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Cerulean

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Cerulean

Artist (Cuban, 1915 - 2022)
Date1965
MediumAcrylic on canvas in artist's frame
Dimensions69 1/8 × 68 1/4 × 1 5/8 in. (175.6 × 173.4 × 4.1 cm)
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2016.27
Signedverso: "CERULEAN" Carmen Herrera - 1965
Accession number 2016.27
On View
Not on view
Provenanceto Private Collection; to (Phillips, New York, NY), November 16, 2016, sale NY010716, lot 1; purchased by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR, 2016
Label TextCarmen Herrera embraces shape, stepping away from the long history of painting as framed rectangles and transforming a familiar square into a surprising diamond.

Herrera studied architecture and art in her native Cuba. The complexity of three-dimensional space deeply informs her paintings. This can be seen by the white lines appearing to move out from the center of Cerulean. Though flush against the wall, the artist refers to her abstract paintings like this one as “a cut in space.”

Carmen Herrera se ocupa de la forma, alejándose de la larga historia de la pintura presentada en rectángulos enmarcados y transformando el familiar cuadrado en un sorprendente rombo.

Herrera estudió arquitectura y arte en su Cuba natal. La complejidad del espacio tridimensional ejerce una profunda influencia en sus pinturas. Ello puede apreciarse en las líneas blancas que parecen irradiar del centro de Cerúleo. Aunque la obra se apoya nivelada sobre la pared, la artista se refiere a sus pinturas abstractas como esta en términos de “un corte en el espacio”.
Photography by Edward C. Robison III.
Gary Thomas Erbe
2012
Photography by Edward C. Robison III.
Emma Amos
1967
Photography by Edward C. Robison III
Tom Uttech
2009
Image courtesy of the artist. Photo: Jordan Spencer.
Suchitra Mattai
2019
Photography by Edward C. Robison III.
Ma Pe Wi (Velino Herrera)
ca. 1940
Photography by Edward C. Robison III.
Ma Pe Wi (Velino Herrera)
ca. 1940
Photography by Edward C. Robison III
Emil Lukas
2012
Photography by Dwight Primiano
Kenneth Noland
1959
Photography by Edward C. Robison III.
Kerry James Marshall
1995
Photography by Edward C. Robison III.
Gene Davis
1964