction catalog, lot 115.
Exhibited in The Lost Generation: Women Ceramicists and the Cuban Avant-Garde, McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Boston, MA, Jan. to Jun., 2024, curated by Dr. Elizabeth Thompson Goizueta.
Also exhibited, same exhibition, at Frost Art Museum, Florida International University, Miami, FL, Jun. 29 to Sep. 29, 2024, and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, page 192.
Illustrated in Linden Lane Magazine, Vol. #40, Spring 2021, on page 15 of the publication.
Sold prior to the publication of this catalog.
Mariano rodríguez (1912 – 1990), Rooster and Flower, (Gallo y Flor), 1976, acrylic on canvas, 39 x 59 inches
Exhibited in Galería Latinoamericana, Casa Las Américas, Havana, Cuba, May 20 to June 19, 1976.
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 194. Illustrated in the book Mariano, Tema, Discurso y Realidad, Alejandro Rodríguez, General Coordination, Danny Montes de Oca, Texts, Escandón Impresores, Sevilla, Spain, 2004, page 217.
Mariano rodríguez (1912 – 1990), Cupid, (Amorcillo), 1965, oil on canvas, 29 ¼ x 39 ¾ inches
This painting was exhibited in Mariano, Óleos y Dibujos, Galería La Habana, Havana, Cuba, 1965.
Exhibited in The Exhibition of the Cuban Painter Mariano, Atelier Gallery, Cairo, Egypt, 1966.
Exhibited in Mariano, Una Energía Voluptuosa, Casa de las Américas, Havana, 1998.
Exhibited in Mariano Rodríguez: An Homage, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, Florida, April - June, 2004.
Exhibited in Mariano: Variations on a Theme, McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Boston, Elizabeth T. Goizueta, curator. September – December, 2021, and illustrated in the accompanying exhibition book, page 182.
Illustrated in Mariano, Bohemia magazine, Havana, no.5, 1966.
Illustrated in the book Mariano, Tema, Discurso y Realidad, Alejandro Rodríguez, General Coordination, Danny Montes de Oca, Texts, Escandón Impresores, Sevilla, Spain, 2004, page 50.
Illustrated in Todos los Colores de Mariano, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, 2000, (multimedia).
Illustrated in Mariano, Catálogo Razonado, Volumen II, Pintura, dibujo y cerámica, 1950-1966, Fundación Arte Cubano, José Veigas, Beatriz Gago, Artes Gráficas Palermo, Madrid, Spain, page 349.
rené PortoCarrero (1912 – 1985), Viñales Landscape, (Paisaje de Viñales), 1944, oil on cardboard, 24 ¾ x 23 ½ inches
Provenance: Ramón Osuna, Collection, Havana, Cuba; Henry Gutiérrez Collection, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Illustrated in Pintores Cubanos, Oscar González Hurtado and Edmundo Desnoes, Ediciones R, Havana, Cuba, 1962, page 105.
Exhibited in René Portocarrero, Exposición Retrospectiva, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba, July, 1967, and listed in the corresponding museum catalog, number 41.
Illustrated in La Enciclopedia de Cuba, (all four editions) Arquitectura y Artes Plásticas, volume seven, Editorial Playor, Madrid, Spain, 1977, page 163.
rené PortoCarrero (1912 – 1985), Figure, (Figura), 1964, oil on canvas, 33 ½ x 23 ¼ inches
Provenance: Morgenstern Art Gallery, Miami, FL.
Exhibited in René Portocarrero, Museo de Arte Moderno, May 1965, Bosque de Chapultepec, Mexico, and appears listed and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, no. 10.
Exhibited in René Portocarrero, Exposición Retrospectiva, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba, July, 1967, and listed in the corresponding museum catalog, number 296.
rené PortoCarrero (1912 – 1985), Portrait of María Luisa, (Retrato de María Luisa), 1941, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on board, 14 1/2 x 9 3/4 inches
Provenance: William Bowdler Collection; Acquired directly from the artist.
The William Bowdler Collection.
William Bowdler was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1924. He became a US citizen at age 21 and later graduated from the University of Richmond and The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
Ambassador William Bowdler arrived with his wife Peggy to Havana in 1957, where he was appointed Political Officer in the Embassy of the United States. They remained there until 1961.
During their time in Cuba, they befriended various top artists and leading collectors on the island, and were especially friendly with Cundo Bermúdez, René Portocarrero, Raúl Milián, Roberto Estopiñán and Amelia Peláez. They compiled an extraordinary collection of works, acquired mainly directly from the artists themselves.
William Bowdler went on to become US Ambassador to El Salvador (1968), Guatemala (1971), South Africa (1975), ending his career as Assistant Secretary of State for Latin American Affairs (1978). William Bowdler was an enthusiastic supporter of the Panamerican Union, and its Director José Gómez Sicre. He frequently loaned his paintings to the various Latin American art exhibitions organized in Washington, D.C., as part of the cultural program of the Organization of American States (OAS).
María Luisa Gómez Mena, born in 1907, was a generous patron of the arts in Havana, Cuba, who founded in 1942 the first art gallery in the island exclusively dedicated to contemporary Cuban artists. The Vanguardia artists that exhibited in La Galería del Prado, located in Calle Prado, number 72, Havana, were the top names of the two generations that best represented the Modernist artistic movement in the country. Among them was René Portocarrero, who in this artwork, depicted María Luisa in her typical aristocratic and sophisticated demeanor.
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From his early beginnings, Portocarrero includes in his interior scenes vases with vivid and radiant flowers, as they would adorn the elegant saloons of yesterday, with such naturality that we imagine them front and center in the eyesight of the artist and not relegated to a corner of the painter’s recollection. The artist frankly admits his predilections for the princess of the gardens when he confesses “Its lines, its colors, its particular exuberance… all of this goes along with the baroque sensibilities that inspire me.”
“The eloquence of the flower does not reach us by its form or its fragrance, but when we are aware of its identity ... A painting is like a child or like a flower. But if we only know the child is named Juan, and that the flower is a rose or a hibiscus, then we know nothing of the child or the flower. And the same of a painting, if we only pay attention to its representation.”
René Portocarrero, Anotaciones en Orden a la Pintura, Revista Islas, No. 22, 1966.
rené PortoCarrero (1912 – 1985), Flowers, (Flores), 1970, oil on canvas, 20 1/8 x 16 1/8 inches
Provenance: Private Collection, Paris, France.
RENÉ PORTOCARRERO (1912 – 1985)
Woman and Doves, (Mujer y Palomas), 1981, mixed media on paper, 16 x 13 inches
Provenance: Guido Adriaenssens Collection, Atlanta, GA. who acquired it directly from the artist. Adriaenssens was the Commercial Attaché to the Belgian Embassy in Havana in the 1970s and 1980s.
RENÉ PORTOCARRERO (1912 – 1985), Ornamented Lady, (Mujer Ornamentada), 1975, mixed media on heavy paper, 29 x 20 inches
Provenance: Guido Adriaenssens Collection, Atlanta, GA. who acquired it directly from the artist. Adriaenssens was the Commercial Attaché to the Belgian Embassy in Havana in the 1970s and 1980s.
rené PortoCarrero (1912 – 1985), Carnivalesque Ornamented Figure, (Figura Ornamentada Carnavalesca), 1968, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on board, 28 ⅝ x 20 inches
Exhibited in René Portocarrero, Óleos, Temperas, Pasteles, Tintas, Museo de Arte Moderno, Bosque de Chapultepec, Mexico, D.F., 1980, and listed as number 80 in the exhibition catalog.
“ With their eyes wide open and the immobility of a Byzantine mosaic, these women, who come from El Cerro, have left behind their references to an immediate reality and have placed themselves outside time, petrified as witnesses of an instant.”
graziella Pogolotti Arquitectura Cuba, La Habana, no. 332, April-May 1964, pages 61 to 64.
rené PortoCarrero (1912 – 1985), Carnival Dance, (Baile de Carnaval ), 1970, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on board, 19 ½ x 25 3/4 inches
This painting is accompanied by a Photo Certificate of Authenticity signed by Giulio V. Blanc, dated November 13, 1993.
RENÉ PORTOCARRERO'S CARNIVALS
René Portocarrero frenetically produced over two hundred artworks on paper for the series entitled, Carnivals, completed in only two short years, 1970 and 1971. His inspiration was the yearly Cuban festivities, (Los Carnavales), which allowed participants to wear masks and oftentimes hide their identities in the midst of music, dance and bacchanalian enjoyment.
The artist went further in his confessions about his carnival paintings and his motifs, admitting that the themes were expanded to include other aspects of symbols of universal patrimony, some historic, others cultural, including allegories to Shakespeare, the Lady of Chaillot de Giraudoux, Carpaccio, San Sebastián, Goya, José Martí and others. All in the dominating spirit of the carnivalesque.
rené PortoCarrero (1912 – 1985), Seven Carnival Figures, (Siete Figuras de Carnaval), 1970, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on board, 19 3/4 x 25 3/4 inches
This painting is accompanied by a Photo Certificate of Authenticity signed by Giulio V. Blanc, dated November 13, 1993.
This series, Carnivals, executed with casein pigments over Canson heavy papers of a variety of colors, was kept virtually intact by Portocarrero in his studio until 1979, when he finally exposed them at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Havana. One hundred and seventy-two works were revealed to depict the salient traits of the yearly island celebrations, where wildness, indulgences, frenetic pirouettes and unbridled permissiveness reigned.
Portocarrero understood this series, executed towards the end of his productive life, as his definitive artistic synthesis, attempting to reach the high mark that would be identified as the conclusion of his distinguished career. Fortunately, destiny preferred otherwise and he continued to live and paint for another thirteen years.
As was stated by Portocarrero, “The series of the Carnivals is the one that I most love and prefer among my paintings. All my [other] works are dispersed in the world, living their own lives… but I like to conserve my Carnivals… for me. To paint is the realization of my life. When I don't paint, I am out of orbit, I don’t exist."
Mario Carreño (1913 – 1999), Afro-Cuban Dance, (Danza Afrocubana), 1943, Duco with cloth and rope collage on wood panel, 64 ⅞ x 47 ⅞ inches
Provenance:
Perls Galleries, New York (1944); Acquired from the above, thence by descent from the above; Private Collection, Coral Gables, FL; Private Collection, Aventura, FL.
Exhibited in Carreño, Lyceum, Havana, Cuba, Nov. 9-16, 1943, no. 8.
Exhibited in Mario Carreño, Perls Galleries, New York, NY, Mar. – Apr. 1944, and listed in the exhibition brochure, no. 14.
Exhibited in Modern Cuban Painters at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, Apr. 1944, curated by Alfred Barr, and listed in “Modern Cuban Painters”, Museum of Modern Art Bulletin, Vol. XI, No. 5, p. 8, Apr. 1944.
Exhibited in Sotheby’s, Latin American Art, May 30-31, 2007, New York, NY, lot no. 8.
Exhibited in Afro-Cuban Dance - A Re-Discovered Masterwork by Mario Carreño, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, Florida, July 2007, and illustrated on the cover of the invitation.
Exhibited in Cuban Art & Identity: 1900-1950, Vero Beach Museum of Art, Vero Beach, FL, curated by Juan A. Martínez, PhD, Oct.19, 2013 – Feb. 2, 2014, illustrated in the museum catalog, page 23, and listed on page 54, no. 9.
