Showing posts with label Carmen Herrera. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carmen Herrera. Show all posts
Saturday, November 4, 2017
Sunday, May 28, 2017
Carmen Herrera / Publicolor
Estudiantes de El Bronx dedicarán mural
a artista cubana Carmen Herrera
Nueva York.- Estudiantes del distrito neoyorquino de El Bronx pintarán un mural basado en la obra de la pintora cubana Carmen Herrera el 3 de junio, un homenaje a esta artista residente en Nueva York que recientemente, a los 101 años, vio reconocida por segunda vez su carrera de siete décadas en un museo.
La iniciativa forma parte del programa educativo Publicolor, que busca acercar el diseño a estudiantes desfavorecidos y en este caso permitirá a un grupo de la escuela pública 244 de El Bronx interpretar la obra “Untitled” (1952), que se exhibe en el Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).
“Es una alegría para mí que mi trabajo esté en una escuela pública y más aún que sea pintado por los estudiantes”, dijo Herrera en un comunicado recogido por The New York Times.
A una semana de cumplir 102 años, la artista vendió este miércoles su cuadro “Verticals” en una subasta de la casa Christie’s por más del doble de lo anticipado, 751.500 dólares, una muestra de la fama que ha alcanzado en los últimos años.
A finales de 2016, el Whitney Museum of American Art le dedicó una retrospectiva, la segunda exhibición individual que logra la artista cubana en una longeva carrera que comenzó en los años 50 del siglo pasado, después de la que protagonizó en 1984 en el desaparecido Alternative Museum.
Herrera vendió su primer cuadro a los 90 años y, pese a haber pasado desapercibida durante décadas, sus obras cuelgan en el MoMA de Nueva York, el Hirshhorn Museum de Washington o en la londinense Tate Galerie.
Se trata de la primera vez que los estudiantes del programa Publicolor colaboran con un artista vivo en su preparación hacia la universidad, otro de los objetivos de la organización.
“La implicación de Herrera es un generoso regalo a toda la comunidad”, dijo su fundadora, Ruth Lande Shuman, quien agregó que la meta del proyecto es “llevar el poder de la belleza visual a comunidades que experimentan poco con él”.
El estilo de Carmen Herrera se centra en el minimalismo de la abstracción geométrica, con imágenes que presentan líneas, cuadrados, rectángulos y, rara vez, curvas o segmentos curvos, siempre en dos, a lo sumo tres colores.
(EFE)
Thursday, May 4, 2017
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Monday, June 7, 2010
Carmen Herrera: The "IT" Girl of the Art World!
Last week Gustavo Valdés and I went to visit "Carmen Herrera-Recent Works" at Frederico Seve Gallery at 37 W. 57th St., in the distinguished gallery district of New York. We were not really prepared for the breathtaking impact that caused in us the overpowering installation of Herrera’s new masterpieces.
This exhibition definitely shows the "It" Girl of the Art World-today at her very best.
*
Carmen Herrera/Black and Yellow/Acrylic on canvas/72X72in./2009.
Back in 1980 Ernesto Briel and I, were lucky enough to be introduced to the art of Carmen Herrera by Florencio García Cisneros, a man who deeply appreciated her art as well. Later on we had the privilege of meeting Carmen when Gustavo Valdés curated a show of recent works by Carmen Herrera and Ernesto Briel. The show titled "Duo Geo" was presented in the Fall of 1992 at Jadite Galleries, New York.
Chance had me accompanying scholar and author Diana Alvarez to her interview with Carmen which appeared earlier this year in Linden Line Magazine whose later issue was dedicated to the great Cuban abstractionist. And I was thrilled to be the one taking pictures of the unforgettable event.
*
One of my pictures at Carmen Herrera' studio with Diana at the Window.
In my recent post about Ernesto Briel's Tribute in commemoration of Mariel’s 25th Anniversary I referred to a few artists who were followers of Kazimir Malevich in the years and decades after the Russian master made his art. Some other “few” artists have followed up to now the same line of work and have remained strictly faithful to geometry in art.
In general, the making of visual art is a solitary act. In the art-making-world, a geometric artist is a true solitaire.
They are always labeled as moderns. But are they abstractionists or representational artists?
*
Carmen Herrera / Pasado / Acrylic on canvas / 72X72in. 2010.
Circles, squares, stripes, dots, triangles, etc. are very recognizable shapes. When representing art, what do they mean?
All the elements of what we see as abstract art today were always incredibly present throughout the whole "classic" history of art. That was the most brilliant message I found when reading –as a young man- José Ortega y Gasset's "La deshumanización del arte." These elements are: shape, background, composition, balance, color, harmony, texture, treatment of surface, strokes, visible and unperceivable strokes. Ortega y Gasset sees all these elements as a "glass window" through which we are able to see any "specific theme" in a style chosen by the artist: portrait, landscape, still-life, etc. Ortega y Gasset goes further to explains that, what the "modern artist" does is precisely work with the "glass itself" with the main purpose of finishing the artwork while ignoring the traditional "theme" as an exclusive goal.
Even though the figurative aspect of "classic" art was still present in many of the modern artistic productions of the avant-guard movement, the latter has been under the furious attack of overdoses of self expression. Hence, it’s safe to asseverate that not everything modern was abstract, and neither was Geometric Art.
This exhibition definitely shows the "It" Girl of the Art World-today at her very best.
*
Carmen Herrera/Black and Yellow/Acrylic on canvas/72X72in./2009.
