For #StaffPicksSaturday, Julie Emerson, Assistant Director chose Constellation, 1960, by Dolores “Loló” Soldevilla (1901 - 1971).
Born and raised in Cuba, Loló was a passionate, largely self-taught artist whose career blossomed in the 1950s. Although she did not take up painting and sculpture until her late-forties, Loló was creating abstract paintings and sculptures inspired by geometric forms by 1950 and was soon exhibiting her work in Parisian galleries and Salons, where she had been living and working as Cuba’s cultural attaché since 1949. This time abroad provided her with invaluable exposure to trends in the European avant-garde, which she brought with her when she returned to Cuba in 1956. Loló actively transmitted and promoted this knowledge of new voices of abstraction in Europe—which were simultaneously emerging in Latin America—to fellow artists in Cuba. She also championed abstraction through ambitious international projects and organized the important exhibition "Pintura de hoy: Vanguardia de la Escuela de Paris (Painting Today: The Avant-Garde of the School of Paris)" at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Havana, which introduced Cuban audiences to international abstraction for the first time.
Loló’s paintings, collages and panel constructions explored the dynamics of light, shadow and relief, suggesting movement and rhythm through the use of geometric pattern and color. This oil on masonite work is one of Loló’s Cartas Celestes works, which give the viewer the feeling that they are gazing at constellations in the sky. Inspired by Joan Miró’s series Les Constellations (1939-1944)—which she knew from her time in Paris—these carefully constructed abstract compositions use balance to reflect the movement and transformation of seemingly simple geometric elements within the pictorial plane, creating a transcendent and mystical experience for the viewer.
#LolóSoldevilla, Constellation (Constelación), 1960, oil on masonite, 19 9/16 x 23 7/16 x 1 3/4 inches #SeanKellyNY #DigitalProgramming #ArtKeepsGoing