Also Exhibited at the Following Museums:
Munson Williams Proctor Art Institute, Utica, New York, Oct. 1 – Oct. 30, 1944.
Art Club of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, Dec. 1 – Dec.29, 1944.
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Feb. 1 – Mar. 1, 1945.
St. Paul Gallery & School of Art, St. Paul, Minnesota, Mar. 15 – Apr. 1, 1945.
University Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, May 27 – Jun. 24, 1945.
Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon, Jul. 19 – Aug.16, 1945.
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, Aug. 30 – Sep. 27, 1945.
San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, California, Oct. 11 – Nov. 8, 1945.
J.B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky, Nov. 22 – Dec. 20, 1945.
Alexandria Art League, Alexandria, Louisiana, Jan. 3 – Jan. 24, 1946.
Person Hall Art Gallery, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Feb.7 – Mar. 7, 1946.
Rollins College, Winter Park, FL, Mar. 21 – Apr. 19, 1946.
Literature:
José Gómez Sicre, Cuadernos de Plástica Cubana I, Carreño, Ediciones Galería del Prado, Havana, 1943, illustrated in color.
José Gómez Sicre, Cuban Painting of Today, María Luisa Gómez Mena, Havana, 1944, p. 9.
Edward Alden Jewell, “Cuba’s Pacemakers,” New York Times, Mar. 26, 1944, discussed. “Cuban Rhythm,” Dayton, Ohio News Week, April 3, 1944, discussed. “El Arte Cubano,” Carteles, April 30, 1944, installation view.
Alfred Hamilton Barr, “Pintura Cubana en Nueva York,” Norte, Vol. 4, No. 9, July 1944, discussed.
José Gómez Sicre, “Pintores Cubanos Modernos,” La Revista Belga, July, 1944, illustrated. Harry Salpeter, “Carreño the Cubanist,” Esquire, Sep. 1944, discussed.
José Gómez Sicre, Art of Cuba in Exile, Editora Munder, Miami, 1987, p. 53, installation view.
Lowery S. Sims, et al, Wifredo Lam and his Contemporaries 1938-1952 (exhibition catalog), The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, Harry N. Abrams, 1992, p. 64, illustrated. Maria Lluïsa & Antonio Zaya, Cuba Siglo XX: modernidad y sincretismo (exhibition catalog), Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno; Palma, Fundación “La Caixa;” Barcelona, Centre d’Art Santa Mònica, Apr. - Dec.1996, p. 38, illustrated.
Jacqueline Barnitz, Twentieth-Century Art of Latin America, University of Texas Press, Austin, 2001, p. 124, no. 4.8, illustrated in color.
“Afro-Cuban Dance could well be the painting that achieves the synthesis of all that is Cuban. Brilliancy of color, intensity of rhythm in music and dance, the integration of the African with the European in a dynamic baroque composition set in the midst of a lush sugar cane field.”
raMón Cernuda
Mario Carreño (1913 – 1999), Afro-Cuban Dance, (Danza Afrocubana), 1943, Duco with cloth and rope collage on wood panel, 64 ⅞ x 47 ⅞ inches
Mario Carreño (1913 – 1999), Viñales Landscape, (Paisaje de Viñales), 1941, mixed media on canvas, 30 ¼ x 24 inches
Exhibited in Christie’s New York Latin American Sale, Important Collection, June 1, 2000, lot no. 70, and illustrated twice in the corresponding catalog, inside cover and page 27.
Exhibited in Cuban Art in the 20th Century, Museum of Fine Arts, Florida State University, Segundo J. Fernández, February 12 – March 27, 2016 and illustrated in the accompanying catalog, page 85. An exhibiton which traveled to the Coral Gables Museum, Coral Gables, Florida, Jan. 22, 2017 – Apr. 23, 2017.
MARIO CARREÑO (1913 – 1999), Maritime Horse, (Caballo Marino), 1943, Duco on canvas laid down on Masonite, 24 x 20 inches
Provenance:
Perls Galleries, New York, NY; Farleigh Dickinson University, New Jersey
Exhibited in Mario Carreño, The Lyceum, Havana, November, 1943, and listed in the corresponding catalog, no. 12, as Caballo Marino
Exhibited ( in Sotheby’s, Latin American Art, New York, Nov. 23, 1992, lot 49, and illustrated in the corresponding auction catalog.
Maritime Horse is one of the eight legendary ducos executed by Mario Carreño in the year 1943 and exhibited as a group that same year in Havana, at the prestigious Lyceum. The eight works presented first in Havana were Afro-Cuban Dance (also illustrated in this catalog, page 59), Fire in the Far m, Sugar Cane Cutters, Flowers, Por trait, and Circus. As per the artist's testimony, expressed almost fifty years later, in 1991, he “ never knew the final destination of these panels that had been shown in Paris, Moscow, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. They disappeared mysteriously." (1)
Actually, many of these eight duco paintings and a ninth work, “ Allegor y of a Cuban Landscape " , 1943, also a duco, were later exhibited and sold to collectors by the gallery that represented the artist in the United States, the prestigious Perls Gallery, in New York. The use of duco paint to execute art was still in its experimental stages in the 1940s; it was the Mexican master David Alfaro Siqueiros who introduced Carreño to these dense, heavy metallic paints that refuse to allow the mixture of different tonalities or the dilution of its vigor, insisting on its thickness and vitality.
The material lends itself to the creation of gestural and temperamental compositions, where the artist does not totally control the flow of the pigments and oftentimes can, at best, attempt to guide it. Duco’s characteristics in many ways resembled Mario Carreño himself.
RAMÓN CERNUDA
(1) We are grateful to art historian José Ramón Alonso-Lorea for his participation in the research. of this painting
Mario Carreño (1913 – 1999), Musicians, (Músicos), 1949, gouache and ink on scratch board, 17 x 21 1/4 inches
Provenance: Galeria Bonino, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Mary-Anne Martin Fine Art, New York; Dr. and Mrs. Francisco Venegas Collection; Private Collection, Coral Gables, FL.
Also signed, dated and dedicated on the reverse
“A piece of my Cuba and my best friendship to Giovanna and Alfredo Bonino.” Exhibited in Sotheby’s Latin American Art, New York, November 2001, and illustrated in the corresponding auction catalog, lot 83.
Mario Carreño (1913 – 1999), Tropical Tree, (Arbol Tropical ), 1984, oil on canvas, 58 1/2 x 47 inches
Exhibited in Carreño, Acanthus Gallery, Coral Gables, Florida, April-May 1986. Exhibited in Latin American Art Auction, Miami, Florida, January 7, 1994, and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, lot 80. Exhibited in Christie's Latin American Art, New York, May 31- Jun. 1, 2007, and illustrated in the corresponding auction catalog, lot 2. Illustrated in the book, Mario Carreño, Cronología del Recuerdo, Editorial Antártica, 1991, page 71.
Cundo berMúdez (1914 – 2008), Portrait of Marta, (Retrato de Marta), 1947, oil on canvas, 26 x 21 ¼ inches
Provenance: Marta Sardiñas de Fernández de Castro, Havana, Cuba, who acquired it directly from the artist.
Illustrated in Important Cuban Artworks, Volume Six, Cernuda Arte, December 2006, cover page.
Illustrated in the book Pintores Cubanos, Ediciones R, Havana, 1962, page 125.
Illustrated in the Enciclopedia de Cuba, Enciclopedia y Clásicos, San Juan. First Edition, 1974; Second Edition, 1977. This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity, signed by Cundo Bermúdez, dated October 1, 2007.
Cundo berMúdez (1914 – 2008), Interior Scene with Ocean View [from the "Gusanita" series], (Interior con Vista al Mar [de la serie "Gusanitas"] ), 1969, oil on canvas, 31 3/4 x 22 inches
Provenance: Francisco Sánchez collection, Miami, Florida, who acquired it directly from the artist.
Exhibited in Cundo Bermúdez, Under A Brilliant Sun, The Freedom Tower at Miami Dade College, September – November 2007, and it is illustrated in the first edition of the exhibition catalog, page 26. This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Cundo Bermúdez, dated June 28, 2007.
is accompanied by a
of
Cundo berMúdez (1914 – 2008), The Offering, (La Ofrenda), 1979, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on board, 30 x 22 inches
This painting
Photo-Certificate
Authenticity signed by Cundo Bermúdez, dated January 25, 2002.
Cundo berMúdez (1914 – 2008), Madria Tiri, (Madria Tiri), 2005, oil on canvas, 7 feet by 11 feet and 6 inches
This painting was unveiled and exhibited at Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, April 1, 2005.
Exhibited in Under a Brilliant Sun: Cundo Bermúdez into the 21st Century at the Freedom Tower, Miami Dade College, September 4 - November 7, 2009, and appears illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, page 33. Exhibited in Christie's, New York, May 29, 2013, and illustrated in the corresponding auction catalog, lot no. 28. Illustrated in the book Under a Brilliant Sun: Cundo Bermúdez into the 21st Century, Miami Dade College, Miami, FL, 2009, pages 19-20 on a two-page foldout.
Artist Cundo Bermúdez (right) and Ramón & Nercys Cernuda with Madria Tiri, on the evening of its unveiling, Cernuda Arte, 2005.
CUNDO BERMÚDEZ (1914 – 2008), Geyser, (Geyser), 2008, bronze sculpture I/V, (Num. 1 of 5), 28 ½ x 9 x 5 inches. Exhibited in Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Aug. - Nov. 2013, and illustrated digitally on cernudaarte.com, exhibitions This sculpture is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Cundo Bermúdez and Carlos Soler, assistant to the artist. Sold prior to the publication of this catalog.
Cundo berMúdez (1914 – 2008), Flora, the Harvester of Dreams, (Flora, la Recogedora de Sueños), 2007, bronze sculpture, 9 of 9, (life-size version), 68 ¼ x 19 x 11 ¼ inches
Exhibited [different number] in Arte América, Miami, FL, 2007.
Exhibited [different number] in Cundo Bermúdez, Pasión y Lucidez, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, July, 2014.
Exhibited [different number] in Arte Cubano, Subasta Habana, Havana, lot 20, Nov. 5, 2014, and illustrated in the corresponding auction catalog, front cover and on page 33.
Exhibited in Plain Sight, Saladrigas Gallery, Belen Jesuit School, Miami, FL, Jan. – Mar., 2024.
Cundo Bermúdez with Juan Campos in the artist’s studio, ca 2006, giving the final touches to the mold of Flora, the Harvester of Dreams.
raúl Milián (1914 – 1984), Coexistence, (Coexistencia), 1954, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on board, 15 x 11 inches Exhibited in The Lost Generation: Women Ceramicists and the Cuban Avant-Garde, McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Boston, MA, Jan. to Jun., 2024, curated by Dr. Elizabeth Thompson Goizueta.
Also exhibited, same exhibition, at Frost Art Museum, Florida International University, Miami, FL, Jun. 29 to Sep. 29, 2024, and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, page 207.