Back in 1980 Ernesto Briel and I, were lucky enough to be introduced to the art of Carmen Herrera by Florencio García Cisneros, a man who deeply appreciated her art as well. Later on we had the privilege of meeting Carmen when Gustavo Valdés curated a show of recent works by Carmen Herrera and Ernesto Briel. The show titled "Duo Geo" was presented in the Fall of 1992 at Jadite Galleries, New York.
Chance had me accompanying scholar and author Diana Alvarez to her interview with Carmen which appeared earlier this year in Linden Line Magazine whose later issue was dedicated to the great Cuban abstractionist. And I was thrilled to be the one taking pictures of the unforgettable event.
*
One of my pictures at Carmen Herrera' studio with Diana at the Window.
In my recent post about Ernesto Briel's Tribute in commemoration of Mariel’s 25th Anniversary I referred to a few artists who were followers of Kazimir Malevich in the years and decades after the Russian master made his art. Some other “few” artists have followed up to now the same line of work and have remained strictly faithful to geometry in art.
In general, the making of visual art is a solitary act. In the art-making-world, a geometric artist is a true solitaire.
They are always labeled as moderns. But are they abstractionists or representational artists?
*
Carmen Herrera / Pasado / Acrylic on canvas / 72X72in. 2010.
Circles, squares, stripes, dots, triangles, etc. are very recognizable shapes. When representing art, what do they mean?
All the elements of what we see as abstract art today were always incredibly present throughout the whole "classic" history of art. That was the most brilliant message I found when reading –as a young man- José Ortega y Gasset's "La deshumanización del arte." These elements are: shape, background, composition, balance, color, harmony, texture, treatment of surface, strokes, visible and unperceivable strokes. Ortega y Gasset sees all these elements as a "glass window" through which we are able to see any "specific theme" in a style chosen by the artist: portrait, landscape, still-life, etc. Ortega y Gasset goes further to explains that, what the "modern artist" does is precisely work with the "glass itself" with the main purpose of finishing the artwork while ignoring the traditional "theme" as an exclusive goal.
Even though the figurative aspect of "classic" art was still present in many of the modern artistic productions of the avant-guard movement, the latter has been under the furious attack of overdoses of self expression. Hence, it’s safe to asseverate that not everything modern was abstract, and neither was Geometric Art.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
CARMEN HERRERA / THE GUARDIAN / Experience: I became a famous artist at the age of 94
'I've made it on to the cover of the New York Times without having to kill anyone.'
Photograph: Caroll Taveras
Five years ago, some of my canvases were included in an exhibition in New York showcasing female geometric painters. There was an element of chance involved – a good friend put my name forward when one of the other artists dropped out. A collector bought five of my pieces, the first I had sold. I was 89 years old; I had been painting full-time for more than 60 years.
Over the decades I had occasional exhibitions and good reviews, but never sold a painting. The type of work I was doing simply wasn't fashionable. There were knock-backs, too, such as a gallery owner who loved my work but wouldn't show it, because I was a woman. Benign neglect, I call it – there was never any malice intended. I suppose I was a little bit ahead of my time and paid for it.
Perhaps if I'd been more aggressive things might have worked out differently, but for me, the work was everything. Recognition and money have never been an issue, painting is simply my vocation.
In 1939, when I met my husband in my native Cuba, I was studying architecture. I had done some sculpting, but after I married Jesse, an English professor, and moved with him to New York, my priorities shifted. I started training at New York's Art Students League, but wasn't satisfied. It was all so academic, and though I felt there was something I needed to express, I wasn't finding a way to do it. It wasn't until we spent some years living in Paris after the war that I made the discovery that was to change the course of my life.
Browsing through some bookstalls on the banks of the Seine, I came across something I simply hadn't known existed. Every two years, Le Salon des Réalités Nouvelles had an exhibition of practically every geometric or minimalist artist in Europe. I opened a catalogue of one and was floored by some of the images I saw. I immediately knew this was the path I wanted to take.
I had to change my way of thinking and feeling about painting, and reject everything I'd been taught. I gave up representational art entirely and started working in the abstract. It was a struggle, but an interesting struggle. I worked very, very hard, and little by little, over many, many years, I came to find my own voice.
Jesse was endlessly supportive and one of the very few people who understood what I was aiming at. Poor man – I inflicted a lot of difficulties in his life. We had to move to neighbourhoods that were cheap but sometimes a little dangerous so I could have a big enough place to paint, and he did this with a lot of grace. I had a secure existence. We had no children, so once Jesse left for work in the morning I'd get any necessary housework out of the way and then paint for hours. Many talented people drop out of art because they can't afford to do it, which is terribly sad. I was a very lucky woman. Even after Jesse died, in 2000, I carried on. I had no choice – my work really needed to come out, it was a necessity, as well as a pleasure.
After those first paintings were bought in 2004, word spread quickly and other pieces were sold. I was in shock for days. Now I have pieces in collections all over the world. Yet perhaps it's been a good thing I was able to work for so many years without recognition. I was left alone to refine and distil my art for decades, paring things down to their essence. I have no regrets, no complaints, and my work is more important to me than ever. I'm not as well as I would like to be, but as soon as I begin painting all my aches and pains disappear.
I don't know how I would have reacted if I had been more successful when I was young. Now it's nice, and I have more money than I could ever have imagined earlier in my life. Yet I'm not overwhelmed by it at all. I've always been a private person, and my work is my private life – I'd resent it if I felt people were intruding when I was trying to paint. But it is very pleasant to be recognised a little bit – I've made it on to the cover of the New York Times without having to kill anyone. All I had to do was get old. The world came to me eventually – I just had to wait 94 years, that's all.
• As told to Chris Broughton
Saturday 20 february 2010
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