Blanco y Verde

Media - 2011.27A-B - SAAM-2011.27A-B_2 - 90591
Copied Carmen Herrera, Blanco y Verde, 1960, acrylic on canvas, overall: 4896 in. (121.9243.8 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2011.27A-B, © 1960 Carmen Herrera

Artwork Details

Title
Blanco y Verde
Date
1960
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
overall: 4896 in. (121.9243.8 cm)
Copyright
© 1960 Carmen Herrera
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Mediums
Mediums Description
acrylic on canvas
Classifications
Highlights
Keywords
  • Abstract — geometric
Object Number
2011.27A-B

Artwork Description

 

 

Herrera, who left her native Cuba for New York City in 1939, is best known for crisp, geometric canvases produced during and after a productive five-year sojourn in Paris (1948-53). Even though Herrera felt excluded from the commercial art scene, she interacted with fellow American artists Barnett Newman and Leon Polk Smith, who were also creating geometric works. In Blanco y Verde, Herrera constructed a series of pressure points where green triangles meet the edge of the canvases, or butt up against each other to create an even larger triangular form that opens up pictorial space. The result is a dynamic work that invites viewers to decipher the shifting relationships between color and form.

Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art, 2013

 

 

Description in Spanish

Herrera, quien partió de su Cuba natal hacia Nueva York en 1939, es conocida por sus nítidos lienzos geométricos producidos durante y después de una productiva estadía de cinco años en París (19481953). Aunque Herrera se sentía excluida del ámbito del arte comercial, interactuó con sus colegas, los artistas estadounidenses Barnett Newman y Leon Polk Smith, que también estaban creando obras geométricas. En Blanco y Verde, Herrera construyó una serie de puntos de presión donde la punta de los triángulos verdes toca los bordes de las telas, topándose entre sí hasta crear una forma triangular aun mayor que abre el espacio pictórico. El resultado es una obra dinámica que invita a los espectadores a descifrar las relaciones cambiantes entre color y forma.

Nuestra América: la presencia latina en el arte estadounidense, 2013

Videos

Related Books

OurAmerica_500.jpg
Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art
Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art explores how Latino artists shaped the artistic movements of their day and recalibrated key themes in American art and culture. This beautifully illustrated volume presents the rich and varied contributions of Latino artists in the United States since the mid-twentieth century, when the concept of a collective Latino identity began to emerge. Our America includes works by artists who participated in all the various artistic styles and movements, including abstract expressionism; activist, conceptual, and performance art; and classic American genres such as landscape, portraiture, and scenes of everyday life. 

Exhibitions

Media - 2011.12 - SAAM-2011.12_1 - 77591
Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art
October 24, 2013March 2, 2014
Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art presents the rich and varied contributions of Latino artists in the United States since the mid-twentieth century, when the concept of a collective Latino identity began to emerge. The exhibition is drawn entirely from the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s pioneering collection of Latino art. It explores how Latino artists shaped the artistic movements of their day and recalibrated key themes in American art and culture.

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Media - 2011.27A-B - SAAM-2011.27A-B_2 - 90591
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