“In 1949, Raúl Milián began to draw and print using inks, watercolors, and a monotype-like process which he would alter by re-working the surfaces with both blotting and veils of transparent colors… within his first decade of artistic activity, Milián was included in significant international group exhibitions: XXVI Biennale di Venezia in 1952, II Bienal de São Paulo in 1953; as well as one-person shows in Burlington, Vermont (1953) and Toronto, Canada (1955). The culmination of these exhibitions was a two-person show with his partner Portocarrero at the Pan American Union in Washington, D.C., 1956”
aleJandro anreus, excerpt from the upcoming book The Dark is Light Enough: The Life and Art of Raúl Milián.
raúl Milián (1914 – 1984), Figure, (Figura), 1958, mixed media on cardboard, 14 ¾ x 11 inches
“The figure as well is evident since Raúl Milián’s first decade of visual work. Single or in pairs, they are placed within veils of gray or in rectangular box-like forms. The overall line are nervously expressive, while the face themselves evoke either a stoic stillness or an anxious melancholy (Face and Figure of 1958, [illustrated here], Liason, 1961; Phases, 1964, and Figures, 1966). These works certainly placed within the neo-figuration style prevalent world-wide from the late 1950s into the 1960s; they can also be seen as partly connected to the rise in drawing the figure in an expressive manner during this period in Latin America. Figural works such as these by Milián would be influential on a younger generation of Cuban artists, such as Ángel Acosta León, Antonia Eiriz, Manuel Vidal, and Santiago Chago Armada, who explored a tortured and mysterious depiction of reality ”
José MiJares (1921 – 2004), Maritime Landscape, (Paisaje Marinero), 1950, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 inches
Provenance: Guido Adriaenssens Collection, Atlanta, GA; Private collection, Coral Gables, FL.
Illustrated in the book Cuban Art: Remembering Cuba Through its Art, Private Collections in Exile, Volume One, Felipe Del Valle, Diego Costapeuser and others, Arte al Día, Miami, FL, 2004, p. 191.
Cuban modern art surges around the 1920s and by 1940 it was a well-organized movement generally known as the School of Havana… One of the most distinguished representatives of this movement is José Mijares, born in 1921. Throughout half a century, Mijares has demonstrated to be a master painter, a colorist of the first order. His creations are at the top of the artistic production of the School of Havana. As noted by art critics and historians in the past, his vibrant and joyful colors constitute a saliant characteristic of Cuban modern art. The radiant tropical light of the Caribbean has converted brilliant coloration into one of the better-known elements of the art of that region.
The predilection for strong colors in the School of Havana paintings is also the product of said institution. One of the principal art movements of Latin America reaches its climax in the 1940s with the works of Cundo Bermúdez, Mario Carreño, Carlos Enríquez, Wifredo Lam, Víctor Manuel García, Amelia Peláez, Fidelio Ponce, René Portocarrero, Mariano Rodríguez, José Mijares and others. Even though each one of these artists has a very personal style, their paintings share similar forms, colors and themes…
José MiJares (1921 – 2004), Lunar Forms, (Formas Lunares), 1991, oil on canvas, 49 x 69 inches
Provenance: Manuel López, photographer of the book José Mijares, Paintings, Palette Publications, Miami, FL, who received it from the artist in lieu of payment for photographic services.
Exhibited in José Mijares: A Master of the School of Havana, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Nov. 2017. Illustrated in the book José Mijares, Paintings, Palette Publications, 1997, page 74.
Alfred Barr [The Museum of Modern Art director in the 1940s] stated about the School of Havana art as “Paintings where the specific, the subtle and the tragic play a minor role, but we must be grateful for the exuberance, the temerity, the happiness, the candor, the love of life that Cuban painters manifest more profoundly than other artistic School ”.
A close and frequent contact on the part of the Cuban artists with European artistic movements, such as fauvism and cubism. Mijares is a master colorist who, inspired by the incandescent light that surrounded him and by the daring colors of his habitat, developed a preference for luminous tonalities of blues and greens. As the artist expressed towards the end of his life,
“I had the privilege to live in an epoch when Cuban culture reached its highest splendor”.
Professor Juan A. Martínez, Ph.D., Excerpt from José Mijares and the School of Havana, introductory essay to the exhibition Celebrating Mijares, Fifty Years of Creation, Cuban Museum of Arts and Culture, Miami, Florida, April 1995.
José MiJares (1921 – 2004), Havana Lady on the Balcony, (Habanera en el Balcón), 1988, oil on canvas, 30 x 24 inches Provenance: Manuel Crespo, who acquired it directly from the artist.
José MiJares (1921 – 2004), The Misty Port, (Puerto en Brumas), 1948, oil on canvas, 27 1/2 x 23 3/4 inches
Provenance: Guido Adriaenssens Collection, Atlanta, GA. Exhibited in Celebrando a Mijares - 50 Años de Creación, Cuban Museum of Arts and Culture, Miami, FL, 1994, and illustrated in the exhibition catalog. This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by the artist in 1993.
ANGEL ACOSTA LEÓN (1930 – 1964), The Vessel, (El Buque), 1964, oil on canvas, 31 x 58 inches
Provenance: Eduardo Uhart, who acquired it from Galerie d'Eendt, Amsterdam, Holland; Private Collection, Miami Beach, FL.
This painting was exhibited at Galerie d’Eendt, Amsterdam, Holland, 1964, listed. Also exhibited at Galerie du Dragon, Paris, France, July 1990, and illustrated in color in the corresponding catalog. Exhibited at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Santiago de Chile, Aug. 1990, and illustrated in color in the corresponding catalog. Exhibited at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Arte, Havana, Cuba, 1991, and illustrated in color in the corresponding exhibition catalogue.
ANGEL ACOSTA LEÓN (1930 – 1964), Submerged Vessel, (Nave Sumergida), ca 1964, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on board, 6 x 14 inches
Illustrated in the book Angel Acosta León and His Magic, Rosa Chediak, Ph.D., 2013, page 82. This painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity signed by Eugenia Acosta León, sister of the artist. Sold prior to the publication of this catalog.
raquel lázaro (1917 – 2020), Submarine, (Submarino), 1978, oil and mixed media on canvas, 29 3/4 x 39 3/4 inches
antonia eiriz (1929 – 1995), Witches' Coven, (Aquelarre), 1960, ink on paper, 22 1/2 x 28 inches
Exhibited in Antonia Eiriz: A Painter and Her Audience, Miami Dade College Museum of Art Design, Freedom Tower, Miami, FL, Sep. 13 to Nov. 17, 2013, curated by Michelle Weinberg, and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, page 47.
Servando Cabrera Moreno (1923-1981) studied at the San Alejandro Academy in Havana, holding his first solo exhibition in 1943 at just 20 years old. In the 1940s, he studied in New York at the Arts Student's League and later in Paris at La Grande Chaumière in 1953. From 1940 to 1980, he participated in 21 solo exhibitions and over 100 group shows. He received numerous awards, including four medals from Cuba’s Círculo de Bellas Artes, one of the highest honors for visual artists at the time. His works are held in prestigious collections worldwide, including the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona, the UN in New York, the National Gallery in Sofia, the Museum of Modern Art in Lodz, the Museo Bacardí in Santiago, and the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Havana.
Servando is perhaps best remembered for his most socially daring works – erotic images of male and female nudes. Recurrently, the painter portrays the figures without a face or a head. Anonymity not only prevails but is underscored as the artist places all emphasis on the body parts: torsos, arms, limbs, thighs, sexual organs, – sometimes, distorted or augmented, at times, interlaced, fused or diffused. His compositions – executed with splendid transparencies and a palette of harmonic hues – are both lyrical and highly carnal, nodding at once to Michelangelo and the transgressive avant-garde.
cardboard, 22 x 16 inches
These mythic interpretations of the human form, while among his finest works, represent only a fraction of his total output. His range extended beyond the erotic to modern and abstract compositions, historical art, and the refined portraiture of his later years. In the early 1950s, his work incorporated colorful geometries in oil, blending a tropical palette with European-influenced cubism. This path led him further into abstraction until the mid-decade, when he shifted to folkloric realism in charcoal. In the post-revolutionary period, he created epic paintings of Cuban history. In the late 1960s and beyond, he adopted the energetic expressionism that would inform his erotic phase. Due to his subject matter, Servando faced years of isolation and disgrace, including expulsion from the ENA (National School of Arts), where he had taught painting from 1962 to 1965, and a ban on his erotic works from 1966 to 1974.
At just 58, Servando Cabrera Moreno’s sudden death deprived Cuba of one of its greatest visual artists. Today, his legacy endures, and he is recognized as one of Cuba's masters. His works and memorabilia are housed in the Museo-Biblioteca Servando Cabrera Moreno in Havana.
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serVando Cabrera Moreno (1923 – 1981), Nude on Blue Background, (Desnudo en Fondo Azul), ca 1970, oil on
Sold prior to the publication of
SERVANDO CABRERA MORENO (1923 – 1981), Man in His Time, (Hombre en su Tiempo), 1966, oil on canvas, 54 x 49 inches
this catalog.
Uver Solís was born in Mantanzas, Cuba, in the fall of 1923. She studied drawing at the School of Education in Havana under the tutelage of the renowned painter Domingo Ravenet. Her work, equal parts modern art and social testimony, reflected Cuban and Afro-Caribbean life in her times through an inimitable modern and naïve style executed in oil, tempera, watercolor and gouaches. In the years since her passing, works by Uver Solís have become exceedingly rare and sought after by collectors.
Color takes center stage in the art of Uver Solís, whose production can be broadly understood as expressionist. Solís was an artist who operated without a set of rules, taking liberties with perspective and anatomy in the creation of her decidedly modern aesthetic.
While her best known subjects include carnival scenes and fanciful depictions of everyday life, the artist also used her renderings to express the pain of racial division. In 1950, renowned journalist and critic Guy Pérez-Cisneros said of her work: "It will thus leave one of the most accurate social testimonies about the stage that Cuba is experiencing."
uVer solís (1923 – 1974), Young Lady with Mango, (Muchacha con Mango), 1970, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on board, 13 1/2 x 9 3/4 inches
uVer solís (1923 – 1974), Landscape, (Paisaje), 1971, mixed media on cardboard, 13 3/4 x 17 3/4 inches
In 1945, Uver Solís had her first solo show at the Lyceum in Havana. In 1946, the artist participated in the Modern Cuban Painting exhibition at the Fine Arts Palace in Mexico City. Among the collectors who acquired works by Uver Solís from this show was the renowned Mexican muralist, Diego Rivera, who remarked at the time: “If there is a Thelma Streat in the United States, in Cuba there is an Uver Solís, a synthesis of Spain, Africa and Asia.” Works by Solís were included in Havana’s National Painting, Sculpture, and Engraving Salons in Havana during the years 1951, 1953, and 1956, and in the Havana Fine Arts Salons in 1956 and 1951. Solís passed away in Cuba in 1974. In 1990, her career was honored with the solo show, Exposición de la Pintora Jovellanense Uver Solís, at the Galería de Arte in Matanzas, Cuba. After the success of this show, the gallery was officially renamed the Uver Solís Gallery.
In March of 1992, her career was the subject of a solo retrospective titled, Uver Solís, Óleos, Temperas y Acuarelas at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Havana. In 2016, works by Uver Solís were included in the major two-museum show, Cuban Art in the 20th Century: Cultural Identity and the International Avant Garde, at the Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts, Tallahassee, FL, February 12 - March 27, 2016, and later at the Coral Gables Museum, Coral Gables, FL, from January 22, 2017 to April 23, 2017.
Nico Hough
raFael soriano (1920 – 2015), Equilibrist, (Equilibrista), 1982, oil on canvas, 30 x 24 inches Signed, titled, and dated on the reverse.
The painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity issued by the Rafael Soriano Foundation, signed by Hortensia Soriano, daughter of the artist, dated August 12, 2021.
raFael soriano (1920 – 2015), Untitled [Forms], (Sin Título [Formas] ), 1978, charcoal on paper, 10 x 8 inches
Provenance:
Dr. José Gómez-Sicre Collection, Washington D.C.; Manuel Delgado Collection, Caracas, Venezuela. On the reverse it states: “Para mi estimado y distinguido amigo Gómez-Sicre dedico este dibujo con el sincero afecto de Rafael Soriano, Miami, Nov. 1, 1978”
The painting is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity issued by the Rafael Soriano Foundation, signed by Hortensia Soriano, daughter of the artist, dated July 23, 2023.
Text on the reverse of the artwork.
The
This
is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity
raFael soriano (1920 – 2015), Ray of Light, (Rayo de Luz), 1972, oil on canvas, 22 x 28 inches
painting is also signed and titled by the artist, on the reverse.
painting
issued by the Rafael Soriano Foundation, signed by Hortensia Soriano, daughter of the artist, dated September 29, 2020.
agustín Cárdenas (1927 – 2001), The Circus (also known as The Couple), (El Circo [La Pareja] ), 1988, bronze sculpture 2 of 6, 9 ¼ x 8 ½ x 8 inches
Provenance: Private Collection, Boston, MA.
Exhibited (different number), in Agustín Cárdenas, Marbles, Woods and Bronzes, Galería Durbán Segnini, Caracas, Venezuela, September 1990, and is illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, page 25.
agustín Cárdenas (1927 – 2001), Residence of the Past, (Residencia del Pasado), 1989, bronze sculpture 1 of 8, 5 1/8 x 9 ½ x 8 ¼ inches
This sculpture is accompanied by a Photo Certificate of Authenticity signed by Livia Cárdenas and Cesar Segnini, director of the Galería Durbán Segnini, dated Dec. 28, 1997.
agustín Cárdenas (1927 – 2001), Soliloquy, (Soliloquio), 1972, bronze sculpture, number 6 of 6, 28 ½ x 17 3/4 x 8 3/4 inches
Provenance: Galerie Sapiro, Paris; Collection of Mr Efraim Ilin, Hafia;
Sale: Sotheby's, New York, Latin American Art, Nov. 20, 2007, Lot 180.
Exhibited (different number) in Cárdenas, Sculpteur, no. 22, Fondation Nationale des Arts Graphiques et Plastiques, Paris, France, 1981.
Exhibited (different number) in Cárdenas, 1927-2001, Galerie Vallois, no. 16, Paris, France, 2003.
Illustrated (different number) in Cárdenas, Sculture 1947-1997, Skira editore, 1997, pg. 126.
Illustrated (different number) in Revolución y Cultura magazine, no. 1, Jan. – Feb. 2001, pg. 71.
This
is illustrated in the
raúl Martínez (1927 – 1995), Four Portraits of Martí, (Cuatro Retratos de Martí), 1967, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on board, 31 ⅝ x 25 ⅜ inches
raúl Martínez (1927 – 1995), Untitled [LA], (Sin Título [LA] ), 1964, oil on masonite, 31 3/4 x 47 3/4 inches
painting
book Cuban Art, Past and Present, Vol. 1, Frank Padrón, 2016, page 158.
Hugo Consuegra (1929 – 2003), Some Other Day, Perhaps, (Quizás Otro Día), 1975, oil on canvas, 35 x 35 inches
Provenance: The Bustamante Collection, Palm Beach, Florida.
We are grateful to Architect Juan M. Bustamante for having entrusted the sale of the Bustamante Collection of fourteen Cuban artworks to our gallery.
This selection of paintings focuses on creations by artists of the group of The Eleven, many of whom were friends of the retired architect Juan M. Bustamante.
antonio Vidal (1928 – 2013), Formas 2, (Forms 2), ca 1955, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on board, 14 1/2 x 10 inches
antonio Vidal (1928 – 2013), Formas 1, (Forms 1), ca 1955, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on board, 14 1/2 x 10 inches
agustín Fernández (1928 – 2006), Kites, (Papalotes), 1950, oil on canvas, 37 x 40 inches
Provenance: Ramón Ferreira Collection, Miami, Florida. This artwork is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity, issued by the Agustín Fernandez Foundation, signed by Sebastian Fernandez, son of the artist, dated May. 26, 2009.
agustín Fernández (1928 – 2006), Obsessions, (Obsesiones), 1961, oil on canvas, 28 3/4 x 28 3/4 inches
Provenance: Private Collection, Zurich, Switzerland.
agustín Fernández (1928 – 2006), Nude, (Desnudo), 1991, oil on canvas, 50 x 40 inches
Provenance: Gary Nader Fine Art, Latin American Art Auction, Nov. 1, 2001.
"I used to go to my grandmother's house as a child, and we would draw together. When I was twelve, I took private drawing lessons, and at fifteen, I decided to enroll at San Alejandro, although no one in my family wanted me to be a painter. In Havana there was a great deal of contact among established artists. Cuba is small, and Havana smaller still. I was nourished by a thousand things when I went abroad. From a realist and figurative painter, I went through a phase when I would only paint still-life. Around 1959, while in Paris, I began to make the images more concrete, condensed; later, I would start to use beige, or sober colors, white and black with earth tones. In Paris, I was guided by artists like Enrique Senal and Roberto Matta, and encouraged by the independent surrealists; not so by Breton and his circle. In my work there are certain erotic references which have images compelling to me. There are things one sees subconsciously that conjure up specific images. But my work is not erotic. My aesthetic preoccupation has been with volume, and with the oscillation between the exact and the inexact. I have always painted the same subject matter, but in different ways. Even so, my paintings were more Cuban, more romantic before 1960; in exile they have become more metaphysical. I don't know if exile influences my work, but it has influenced me. It is not that I left Cuba, it's not being able to return."
agustín Fernández
H er M anas s C ull (Haydée Scull, 1931 –2007; Sahara Scull, 1931 –2008) , La Rumba, Street Dance, (Comparsa La Rumba) , 1975-1976,
3 dimensional mixed media collage on canvas board, 66 ½ x 144 inches. Provenance: La Rumba Restaurant, Miami Beach, FL.
The Hermanas Scull, (also known as the Scull Sisters or Scull Twins), were true folk heroes of the art world. The audacious twin sisters, Haydée and Sahara Scull, collaborated to produce fanciful mixed-media artworks which depicted popular urban scenes of South Florida and pre-Castro Cuba. After emigrating to Miami Beach and establishing a studio in the city’s art deco district, the socialite sisters themselves became part of the local culture, known for dressing in flamboyant, handmade matching outfits, a performance art complement to their assemblage works. The twins were only distinguished by the part of their hair-Haydée’s styled to the right, and Sahara’s to the left. The Herma nas Scull were born in Havana in December of 1931 to a family of Cuban, Chinese, and Mexican ancestry. Though they came from humble means, the sisters were exposed to art through their grandfather, a well-known painter of church interiors. Eventually, the two would go on to stu dy sculpture and painting at the esteemed San Alejandro Academy, the most important institute of arts education on the island. From the late 1950s until the end of the 1960s, the Hermanas Scull were established artists in Cuba who mostly found patrons at the international embassies in Havana. Haydée l eft her home country for Miami in 1969, followed by Sahara in 1973. Reunited after their longest ever separation, the two immediately resumed producing work toge ther, inspired by their new home and memories of the one they’d left.
(Haydée Scull, 1931 –2007; Sahara Scull, 1931 –2008) , Havana Scene, 1989, 3 dimensional mixed media collage on canvas board, 40 x 60 inches
H er M anas s C ull
Florida visit. Works by Hermanas Scull have also been collected by notable figures such as President Ronald Reagan and Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, as well as popular entertainers like Jerry Lewis, Gloria Estefan, and Antonio Banderas. At a height of their renown, the Hermanas Scull were photographed by Annie Liebovitz for her best-selling 1999 book, Women . Artworks by Hermanas Scull have been shown at the Havana Hilton Hotel and Museo de Bellas Artes in Cuba, the Bacardi Art Gallery, Vizcaya Palace and Museum in Miami, Florida, and the Mennello Museum of American Art in Orlando, Florida, among many other artistic and cultural centers. Works by Hermanas Scull can be found in private collections worldwide. Haydée Scull passed away in 2007. Sahara, though deeply saddened, fulfilled her promise to continue producing art, collaborating with her children and grandchildren for a few months before passing away herself. The Hermanas Scull’s intricate recreations of urban life in pre-revolutionary Cuba and late 20th Century Miami are now seen as important historical documents of their respective geographies.
H er M anas s C ull (Haydée Scull, 1931 –2007; Sahara Scull, 1931 –2008) , Memories of My Old Havana, 1991, 3 dimensional mixed media collage on canvas board, 15 ¾ x 20 inches
The Hermanas Scull dedicated themselves to a collaborative art style, broadly classifiable as three-dimensional painting. In so doing, the Hermanas Scull became the first known collective in Cuban art history. Despite their classical arts training, Haydée and Sahara Scull chose to follow in a tradition of other naïve artists such as Henri Rousseau, Grandma Moses, and Red Grooms. Historically, the Hermanas Scull can be seen in league with other South Florida outsider-art visionaries like Purvis Young and fellow 3-D painter, Mario Sanchez, whose idiosyncratic productions have also earned them cult status among collectors, critics, and institutions. Thematically, the twins concentrated almost exclusively on depictions of pre-revolutionary Havana, Miami Beach, and Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood, a highly stylized take on what is known as “genre art.” These works were enhanced by the antics of the mischievous Scull twins, who didn’t seem to know where the canvas stopped and transformed every public moment into a choreographed performance and living extension of their work. Hermanas Scull's joyous sculptural scenes, enhanced by elements of theatre, became synonymous with their adopted city. In 1991, the City of Miami commissioned a painting by Hermanas Scull to be given as a gift to Elizabeth, the Queen of England, during Her Majesty’s South
serVando Cabrera Moreno (1923 – 1981), Maria's Bath, (El Baño de María), 1976, oil on canvas, 58 1/4 x 47 inches
Provenance: Tania María del Cossio Collection, Miami, FL.
guido llinás (1923 – 2005), White, Blue and Red, (Blanco, Azul y Rojo), 1962, oil on canvas, 22 3/4 x 31 1/2 inches
This painting is illustrated in the book Cuban Art, Past and Present, Vol. 1, Frank Padrón, 2016, page 130.
Juan taPia ruano (1914 – 1980), Remains of a Dream, (Remanente de un Sueño), 1975, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on canvas, 34 1/4 x 35 inches
gina Pellón (1926 – 2014), Mandatory Escape, (Obligada Escapatoria), 2010, mixed media on canvas, 44 ¾ x 34 ¼ inches
Exhibited in Gina Pellón, Still Going Strong, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, Nov. – Dec. 2010, and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, page 34.
gina Pellón (1926 – 2014), Dream Window on Pedals, (Ventana de Sueños a Pedal ), 1975, mixed media on canvas, 48 x 36 inches
This painting is registered in the Photo Archives of Gina Pellón, as organized by the artist, during her lifetime.
roberto Fabelo (b. 1950), The Preacher and the Beans, (El Predicador y los Frijoles), 2016, oil on canvas, 93 x 79 3/4 inches
Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist.
