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Lot Essay
Tomás Sánchez is a member of a key group of Cuban artists who, in the 1980s, expanded the horizons of both the subjects and the methods of art in their country. Much of the sense of experimentation and freedom that characterizes Cuban art of the 1990s and into the present time descends from the atmosphere created by artists such as José Bedia, Flavio Garciandía, Rubin Torres Llorca and Tomás Sánchez. These artists, among others, participated in a ground-breaking exhibition called "Volumen 1" seen in Havana in 1981. Many of the participants in this original group have since left Cuba, including Sánchez, who now divides his time between Miami and Costa Rica.
Sánchez began his artistic training in the mid-1960s at the Academia de San Alejandro in Havana, one of the oldest art academies in the Americas. One of the artists who left an indelible mark on the young painter was Antonia Eiriz, one of the great champions of the expressionistic tendencies in Cuban painting of the 1960s and later. The impact of her influence is observed in many of Sánchez's compositions of the 1970s in which he exhibited a raw energy of paint application to define violent and even nightmarish scenes.
The mature art of Tomás Sánchez is dramatically different from his earlier production. Beginning in the late 1970s the artist began turning his attention toward the land. He has stated that childhood memories played a significant role in stimulating his imagination. As a boy he would travel with his family to remote parts of rural Cuba. The forests and mountains of the landscape he observed served as a trigger of his imagination later in life. He has continued to develop this aspect of his art and the oneiric, almost neo-romantic depictions of lakes, hills and remote places has become his signature subject.
The 1996 composition Contemplador de la cascada is a quintessential image of the mature art of Sánchez. A huge waterfall is seen as the principal element of the picture. Its water cascades into a rushing river, bisecting a mountainous forest. One would be tempted to describe this as a scene of pure nature were it not for the solitary figure contemplating the force of nature. A sense of meditation and reflection is virtually always present in these paintings by Sánchez. In the artist's personal life meditation plays a critical role and this is inevitably reflected in his art. In terms of visual tradition, the contemplation of nature as a theme of a work of art connects the work of Sánchez directly with both northern European and North American romantic painters of the 19th century. Among the European masters, German artist Caspar David Friedrich painted and drew numerous scenes in which a single figure or a pair contemplate a vast landscape which served as a metaphor of God and creation. In the United States, the artists of the Hudson River School of landscapists such as Thomas Cole and Frederick Edwin Church, made images that reminded their public of the transcendental values of the American land. The values of nationalistic pride were implicit in the work of virtually all of these American artists.
Landscape paintings by Tomás Sánchez are certainly related spiritually and visually to those by artists mentioned above. Yet this contemporary Cuban artist does not express any of the same sectarian or nationalistic sensibilities. His interests in contemplation and meditation spring more from a personal urge to connect with the primordial forces of nature.
Although many have seen within Sanchez's landscapes specific depictions of places in Cuba (a country to which he often returns), the artist prefers to describe these images as more general evocations of nature. Some of the works have a specific tropical suggestion while others, including the Contemplador are equally redolent of other natural conditions. This painting is an embodiment of the artist's desire to evoke universal truths and values.
Edward J. Sullivan
Sánchez began his artistic training in the mid-1960s at the Academia de San Alejandro in Havana, one of the oldest art academies in the Americas. One of the artists who left an indelible mark on the young painter was Antonia Eiriz, one of the great champions of the expressionistic tendencies in Cuban painting of the 1960s and later. The impact of her influence is observed in many of Sánchez's compositions of the 1970s in which he exhibited a raw energy of paint application to define violent and even nightmarish scenes.
The mature art of Tomás Sánchez is dramatically different from his earlier production. Beginning in the late 1970s the artist began turning his attention toward the land. He has stated that childhood memories played a significant role in stimulating his imagination. As a boy he would travel with his family to remote parts of rural Cuba. The forests and mountains of the landscape he observed served as a trigger of his imagination later in life. He has continued to develop this aspect of his art and the oneiric, almost neo-romantic depictions of lakes, hills and remote places has become his signature subject.
The 1996 composition Contemplador de la cascada is a quintessential image of the mature art of Sánchez. A huge waterfall is seen as the principal element of the picture. Its water cascades into a rushing river, bisecting a mountainous forest. One would be tempted to describe this as a scene of pure nature were it not for the solitary figure contemplating the force of nature. A sense of meditation and reflection is virtually always present in these paintings by Sánchez. In the artist's personal life meditation plays a critical role and this is inevitably reflected in his art. In terms of visual tradition, the contemplation of nature as a theme of a work of art connects the work of Sánchez directly with both northern European and North American romantic painters of the 19th century. Among the European masters, German artist Caspar David Friedrich painted and drew numerous scenes in which a single figure or a pair contemplate a vast landscape which served as a metaphor of God and creation. In the United States, the artists of the Hudson River School of landscapists such as Thomas Cole and Frederick Edwin Church, made images that reminded their public of the transcendental values of the American land. The values of nationalistic pride were implicit in the work of virtually all of these American artists.
Landscape paintings by Tomás Sánchez are certainly related spiritually and visually to those by artists mentioned above. Yet this contemporary Cuban artist does not express any of the same sectarian or nationalistic sensibilities. His interests in contemplation and meditation spring more from a personal urge to connect with the primordial forces of nature.
Although many have seen within Sanchez's landscapes specific depictions of places in Cuba (a country to which he often returns), the artist prefers to describe these images as more general evocations of nature. Some of the works have a specific tropical suggestion while others, including the Contemplador are equally redolent of other natural conditions. This painting is an embodiment of the artist's desire to evoke universal truths and values.
Edward J. Sullivan