Lot Essay
This lot is sold accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Giulio Blanc dated 8/27/93.
In 1927, Amelia Pelaez moved to Paris with her fried the Cuban writer Lydia Cabrera. With a scolarship she had won to study and develop her art, Amelia spent seven years in Europe. There, in an utmost rich "milieu", she attended classes at the Academy of Contemporary Art headed by Fernand Leger. At 37 years old, Amelia's first One-Woman show took place at the prestigious Galerie Zak, formerly at the Place Saint Germaine de Pres.
She exhibited 38 paintings, 21 of which were still lifes of flowers, fish and fruit.(1) Flores, from her delightfull "green period" was one of them.(2) In the foreword to the catalogue, Francis de Miomandre writes "Flowers petrified at the moment of their sunniest blooming, forests observed from the sky and reduced to green ondulations... an enigmatic world locked in itself, surrounded by an enigmatic silence."
Flores brings us back to the roots of the Cuban vanguard movement in painting. Its significance lies both in its emblematic and artistic value. Intimate and introvert, these flowers dare the observer to decipher the mysteries of their creator.
(1) G. Blanc, The Secret Garden of Amelia Pelaez, Miami, July, 1988, p. 26.
(2) Ibid
Amelia Pelaez se traslada a Paris en 1927, acompañada de su amiga, la escritora cubana Lydia Cabrera. Va, becada, a continuar estudios y desarrollar su arte. Allá en Europa, vive siete años y toma clases, con la constructivista Alexandra Exter en la Academia de Arte COntemporáneo de Fernand Leger. Es en la desaparecida Galerie Zak, de la Rue de L'Abbaye, en la plaza de St. Germain des Pres, en donde Amelia, a la edad de 37 años, expone su primera exhibicion individual. Cuelga 38 obras. Veintiuna de ellas naturalezas muertas de flores, peces y frutas. (1) Flores, perteneciente a su feliz "período verde", integra la muestra.(2) EN el catálogo para aquella noche, que segun Lydia Cabrera atrae a mas de 400 asistentes, Francis de Miomandre escribe "Flores petrificadas en el momento de su florecer mas soleado; bosques vistos desde el cielo y reducidos a verdes ondulaciones....un mundo enigmatico encerrado en sí mismo, rodeado de un enigmático silencio."
Flores nos retrotae a la raiz del movimiento pictórico vanguardista cubano. Su autenticidad plástica está dada no solo en su incuestionable valor emblemático sino en la importancia del hecho artístico. Initmistas e introvertidas, estas flores desafian al observador a descifrar los misterios de su pintora-creadora.
1)Giulio V. Blanc, El Jardín Secreto de Amelia Pelaez, Miami, July, 1988, p. 26.
2)Ibid
In 1927, Amelia Pelaez moved to Paris with her fried the Cuban writer Lydia Cabrera. With a scolarship she had won to study and develop her art, Amelia spent seven years in Europe. There, in an utmost rich "milieu", she attended classes at the Academy of Contemporary Art headed by Fernand Leger. At 37 years old, Amelia's first One-Woman show took place at the prestigious Galerie Zak, formerly at the Place Saint Germaine de Pres.
She exhibited 38 paintings, 21 of which were still lifes of flowers, fish and fruit.(1) Flores, from her delightfull "green period" was one of them.(2) In the foreword to the catalogue, Francis de Miomandre writes "Flowers petrified at the moment of their sunniest blooming, forests observed from the sky and reduced to green ondulations... an enigmatic world locked in itself, surrounded by an enigmatic silence."
Flores brings us back to the roots of the Cuban vanguard movement in painting. Its significance lies both in its emblematic and artistic value. Intimate and introvert, these flowers dare the observer to decipher the mysteries of their creator.
(1) G. Blanc, The Secret Garden of Amelia Pelaez, Miami, July, 1988, p. 26.
(2) Ibid
Amelia Pelaez se traslada a Paris en 1927, acompañada de su amiga, la escritora cubana Lydia Cabrera. Va, becada, a continuar estudios y desarrollar su arte. Allá en Europa, vive siete años y toma clases, con la constructivista Alexandra Exter en la Academia de Arte COntemporáneo de Fernand Leger. Es en la desaparecida Galerie Zak, de la Rue de L'Abbaye, en la plaza de St. Germain des Pres, en donde Amelia, a la edad de 37 años, expone su primera exhibicion individual. Cuelga 38 obras. Veintiuna de ellas naturalezas muertas de flores, peces y frutas. (1) Flores, perteneciente a su feliz "período verde", integra la muestra.(2) EN el catálogo para aquella noche, que segun Lydia Cabrera atrae a mas de 400 asistentes, Francis de Miomandre escribe "Flores petrificadas en el momento de su florecer mas soleado; bosques vistos desde el cielo y reducidos a verdes ondulaciones....un mundo enigmatico encerrado en sí mismo, rodeado de un enigmático silencio."
Flores nos retrotae a la raiz del movimiento pictórico vanguardista cubano. Su autenticidad plástica está dada no solo en su incuestionable valor emblemático sino en la importancia del hecho artístico. Initmistas e introvertidas, estas flores desafian al observador a descifrar los misterios de su pintora-creadora.
1)Giulio V. Blanc, El Jardín Secreto de Amelia Pelaez, Miami, July, 1988, p. 26.
2)Ibid