Illustrated in the book Fabelo, Persistencia, Roma, Palazzo della Cancilleria, May, 2017, pages 28, 29, and 45. This artwork is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity issued by the artist, Roberto Fabelo, and his wife.
Roberto Fabelo’s Red Dog, 2017 was crafted for a site-specific installation in Miami, Florida, as part of the international group exhibition XICO, Journey in Latin America. The exhibition tasked each participating artist with the reinterpretation of the Xico (or Xoloitzcuintle), a jet-black, hairless breed widely regarded as the first domesticated dog of the Americas. The intention behind XICO, Journey in Latin America was to promote PanAmerican cultural exchange, inviting dialogue between Latin American artists and the public through their interpretation of this ancient western symbol.
For world-renowned multimedia artist Roberto Fabelo, whose work often includes canine companions, the assignment was a natural fit. Red Dog is also a convergence of many of Fabelo’s other recurring motifs: starkly contrasting reds and blacks, dramatic female figures, surreal human-animal hybrids, winged figures, spiraling nautilus shells, legumes, and the ever-present rhinoceros. In Fabelo’s hand, these forms come together in startling ways, creating illusions and details – the crow’s beak outlining the eye of Xico, the coupled birds touching beaks to form its heart, the winged female giving sustenance to the male on the reverse, and so on.
The Xico, characterized by its wrinkly, hairless, onyx-black skin, has existed in the Americas for over 3,500 years, and become the subject of myth. In Meso-American cultures, the Xico was revered as a fierce and loyal companion, believed to protect its owners in life and guide their souls in the afterlife. In Aztec tradition, Xico dogs were seen as sacred guardians, warding off intruders and evil spirits. The breed’s significance is evident in some of the oldest surviving art from the continents, and later reinvigorated in the 20th century through the works of Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, and the writings of Octavio Paz. In the 21st century, Fabelo deftly carries on the tradition with this sculptural work.
roberto Fabelo (b. 1950), Red Dog, (El Perro Rojo), 2017, one-of-a-kind, acrylic on fiberglass, 73 x 25 X 41 inches, signed and dated, lower reverse This artwork was exhibited in XICO, Journey in Latin America, Museum Park, Miami, FL, in front of the Pérez Art Museum, April – July, 2017.
Miami was not the only location for XICO, Journey in Latin America. Additional sculpture installations appeared in New York, Shanghai, Havana, Mexico City, Veracruz, Santiago de Chile, São Paulo, Seoul, Marrakesh and Brussels as the show spread around the world. Master surrealist Roberto Fabelo’s substantial contribution is a rare and exquisite entry in this ambitious, international project.
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roberto Fabelo (b. 1950), Mamey, (Mamey), 2003, watercolor on paper laid down on board, 40 ½ x 60 ¼ inches Exhibited in Fabelo, Un Poco de Mí, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, May 2003, and is illustrated in the exhibition catalog, page 28 and listed on page 77. This artwork is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity issued by the artist, Roberto Fabelo.
In 2024, Master Roberto Fabelo (b. 1950), widely regarded as one of the foremost visual artists in the Americas, was honored with the Knight's Cross of the Order of Isabel la Católica, among the highest cultural distinctions bestowed by the Spanish government. Though the artist has much to be proud of, his acceptance speech was characteristically humble: “Visual artists tend to speak more with images than with words. If I had to sum it up, it would be in one word: ‘thanks.’”
The Knight’s Cross was the most recent in a series of important achievements for the internationally acclaimed painter, illustrator, sculptor, and engraver. In 2023, he had a solo exhibition at the Goya Museum in Zaragoza (Divertimentos), a duo show with Francisco Goya at the Conde Duque Culture Center in Madrid (Mundos. Goya y Fabelo), and monumental installations in Northern Spain (Roberto Fabelo: Leadership) and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. (Roberto Fabelo: Survivors), which garnered national media attention, including coverage in Forbes. In 2024, his works were presented at the Kennedy Center for the show Roberto Fabelo: The Secret Life of Plants. The artist’s next major solo exhibition will take place at the headquarters of the Cervantes Institute in Madrid, 2025.
The art market has acknowledged the artist’s accomplishments and importance, with a continuous ascent at international auctions in recent years. Fabelo continues to break his own auction records: in May of 2019, he achieved a breakout sale of 20% over his record, followed by further milestones in 2020 and 2021. His works continued to command higher prices, with significant sales in late 2021 and early 2022 each surpassing his previous records. In 2024, he reached another new benchmark, with a 2018 oil painting selling for a personal record-breaking sum above $600,000 at Christie’s New York in March, more than double his record from five years prior, reinforcing his strong presence in the international contemporary art market.
Nico Hough
Provenance: Acquired directly from
roberto Fabelo (b. 1950), My God, (Dios Mío), 2017, oil on canvas, 90 ½ x 78 inches
the artist.
roberto Fabelo (b. 1950), A Bit of Us, (Un Poco de Nosotros), 2003, watercolor on heavy paper, 60 x 40 1/2 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 artwork is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity issued by the artist, Roberto Fabelo, and his wife.
roberto Fabelo (b. 1950), Havana Gothic, (Gótico Habanero), 2017, oil on canvas, 92 1/2 x 79 1/2 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 artwork is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity issued by the artist, Roberto Fabelo, and his wife.
toMás sánCHez (b. 1948), Unexpected Visit, (Visita Inesperada), 1986, Lithograph, 7 of 10, 26 ¾ x 20 ½ inches Exhibited in Antonia Eiriz: A Painter and Her Audience, Miami Dade College Museum of Art Design, Freedom Tower, Miami, FL, Sep. 13 to Nov. 17, 2013, curated by Michelle Weinberg.
toMás sánCHez (b. 1948), Island, (Isla), 1996, acrylic on canvas, 42 ¾ x 58 inches Exhibited in Tomás Sánchez in Focus, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, June – July, 2010, and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, back cover.
MANUEL MENDIVE (b. 1944), Spirits of the River, (Espíritus del Río), 1992, mixed media collage on heavy paper laid down on board, 22 ¾ x 30 ¼
Provenance: Private Collection, Paris, France.
Sold prior to the publication of this catalog.
MANUEL MENDIVE (b. 1944), Oshun, (Oshún), 2002, oil on canvas, 23 ¾ x 31 ¾ inches
Provenance: Private Collection, Miami, Florida. Sold prior to the publication of this catalog.
Provenance:
Manuel MendiVe (b. 1944), New Energy of the Blue Hour, (Nueva Energía de la Hora Azul), 1993, oil on canvas, 22 ½ x 29 inches
Guy Hannion Collection, Paris, France, who acquired it directly from the artist.
Manuel MendiVe (b. 1944), Confusion and the Earth, (La Confusión y la Tierra), 1993, mixed media collage on heavy paper laid down on board, 22 ¾ x 30 ¼ inches
Provenance: Private Collection, Paris, France.
Manuel MendiVe (b. 1944), Offerings, (Ofrendas), 1993, oil on heavy paper laid down on canvas, 15 x 19 ½ inches
Provenance: Guy Hannion Collection, Paris, France, who acquired it directly from the artist.
Manuel MendiVe (b. 1944), Visitors at Sunset, (Visitantes al Atardecer), 1993, oil on canvas, 21 ½ x 29 inches
Provenance: Guy Hannion Collection, Paris, France, who acquired it directly from the artist.
Provenance: Private Collection, Miami, FL.
Exhibited in Manuel Mendive, Gary Nader Fine Arts, Miami, FL, 1999, and illustrated in the corresponding catalog, unnumbered page.
Manuel MendiVe (b. 1944), Three Flying Birds, (Tres Aves Voladoras), 1998, oil on canvas, 45 ½ x 52 ¼ inches
Manuel MendiVe (b. 1944), Natural Refuge, (from the series, Vital Energies), (Refugio Natural, de la serie, Energías Vitales), 2010, mixed media sculpture, 88 x 22 x 44 inches
Exhibited in Mendive, la Luz y las Tinieblas, José Luis Cuevas Museum, Mexico City, Mexico, 2011. Exhibited in Things that Cannot Be Seen Any Other Way: The Art of Manuel Mendive, California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA, Apr. 26 to Oct. 20, 2013.
Also exhibited, same show, at Frost Art Museum, Florida International University, Miami, FL, Nov. 16, 2013 to Jan. 26, 2014. Exhibited in Sotheby’s, New York, November 20, 2015, and illustrated in the corresponding auction catalog, lot no. 180. Illustrated in the book Mendive, Collage Ediciones, Havana, 2015, page 214.
Exhibited in Quiero Pintar en Paz, Pedro Pablo Oliva, Galería
Havana, Cuba, May - June 2000 and illustrated on the first page of the exhibition catalog, A copy of said catalog is included with the artwork.
Pedro Pablo oliVa (b. 1949), The Strange Dream of Uncle Alberto, (El Extraño Sueño del Tío Alberto), 1997, oil on canvas, 56 ½ x 50 ½ inches
La Acacia,
Juan Roberto Diago was born in Havana in 1971 and graduated from the San Alejandro Academy in 1990. His career has been distinguished by its radical creative and conceptual breadth. Diago’s diverse practice includes painting, drawing, collage, assemblage, installation, photography, and bronze sculpture. Since the early 1990s, he has produced a body of work that interrogates the personal, political, and historical dimensions of Blackness. Through his unique vocabulary of images symbolizing political protest, Afro-Cuban spirituality, and African heritage, (most notably variations of the iconic Kongo mask), the artist presents an unbroken line between the historical and the contemporary. His thoughtful examination of the African Diaspora has made him one of the most critically and commercially successful Cuban artists of his generation.
Diago has exhibited extensively across the United States, France, England, Germany, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Monaco, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Chile, and more. He has participated in numerous international fairs and biennials, including the Venice Biennale, Paris’ International Contemporary Art Fair, the Shanghai Art Fair, the New York Art Fair, EXPO Chicago, and Art Miami, among others. The artist has been represented by Cernuda Arte within the United States since 2000.
In recent years, Diago’s career has been showcased in the traveling solo retrospective Diago: The Pasts of this AfroCuban Present, curated by Professor Alejandro de la Fuente, which debuted at Harvard University’s Ethelbert Cooper Gallery and traveled to the Lowe Art Museum, the Colorado Springs Fine Art Center, and the Art Museum of the Americas in Washington, D.C. In addition to this four-museum tour, other recent solo exhibitions include Diago: Un arte para todos los tiempos at Fondation Clément in Martinique, La oscuridad fue el principio at Casa de América in Madrid, and Juan Roberto Diago: Foraged Materials, Assembled Histories at the Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Missouri.
Nico Hough
Juan roberto diago (b. 1971), Life in the Countryside, (Vida en el Monte), 2021, mixed media on canvas, 31 ½ x 39 3/8 inches
Provenance:
Exhibited in 9 Paintres Contemporains Cubains, Principality of Monaco, July - Aug. 2005. Illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, page 62.
Juan roberto diago (b. 1971), Untitled [I'm Here Without You], (Sin Título [Aquí Estoy Sin Ti]), 2004, mixed media on canvas, 51 ¼ x 39 ¼ inches
Galería Habana, Havana, Cuba.
