Agustín Cárdenas (1927 - 2001)

Agustín Cárdenas was an Afro-Cuban sculptor best known for his organic, sinuous forms in both sculptures and drawings, blending Surrealist ideals with African aesthetics. A descendant of Senegalese and Congolese slaves, Cárdenas was born in an infamous slave port and sugar plantation in Cuba. His artistic career began in Havana, as he studied at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes San Alejandro under one of Cuba’s great sculptors, Juan José Sicre. In 1955, Cárdenas moved to Paris and joined the Surrealist movement, where he befriended artists Constantin Brâncuşi, Salvador Dalí, and André Breton. It was in Paris, Cardenas understanded Surrealism as an artistic language to break away from constrains and allows for personal discovery, and at the same time to directly experience and feel as a black man. His style, recognized by undulating forms and elongated silhouettes, is a fusion of his artistic community, the cultural atmosphere of the Pan-African Movement in Paris, and aspects of African heritage as seen in Dogon totems. Cardenas’s practice can be divided into roughly three periods, where in each period, he utilized different materials for various formations, showcasing Cardenas’s mastery of techniques. Cárdenas’ work exhibited internationally and was well-received, earning several prestigious awards: the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France, 1976 and the Premio Nacional de Artes Plásticas from the Cuban Ministry of Culture, 1995.

For many years, Cárdenas lived and worked in Meudon-Bellevue and at his studio in Nogent-sur-Marne, France. He produced work in Canada, Austria, Japan, Israel, Korea, and Carrara, Italy where his acclaimed marble pieces were sculpted. Cárdenas participated in over a hundred group exhibitions and was the focus of over forty monographic exhibitions. His works are included in many permanent collections around the world, including: the Centre National des Arts du Cirque, Paris, France, Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Paris, France, Musée de la Sculpture en Plein Air, Paris, France, Musée d’Art et d’Industrie, Saint-Étienne, France, Hakone Open-Air Museum, Hakone, Japan, Musée d’Art Contemporain, Argel, Algeria; Museo de Bellas Artes in Caracas, Venezuela, Kendall Art Center, Miami, Florida, and Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de La Habana in Havana, Cuba. The artist passed away in Havana, Cuba in 2001. -

A modest, yet intriguing bronze, Vertical Form (1983) is a particularly exquisite work by Agustín Cárdenas. The perforations throughout the form and the whittling and widening of the sculpture’s extremities beckon fascination and investigation. Rich brown patina glazes this solid yet elegant bronze sculpture adding a richness and smoothness only Cárdenas could accomplish. The verticality of the work as it erupts from its marble base, as well as the sumptuous feeling that it evokes distinguishes this sculpture as a profound example of the artist's compelling style.

Cárdenas

Provenance Private Collection; Paris, France

Exhibition History

Cardenas: Sculptures, 10 March - 10 April 1999. Galerie Trigano, Paris, France

Wifredo Lam + Agustin Cardenas, 9 September - 5 November 2021. Bill Hodges Gallery, New York, NY

Literature

Bill Hodges Gallery. Wifredo Lam + Agustin Cardenas. New York, 2021. p. 32

Please note: this work is mis-dated 1956 in Wifredo Lam + Agustín Cárdenas.

Vertical Form, 1983

Cast Bronze with Brown Patina on Marble Base 15 ½ x 3 ½ x 3 ½ in. (39.4 x 8.9 x 8.9 cm)

Base: 1 ⅝ x 3 ½ x 3 ¾ in. (4.1 x 8.9 x 9.5 cm)

Total: 17 ⅛ x 3 ½ x 3 ¾ in. (43.5 x 8.9 x 9.5 cm)

Signed and Numbered on Bottom Left: Agustin C 3/8

Stamped on Front: Foundry Oceane

Elizabeth Catlett was born on April 15, 1915, in Washington D.C. Her family's story of building community after enslavement carried a strong influence in her life, shaping the ethos of her artistic practice. Catlett's historic body of work engages with race, class, and gender, spanning a variety of mediums. Her sculptures, paintings, and prints offer meditations on both the struggles and the joys within Black life. Responding to segregation and the fight for civil rights, her depictions of sharecroppers and activists were stylistically influenced by Primitivism and Cubism. Catlett attended Howard University and graduated in 1935. Her perspective on an artist's political responsibility was influenced by the professors she encountered there, including celebrated African American figures such as Lois Mailou Jones and Alain Locke. After graduating from Howard, Catlett went on to receive an M.F.A in Sculpture from the University of Iowa.

Dividing her time between New York and Cuernavaca, Mexico, Catlett continued to produce a high volume of work. Over the course of her career, Catlett held over fifty solo exhibitions throughout the United States; in museums such as the Studio Museum of Harlem, New York; and the Neuberger Museum of Art in Purchase, New York. The latter held a fifty-year retrospective of her sculptures, Elizabeth Catlett Sculpture: A 50-Year Retrospective, in 1998. Her archetypal figures, abstracted in wood, stone, clay or bronze into postures of defiance, endurance and, in the case of many mother-and-child images, fiercely protective tenderness, exude a spirit of indomitable hope and will. Catlett's sculptures and prints are in the permanent collections of major institutions and museums, including the New Orleans Museum of Art, Louisiana and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. On April 4, 2012, Elizabeth Catlett passed away at the age of 96. Her legacy still lives through her children, specifically, her son David Mora Catlett, an artist who often worked in collaboration with his mother.

Elizabeth Catlett's sculpture, The Family depicts a father, mother, and child standing and embracing. In bronze with brown patina, the lines of The Family follow the soft curve of her fine carving techniques, making the figure feel at once monumental and timeless. From the portrayal of this heartwarming American family, the artist would continue to find imagery to fuel a revolution, reminding us of the role that art can play in the fight for social justice. As Catlett once proclaimed, “We have to create an art for liberation and for life."

Exhibition History

Masters of Sculpture, 12 May – 31 August 2022, Bill Hodges Gallery, New York, NY

Figuratively Speaking, 2 March – 6 May 2023, Bill Hodges Gallery, New York, NY

Literature

Bill Hodges Gallery, Masters of Sculpture, African Americans, et. al., New York, NY, 2022, illus. p. 23 Bill Hodges Gallery, Masterworks of the African Diaspora, New York, 2023, illus. p. 36

The Family, 2002

Cast Bronze with Brown Patina on Wooden Base

15 ⅛ x 5 1/4 x 5 ½ in. (38.4 x 13.3 x 14 cm)

Base: 2 x 6 ⅛ x 6 ⅛ in. (5.1 x 15.6 x 15.6 cm), Total: 17 ⅛ x 6 ⅛ x 6 ⅛ in. (43.5 x 15.6 15.6 cm)

Initialed: E.C

Provenance

Lewis and Louise Hirchfeld Cullman Collection, New York, NY

Private Collection

Northside Child Development, New York, NY

Private Collection, CA

Bill Hodges Gallery, New York, NY