JUAN ROBERTO DIAGO (b. 1971), No Racism, (No Racismo), 2020, mixed media on canvas, 19 ½ x 27 ½ inches
In 2019, Juan Roberto Diago created several installations in the conceptual likeness of shantytowns in Cuba, each one an homage to an actual impoverished neighborhood on the island - Belén, El Fanguito, Los Positos, La Timba, Los Sitios, and others. Like much of the physical architecture of the neighborhoods they depict, these works are built from found and discarded materials, an authentic and meta-textual technique the artist has employed throughout his career. These unique installations were constructed specifically for the exhibition, Juan Roberto Diago: 20 Years of Creation, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL, November 2019 –January 2020. Each work is accompanied by a Photo-Certificate of Authenticity, signed by the artist.
JUAN ROBERTO DIAGO (b. 1971), El Fanguito, Havana, (El Fanguito, La Habana) , 2019, 30 handmade houses, wood and recovered materials, measurements vary 12 x 32 ½ x 26 inches
The Shantytown installations continue a longrunning series of works exploring the politics and aesthetics of life in the hovels, applying a critical lens to poverty and inequity in the Third World. Other examples from the Shantytown series have been exhibited in important art institutions around the world, including the John F. Kennedy Cultural Center in Washington D.C, the Museo de Bellas Artes in Havana, and the Brownstone Foundation in Paris. The artist has been represented by Cernuda Arte within the United States since the year 2000.
N ICO H OUGH
Exhibited in Juan
20 Years of Creation, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL. Oct. 2019 - Jan. 2020, and illustrated digitally on cernudaarte.com, exhibitions.
Juan roberto diago (b. 1971), I Like Myself, (Me Gusto Como Soy), 2019, mixed media and collage on canvas, 49 ¼ x 35 inches
Roberto Diago:
The monumental Yemayá, Mother of the Sea (2022) is a stunning representation of a new era in the career of Juan Roberto Diago. Although the multimedia artist studied sculpture at the San Alejandro Academy in Havana, he spent decades focusing on other artistic disciplines. In recent years, Diago has made a powerful return to his sculptural roots. Yemayá, Mother of the Sea (2022) marks a high point in this return, produced using the laborious and time-honored lost-wax casting technique.
Diago’s reinvigorated embrace of bronze sculpture aims to connect the contemporary with the ancient. In using this technique, Diago revisits traditional processes used by artisans for centuries, resulting in precisely detailed works, each with subtle variations, nuances, and traces of the artist’s hand. The specific details and particularities of each sculpture, whether in form or in the metal itself, are a natural result of the lost wax casting process, making each sculpture an authentic, one-of-a-kind work. By its nature, this lost-wax casting method yields very limited editions, in contrast to the uniformity of mass production that dominates contemporary sculpture.
In the artist’s own words: "Yemayá, Mother of the Sea is a sculpture that synthesizes my most recent work in bronze, this time at a scale that captivates with its strength. It serves as a tribute to Yemayá, the goddess of the sea in Yoruba mythology, while always maintaining the visual codes I have employed throughout my career. The enthronement of this figure is powerful, with its impact rooted in elements such as rigidity, symmetry, and an enigmatic presence that emanates from her empty gaze.”
In Yoruba belief, Yemayá is the goddess of water, the mother of all living beings, the queen of love, and the ruler of the seven seas. She embodies maternity, birth, and rebirth. The spirituality and dignified elegance of the artist’s bronze sculptures, exemplified by Yemayá, Mother of the Sea, reflect a significant thematic shift in Diago’s exploration of heritage and identity. The artist’s work has long been recognized for its confrontational approach to politics, history, and race relations. Yemayá, Mother of the Sea, a commemoration of faith, love, and universality, maintains Diago’s signature symbols and figurative style, while offering a new approach to his examination of the history and culture of the African diaspora.
NICO HOUGH
JUAN ROBERTO DIAGO (b. 1971), reverse view, Yemayá, Mother of the Sea, (Yemayá, Madre del Mar), 2022, bronze sculpture, two of two, 78 ¾ x 50 ¾ x 28 ¾ inches
JUAN ROBERTO DIAGO (b. 1971), front view, Yemayá, Mother of the Sea, ( Yemayá, Madre del Mar), 2022, bronze sculpture, two of two, 78 ¾ x 50 ¾ x 28 ¾ inches
Provenance: Acquired directly from the Artist.
Exhibited [different number] in Garden of Humanity, downtown Opa-Locka, as part of the public installation , Dec. 2-10, 2023.
Illustrated [different number] in “This Giant Art Exhibition in Opa-locka Wants to Change the Perception of the City,” Isaiah C. Smalls, Miami Herald, 8 Dec. 2023.
Sold prior to the publication of this catalog.
Clara Morera (b. 1944), John the Apostle and The Book of the Seven Seals, ( Juan El Apóstol y El Libro de los Siete Sellos), 2024, mixed media on canvas, 42 x 28 ¾ inches
In the year 2020, Clara Morera began her Revelation series in response to the complexities of a world marked by unrest, uncertainty, international conflict, pandemics, and a disorienting media landscape.
Throughout this body of work, Morera establishes connections between contemporary headlines and the apocalyptic visions of The Book of Revelation , meditating on contemporary issues while also placing them in the context of one of history’s most notable texts.
Morera’s John the Apostle and The Book of the Seven Seals (2024) takes its inspiration from Revelation 10:8-10. In this passage, the Apostle John is confronted by an angel who instructs him to eat a scroll fastened with seven seals, each seal representing a catastrophe.
The scroll is sweet to taste but bitter to the stomach. John’s act of consuming the scroll symbolizes the internalization of a message despite its troubling content. In our media-saturated age, “consuming the scroll” assumes a new meaning: processing the daily barrage of information and misinformation.
In John the Apostle and The Book of the Seven Seals , John is surrounded by angels against a backdrop of war and disaster. With his hands knowingly raised towards the sky, he seeks to both acknowledge these realities and make peace.
niCo HougH
Sold prior to the publication of this catalog.
In Adam and Eve in Paradise (2017), Clara Morera presents a different perspective on the classic tale of Adam and Eve through a mixedmedia triptych of three hinged wooden panels, reminiscent of medieval religious art When closed, the piece features two angels, armed and grinning mischievously. Upon opening, viewers encounter Morera’s interpretation of the biblical origin story.
Unlike traditional depictions that focus on guilt and shame, Morera’s narrative emphasizes love and harmony. The figures are flat and exaggerated, situated in an idyllic setting. In contrast to the conventional view that blames Eve for humanity's fall from Eden after she eats the forbidden fruit, Morera portrays her act of defiance as heroic and crucial for human knowledge. Eve is depicted as larger and more prominent than Adam, who stands beneath her, looking up with admiration.
Morera’s work challenges dichotomies like Good and Evil to present a more nuanced position. In her vision, the Garden is a place of joy-- even after Eve’s transgression, the angels in the left panel offer her more fruit The top of the composition merges the sacred heart, representing God’s compassion for humanity, with the forbidden fruit, suggesting that the original sin was necessary and preordained. Ultimately, within the biblical narrative, it is Eve’s defiance that shapes the world as we know it. Morera celebrates her imperfections, as they are what allow the experience of divine love and sacrifice.
CLARA MORERA (b. 1944), Adam and Eve in Paradise, (Adán y Eva en el Paraíso), 2017, mixed media on canvas and wood, triptych, 35 ½ x 36 inches
Closed view
Open view
Reverse view
NICO HOUGH
Signed, dated and dedicated by
Exhibited at Sotheby’s, New York, December 19, 2003, and illustrated in the corresponding auction catalog, lot no. 1181.
Exhibited in Remember to React: 60 Years of Collecting, NSU Art Museum, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Sep. 9, 2018 – Oct. 30, 2019.
Carlos alFonzo (1950 – 1991), Murano Waters, (Aguas de Murano), 1987, oil on canvas, 60 ¼ x 43 ¼ inches
the artist to his dear friend, Jesse Ríos (reverse).
Clara Morera has dedicated her career to cultivating mythology. Born in Cuba in 1944, the artist has spent decades refining and reinventing a body of work which challenges simple or essentialist understandings of the world. Her mixed media compositions, which incorporate textiles, painting, illustration, photography, collage, assemblage, and carpentry, among other techniques and mediums, express a singular and expansive vision where different beliefs collide and reconcile.
Through her artistic production, Morera is receptive to varied influences and intertwining cultural legacies, while firmly rejecting the idea that any might exceed another in importance. Instead, she looks to the cultural syncretism of the Caribbean as a blue-print for combining concepts, philosophies, and traditions in her own work.
Key among her references are African and AfroCuban beliefs, Catholic sacred texts, popular culture and folklore, esoteric beliefs such as the Tarot and divination, and themes of social justice. These concepts are refracted through her experience to produce sophisticated narrative works, charged with artistic influences that range from the dark whimsy of Hieronymous Bosch, to the transgressive contemporary pastiches of Janice Lowry and Robert Rauschenberg, and the esoteric, magical realism of Wifredo Lam and Marc Chagall.
Clara Morera (b. 1944), The Magus, (La Maga), 2005, oil on canvas, 57 3/4 x 32 1/2 inches
Morera has exhibited in several public collections, including the National Museum of Fine Arts in Havana; the Cuban Cultural House in Prague; the Museum of the Americas in Washington, D.C.; The Rye Art Center, Queens Museum, and Bronx Art Museum in New York; Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco; the African American Museum in Philadelphia; the Lowe Museum at the University of Miami; the Museum of St. Petersburg in Russia, and many others. She has been in exhibitions in Cuba, United States, Canada, Russia, Czechoslovakia and Switzerland, and her artwork has been published in several international publications, such as Revue Noire (Paris) and Latin America (Moscow). The artist currently lives in the United States and actively participates in the contemporary art scene. She has been represented by Cernuda Arte since 2006.
Originally from the Northern province of Matanzas, admittedly the Vatican of Santería on the island, Clara Morera arrived to Havana in 1962 and quickly became involved in the city’s cultural scene. It was in the capital city where she first fell in with independent artists looking to challenge Cuba’s literary and artistic establishments, which were viewed as academic or elitist. Though she studied at the National School of Visual Arts and at San Alejandro Academy with a focus in painting, drawing, tapestry, assemblage art, soft sculpture and multimedia installations, her process makes conscious effort to unlearn those lessons and create as an autodidact.
niCo HougH
MIGUEL FLORIDO (b. 1980), Inner Peace, (Paz Interior), 2024, oil on canvas, 78 ½ x 39 inches.
Miguel Florido (b. 1980), The Pain is Hidden Inside, (El Dolor Se Esconde Dentro), 2002, oil on canvas, 25 x 21 inches
Miguel Florido (b. 1980), True Love, (Amor Verdadero), 2024, oil on canvas, 48 3/4 x 92 inches.
MIGUEL FLORIDO (b. 1980), Reverie, (Ensueño), 2024, oil on canvas, 45 x 21¼ inches
Sold prior to the publication of this catalog.
Miguel Florido (b. 1980) is a virtuoso artist making himself known at the forefront of contemporary painting. His expertly crafted still-life vignettes, intricate landscape scenes of meadows and vines, and evocative explorations of texture on canvas have earned him international acclaim. Florido’s paintings combine classical technique with bold, contemporary color and sensibility to produce exquisite, lyrical compositions Drawing from the trompe l’oeil tradition of Old European Masters like Chardin, and van Hoogstraten, Florido elevates the everyday discarded letters, fruits, flowers, tools, and art supplies—imbuing them with emotion and a moving, expressive sense of nostalgia. His still life work hunts for the miraculous, exploring at once the passage of time and the quiet beauty in the mundane. Meanwhile, his landscapes unfold as poetic, romantic narratives, mixing hyperrealism with abstraction to explore the deeper, often unseen patterns and rhythms of his objects.
Now living in Spain, Florido is closer to the legacy of the great painters he admires—Zurbarán, Sánchez Cotán, and Velázquez—whose influence shaped his early artistic development. His encounter with these masters during his first visit to the Prado set new standards in his work, pushing him to be ever more rigorous, precise, and meticulous. Florido’s exceptional paintings are the product of studying these world-class painters, the artist’s deep contemplation, and a lifetime spent in the nature.
NICO HOUGH
MIGUEL FLORIDO (b. 1980), Revival, (Renacer), 2024, oil on canvas, 31 ½ x 23 ½ inches
Sold prior to the publication of this catalog.
Miguel Florido (b. 1980), Love Signals, (Señales de Amor), 2016, acrylic on canvas, 70 1/2 x 50 3/4 inches
Miguel Florido (b. 1980), Here I am Without You, (Aquí Estoy Sin Ti), 2005, oil on canvas, 23 1/2 x 31 1/2 inches
giosVany eCHeVarría (b. 1971), A Sunlit Day, (Un Día Soleado), 2016, oil on canvas, 13 3/4 x 9 3/4 inches
giosVany eCHeVarría (b. 1971), Interlude, (Interludio), 2016, oil on canvas, 9 3/4 x 13 3/4 inches
Sold prior to the publication of this catalog.
GIOSVANY ECHEVARRÍA (b. 1971), A New Sun, (Un Nuevo Sol ), 2010, oil on canvas, 24 x 67 inches
GIOSVANY ECHEVARRÍA (b. 1971), Song of the Waters, (El Canto de las Aguas), 2024, oil on canvas, 33 ¼ x 62 inches
yasiel elizagaray (b. 1987), Debutant, (Debutante), 2024, mixed media on canvas, 59 x 19 ½ inches
yasiel elizagaray (b. 1987), The Influencer, (La Influyente), 2024, mixed media on canvas, 59 x 19 ½ inches
Yasiel Elizagaray was born in 1987 in Yaguajay Sancti Spíritus, Cuba, and graduated from the Universidad Pedagógica de Arte, Sancti Espíritus, 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 important art fairs in the United States and Europe. He has been represented exclusively in the United States by Cernuda Arte since Spring 2023.
Elizagaray, who lives and works in Cuba, is unafraid to explore the full-spectrum of emotion in his portraits. Working from photographs he takes of Cuban youth, the artist seeks to capture an essence that lies beyond the visible image—whether it be hope, despair, uncertainty, hunger, or other intense and immediate feelings. The result of Elizagaray’s process is a striking Expressionism, a gothic drama of shadow and light that strives to articulate the desires and disillusionments of his generation. These distinct and psychological works demonstrate the influence of master painters such as Frank Auerbach, Lucian Freud, and Francis Bacon.
The Expressionist is an artist who wants to convey how their world feels, not just how it appears. This is achieved through techniques like exaggeration, distortion, and the selection of colors that deviate from the real. For some artists, this subjectivity manifests as tenderness; for others, tension. What sets Elizagaray apart is his fluency with both extremes.
Elizagaray’s painterly approach walks the line between tradition and innovation, blending compositional cues from American and European masters with a contemporary approach to form and to the application of pigment. Through his attention to detail, restrained color palette and drastic impasto, the artist presents honest images of young people in a world haunted by crises.
niCo HougH
yasiel elizagaray (b. 1987), A Growing Concern, (Preocupación Creciente), 2024, mixed media on canvas, 78 ½ x 70 ½ inches
yasiel elizagaray (b. 1987), Midnight Muse, (Musa de Medianoche), 2024, mixed media on canvas, 23 ½ x 19 3/4 inches
yasiel elizagaray (b. 1987), The Weight of a Stare, (El Peso de una Mirada), 2024, oil on canvas, 23 ½ x 19 3/4 inches
yasiel elizagaray (b. 1987), The Keeper of the Secret, (La Guardiana del Secreto), 2024, mixed media on canvas, 55 x 47 inches
1971), The Day and The Night, (El
y La
, 2011, mixed media on canvas, 59 x 78
inches Exhibited in Three From Cuba: The Art of Vicente, Sandro, and Florido – From the Fantastic to the Sublime, Appleton Museum of Art, College of Central Florida, Ocala, Florida, Feb. – Apr. 2012, illustrated in the exhibition catalog, page 23.
ViCente Hernández (b. 1971), In Total Agreement, (En Total Acuerdo), 2022, oil on canvas, 46 ¼ x 58 inches
ViCente Hernández (b.
Día
Noche)
3/4
ViCente Hernández (b. 1971), Insular Warming, (Calentamiento Insular), 2022, oil on canvas, 31 ¼ x 39 ¼ inches
ViCente Hernández (b. 1971), Across the Caribbean Sea, (Por el Mar de Las Antillas), 2010, mixed media on canvas, 31 ½ x 78 3/4 inches
ViCente Hernández (b. 1971), The Procession, (La Procesión), 2022, oil on canvas, 79 x 59 inches
ViCente Hernández (b. 1971), The Noble Palm Tree, (La Noble Palma), 2024, oil on canvas, 78 3/4 x 15 inches
ViCente Hernández (b. 1971), Resurgence, (Resurgimiento), 2024, oil on canvas, 39 ½ x 11 3/4 inches
Sold prior to the publication of this catalog.
Flora Fong (b. 1949), Virgin of Charity, (Virgen de La Caridad ), 2014, oil on canvas, 84 ¾ x 67 ¾ inches
Exhibited in Circles and Circuits: Chinese Caribbean Art, Chinese American Museum, Los Angeles, CA, Sep. 15, 2017 – Mar. 11, 2018 and illustrated in the corresponding exhibition catalog, page 35.
Flora Fong (b. 1949), Caribbean Throne, (Trono en El Caribe), 2010, oil on canvas, 63 x 51 inches
Flora Fong (b. 1949) has cultivated a distinct voice within international contemporary art over her remarkable five-decade career. Born in Camagüey, she honed her techniques at the local School of Arts and later graduated from the Escuela Nacional de Artes in Havana in 1970. Flora Fong’s work has since been included in important public collections such as the National Museum of Fine Arts in Havana, the National Parliament in Beijing, the France Liberté Foundation in Paris, Casa Real in Madrid, the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Gyeongju, South Korea, among others.
In Flora Fong’s work, the everyday elements of Antillean life become mythic and energized, summoning the traditional and modern canons of Cuba and Asia into a culturally reformulated aesthetic of swaying palms, dazzling oceans, hurricanes, sunflowers, tropical fruits, and coffeepots. At once sophisticated and naïve, Fong’s production, which spans painting, drawing, sculpture, ceramics, and more, is easily identifiable across mediums, characterized by her saturated splashes of color and the bold black lines that outline her images, reminiscent of Chinese calligraphy or stained glass. Like her native Caribbean, the artist's world is rich with magic, turbulence, color, and contradiction.
Flora Fong has participated in numerous group exhibitions, including Rodando se Encuentran at the Museum of Architecture, Shanghai (2014), and Cuban Art in the 20th Century: Cultural Identity and the International Avant-Garde at the Museum of Fine Arts, Tallahassee (2016) and Coral Gables Museum, Florida (2017). Her work was included in the major exhibitions Cultural Encounters: Art of Asian Diasporas in Latin America & The Caribbean, 1945-Present at the International Arts and Artists Center in Washington, D.C. (2019) and Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Michigan (2020-2021), as well as No Ocean Between Us: Art of Asian Diasporas in Latin America & The Caribbean, 1945–Present at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts (2020-2021), San Antonio Museum of Art (2021), Art Museum of the Americas in Washington, D.C. (2021), Arthur Ross Gallery at the University of Pennsylvania (2022), and Middlebury College Museum of Art, Vermont (2022).
In recognition of her contributions to the arts, Flora Fong received Cuba’s highest honor, the National Arts Award, at the end of 2022. In 2024, she was honored with the solo exhibition Flora Fong: Magical Territories at the National Museum in Havana.
niCo HougH
Flora Fong (b. 1949), Rural Life, (La Vida en el Campo), 2015, mixed media on canvas, 67 ½ x 84 ¾ inches
danuel Méndez (b. 1989), Aleph, (Aleph), 2024, oil on canvas, 40 x 40 inches
danuel Méndez (b. 1989), Rosy Afternoon, (La Tarde Rosada), 2024, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 48 inches
DANUEL MÉNDEZ (b. 1989), The Three Graces, (Las Tres Gracias), 2024, oil on canvas, 72 x 60 inches Sold prior to the publication of this catalog.
danuel Méndez (b. 1989), The Platycerium, (EL Platycerium), 2024, oil on canvas, 72 x 60 inches
danuel Méndez (b. 1989), The Maison, (La Maison), 2024, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 48 inches
danuel Méndez (b. 1989), Esoteric, (Esotérica), 2024, acrylic on
danuel Méndez (b. 1989), Eves, (Evas), 2024, acrylic on canvas, 72 x 60 inches
danuel Méndez (b. 1989), The Rem Sleep, (El Sueño Rem), 2024, oil on canvas, 72 x 60 inches
canvas, 75 x 65 inches
danuel Méndez (b. 1989), The White Model, (El Modelo Blanco), 2024, acrylic on canvas, 72 x 60 inches
Provenance: Acquired directly from the
alFredo sosabraVo (b. 1930), Dancers, (Bailadores), 2016, mixed media and collage on canvas, 55 x 37 1/4 inches
artist
irina elén gonzález (b. 1978), Chances and Dreams, (Azares y Ensueños), 2024, acrylic on canvas, 39 ¼ x 31 ¼ inches
Sold prior to the publication of this catalog.
irina elén gonzález (b. 1978), There is Always a Way, (Siempre Hay un Camino), 2024, acrylic on canvas, 39 ¼ x 31 ½ inches
Joel Besmar was born on January 5, 1968, in Camagüey, Cuba, into a family of academics and intellectuals. He studied at the Vocational School of Arts in his hometown and later at the National School of Arts in Havana. In addition to his work as a visual artist, he has taught art history and painting to students and academics, illustrated poetry books, and designed sets for theater and ballet projects. Besmar has been represented by the Cernuda Arte gallery since 2006, and his work has appeared in sixteen volumes of the IMPORTANT CUBAN ARTWORKS catalog published by the gallery. In addition to two successful solo exhibitions at the gallery, Besmar's works have been featured in more than two dozen group shows and at major international art fairs, including EXPO Chicago, Art Miami, Art Wynwood, Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary, the Dallas Art Fair, and the Philadelphia Fine Art Fair.
Monet had his water lilies; Georgia O’Keeffe her flowers; and Joel Besmar has his books. Books have been at the center of the painter’s work since the start of his career, and the artist has found astounding elasticity with the subject, painting them in myriad configurations, each composition offering a unique reflection on knowledge and culture.
Joel besMar (b. 1968), The Soul of the Universe, (Anima Mundi), 2017, oil on canvas, 78 ½ x 57 ½ inches
In some works, rooted in classical still life tradition, the books are depicted as scholarly odes to intellectual disciplines like biology, geology, medical science, and astronomy. Other paintings might imagine an impossible cascade in hyperrealist detail, the spines and covers telling a story to the astute observer. Increasingly, his work approaches the surreal and symbolic, reflecting the precarious state of today’s world. While his subject— books— remains constant, their symbolic meaning has shifted dramatically in the face of digital obsolescence, declining literacy rates in the West, and widespread censorship and book bans across the globe. In recent years, the artist’s books are depicted as abandoned, decaying, and arenaceous. In a striking newer series, the artist imagines the fantastical ruins of once-great cities, all with their foundations literally built on books, in states of disrepair, the tomes and architecture crumbling and lost.
What makes Besmar’s ouevre so compelling is not just its intellectual depth, but also the extraordinary technical virtuosity applied to each composition. Firmly established as a midcareer artist, the years of honing his craft have given Besmar a mastery of the trompe l’oeil technique. The illusionistic publications he paints look as though they could be pulled from the shelf. Through his cerebral and masterful canvases, Besmar positions himself as both an observer of contemporary culture and a guardian of the past.
Joel besMar (b. 1968), The Art of Reading, (El Arte de Leer), 2019, oil on canvas, 55 x 51 1/4 inches
Joel besMar (b. 1968), Fervet Opus, (The Works Boils / La Obra Hierve), 2007, oil on canvas, 59 x 39 ½ inches
Joel besMar (b. 1968), Siren Songs, (Cantos de Sirena), 2019, oil on canvas, 35 x 39 1/4 inches
Joel besMar (b. 1968), Collective Energies, (Energías Colectivas), 2021, oil on canvas, 35 ½ x 39 ½ inches
Jorge luis santos (b. 1973), Feast of Colors, (Banquete de Colores), 2020, mixed media on canvas, 57 x 53 inches
Jorge Luis Santos’ work has been presented in solo exhibitions in the U.S., Italy, and Cuba, as well as in many group shows internationally. Cernuda Arte has presented works by Santos at major art fairs including EXPO Chicago, Art Miami, Art Wynwood, Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary, Dallas Art Fair, and Philadelphia Fine Art. His life and work were the subject of the 400-page book published in 2018, JORGE LUIS SANTOS, written by José Veigas Zamora, and produced by Jorge M. Pérez and José Mario Hernández. Santos’ works are held in important private collections in the U.S., France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands, and the Dominican Republic, including El Espacio 23, founded by Jorge M. Pérez, as well as in the collection of businessman and philanthropist, Kenneth C. Griffin.
Santos’ finest works revive keynotes of abstract expressionism’s peak, embracing automatism, drip painting, and mixed media techniques that both pay tribute to and push the limits of the avant-garde. His compositions are physical, erratic, and richly saturated, characterized by rips, tears, seams, gestural pigment washes, and collaged patches of diverse materials. These large-scale, tactile works reject the notion of perfection, inviting viewers to witness the immediacy of his process. While Santos’ influences—Pollock, Twombly, Basquiat, and Mehretu—are clear, his work remains unmistakably his own.
A defining feature of this era in the artist’s production is the use of text. Strings of random numbers and letters, scribbled in grease pen or oil brush, appear enigmatically throughout these works. This motif runs through various series of the time, from his Bingo series, which explores themes of luck, to his A-Z series, which interrogates the effects of information technology. These strings of code reflect the artist’s essential optimism: his belief that through chance, a combination will eventually unlock a mystery or produce the winning ticket. This collection tests that hypothesis, and their expressive, spontaneous execution demonstrates how passionately Santos searched for that miraculous coincidence.
niCo HougH
Jorge luis santos (b. 1973), Daybreak in Pink (Amanecer en Rosa), 2017, mixed media on canvas, 71 x 73 ½ inches
Jorge luis santos (b. 1973), The Resurgence of Hope [from the series “Two Worlds”], (El Resurgir de la Esperanza [de la serie “Dos Mundos”] ), 2017, acrylic on canvas 46 x 78 inches
Jorge luis santos (b. 1973), The Blue Road, (El Camino Azul), 2017, mixed media collage on canvas, 78 ½ x 72 inches
Jorge luis santos (b. 1973), The Black Sun, (El Sol Negro), 2017, mixed media collage on canvas, 72 ½ x 71 inches
Jorge luis santos (b. 1973), Flowers [from the series “A-Z”] (Flores [de la serie “A-Z”]), 2017, mixed media on canvas, 74 x 69 inches
Jorge luis santos (b. 1973), Confrontations [from the series “Two Worlds”], (Confrontaciones [de la serie “Dos Mundos”] ), 2019, mixed media on canvas, 76 x 71 inches
Jorge
luis santos (b. 1973), The Red Tree, (El Árbol Rojo), 2019, mixed media collage on canvas, 62 x 62 inches
Jorge luis santos (b. 1973), Blue Flower, (Flor Azul), 2020, acrylic on canvas, 20 x 20 inches
Jorge luis santos (b. 1973), The Thinker [from the series “American Dream”], (El Pensador [de la serie “Sueño Americano”] ), 2017, mixed media on canvas, 80 x 53 inches
lilian garCia-roig (b. 1966), North Florida Palm Brush [from the series “Cumulative Nature”], (Palmeras del Norte de la Florida [de la serie “Naturaleza Acumulativa”]), 2019, diptych, oil on canvas, 48 1/4 x 72 inches
Exhibited in the Wiregrass Biennial 2020, Wiregrass Museum, Dothan AL, where it won the People’s Choice Award. Exhibited in Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, The Painting Center, New York City, July 20 – Aug. 14, 2021.
Exhibited in the solo show Lilian Garcia-Roig: Hyphenated Nature, at the HCC Gallery 114, Hillsborough Community College Art Gallery, Tampa, FL, Jan. 10 – Feb. 24, 2022.
Exhibited in EXPO Chicago Art Fair, Festival Hall, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL, Apr. 2024.
lilian garCia-roig (b. 1966), Cumulative Nature, Banyan Triptych, (Naturaleza Acumulativa), 2021, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 108 inches
lilian garCia-roig (b. 1966), Bucolic Viñales Valley, (Viñales Bucólico), 2016, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on board, 22 x 30 inches
lilian garCia-roig (b. 1966), Banana Plantation and Mogote Hill, (Platanal y Mogote), 2016, mixed media on heavy paper laid down on board, 22 x 30 inches
ENRIQUE CASAS (b. 1976), Boats, Light and Waves, (Barcas, Luz y Oleaje), 2023, oil on canvas, 28 ¾ x 39 ¼ inches
ENRIQUE CASAS (b. 1976), Refuge Space, (Espacio de Refugio), 2023, oil on canvas, 31 x 39 ¼ inches
ENRIQUE CASAS (b. 1976), Serene Blues, (Azules Serenos), 2023-24, oil on canvas, 51 x 67 inches
ENRIQUE CASAS (b. 1976), Sunlit Prairie, (Pradera Iluminada) , 2024, oil on canvas, 31 ½ x 39 ¾ inches
enrique Casas (b. 1976), Divine Brilliancy, (Divino Fulgor), 2024, oil on canvas, 60 x 40 inches
Exhibited in Three From Cuba: The Art of Vicente, Sandro, and Florido – From the Fantastic to the Sublime, Appleton Museum of Art, College of Central Florida, Ocala, FL, Feb. – Apr. 2012, illustrated in the exhibition catalog, page 29.
sandro de la rosa (b. 1972), Origamis of Peace and Hope, (Origamis de Paz y Esperanza), 2011, oil on canvas, 55 x 47 ¼ inches
sandro de la rosa (b. 1972), Tuning Pegs, (Clavicordio), 2007, oil on canvas, 47 x 55 inches
sandro de la rosa (b. 1972), Air, (Aire), 2024, oil on canvas, 48 x 36 inches
belkis ayón (1967 – 1999), Untitled [Sikán with Goat], (Sin Título [Sikán con Chivo]), 1993, collography on heavy paper, number 1 of 6, 35 x 27 ½ 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 Siempre Vuelvo. Colografías de Belkis Ayón, Exposición Homenaje, Séptima Bienal de La Habana, Galería Habana, Havana, Cuba, 2000, and illustrated in the exhibition catalog.
Illustrated [different number] in the book Nkame, Belkis Ayón, Catalogue Raisonné, Dr. Katia Ayón, Turner, 2010, page 204, no. 93.14.
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, page 88.
José bedia (b. 1959), Papa Legba, (Papa Legba), 2002, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 47 3/4 inches
Exhibited in Juan
(b. 1971), The Chosen One, (El
), 2018, mixed media on
78 ½
59
20 Years of Creation, Cernuda Arte, Coral Gables, FL. Oct. 2019 - Jan. 2020, and illustrated digitally on cernudaarte.com, exhibitions.
Juan roberto diago
Elegido
canvas,
x
inches
Roberto Diago:
gonzalo esCalante (1865 – 1939), Life in the Countryside, (La Vida en el Campo), ca 1920, oil on wood, 8 x 12 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 Mar.10, 2014.
Gonzalo Escalante Díaz was born on January 9, 1865 in Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico. Escalante studied painting in Mexico City during 1880-1884 and then traveled to Madrid, Spain, where he continued to study painting from 1884-1888 at the Academy San Fernando.
In 1888, the artist exhibited artworks at the Barcelona Universal Exposition (Spain’s first International World’s Fair) and shortly afterwards, in 1890, he moved to Cuba and established residency in the city of Guantánamo. There, in the Oriente Province of the Island, he intensified his artistic endeavors, and by 1918-1920, he was totally dedicated to painting as the only means of supporting his wife, Carmen Preval and his five children. His preferred subject themes were landscapes, marinas and the occasional portrait.
By 1931, Gonzalo Escalante moved to Havana where he established friendships with Fidelio Ponce and other well-known artists. In 1937, he exhibited two works at the Beaux Arts Salon sponsored by the Círculo de Bellas Artes, Havana. During those years, the gallery and art supplies store, La Venecia, located in Old Havana, represented the artist and sold his work to the public.
Various works by Gonzalo Escalante are part of the permanent collection of the National Museum of Fine Arts in Havana. The artist passed away in Havana, on August 28, 1939.
raMón Cernuda
arMando MenoCal (1863 – 1942), Spanish Dancer with Mantilla, (Bailarina Española con Mantilla), 1889, oil on canvas, 33 ½ x 21 ½ inches
Exhibited in Cuban Art in the 20th Century: Cultural Identity and the International Avant-Garde, Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts, Tallahassee, FL, Feb. 12, 2016 - Mar. 27, 2016, curated by Segundo J. Fernandez, PhD, and illustrated in the accompanying catalog, pages 27 and 67.
Exhibited in Cuban Art in the 20th Century: Cultural Identity and the International Avant-Garde, Coral Gables Museum, Coral Gables, FL, Jan. 22, 2017 - Apr. 23, 2017.
JUAN ROBERTO DIAGO (b. 1971), front view, Eternal Presence, (Presencia Eterna), 2024, bronze sculpture, Artist's Proof 37 x 28 ¾ x 23 ¼ inches
Provenance: Acquired directly from the Artist.
Side view.
Abela, Eduardo (1889 – 1965) 18 (2)
Acosta León, Angel (1930 – 1964) 76 (2)
Alfonzo, Carlos (1950 – 1991) 118
Arche, Jorge (1905 – 1957) 19
Argudín, Pastor(1880 – 1968) 10 (2)
Ayón, Belkis (1967 – 1999) 158
Bedia, José (b. 1959) 158
Bermúdez, Cundo (1914 – 2008) 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69
Besmar, Joel (b. 1968) 142, 143, 144, 145 (2)
