Equilibrio

2012
Not on view
Herrera was a groundbreaking figure in geometric abstract painting starting in the 1940s, making her arguably the artist with the longest sustained exploration of the genre. As its title suggests, this symmetrical composition contains formal oppositions that the artist brought into balance. A stack of three flat isosceles triangles stands against a simplified background. The black and white areas of Herrera’s painting oscillate visually between positive and negative shapes. The painting’s stark, reductive palette manifests the artist’s study of seventeenth-century Spanish Baroque painting, which often features pronounced highlights and shadows—particularly the work of Francisco de Zurbarán (1598–1664), whom Herrera had described as a "minimalist."

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Equilibrio
  • Artist: Carmen Herrera (Cuban, Havana 1915–2022 New York)
  • Date: 2012
  • Medium: Acrylic on canvas
  • Dimensions: 48 × 60 in. (121.9 × 152.4 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Estrellita and Daniel Brodsky, in celebration of the Museum's 150th Anniversary, 2019
  • Object Number: 2019.476
  • Rights and Reproduction: © Carmen Herrera; Courtesy Lisson Gallery
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

Audio

Cover Image for 2092. Carmen Herrera, Equilibrio

2092. Carmen Herrera, Equilibrio

Gallery 922

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NARRATOR: Equilibrio, painted in 2012, is representative of Carmen Herrera’s decades-long career as an artist practicing geometric abstraction. Iria Candela is the Estrellita B. Brodsky Curator of Latin American Art in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art.

IRIA CANDELA: It's very impactful; you have a sense of monumentality in a composition that is visually very striking and stimulating and is about the equilibrium of geometric shapes within the picture frame.

NARRATOR: Geometric abstraction is a modern art trend based in rationalism and logic that started in Europe in the early 1920s. The inverted triangles balance on point and share a vertical axis, creating a dynamism and at the same time a sense of balance.

The crisp geometry evokes a hard-edged feeling that is reinforced by the stark palette. Some of Herrrera’s paintings feature bold colors like red and green, but she comes back to this combination over and over again.

IRIA CANDELA: Black and white is what really allows her to concentrate more specifically on the compositional aspect of the painting, on the geometric forms to be really highlighted and expressed.

NARRATOR: The acrylic paint is applied without a hint of texture—an attempt to eliminate evidence of the artist’s hand at work.

Born in 1915 in Havana, Cuba, Herrera is one of a number of Latin American artists who made their way to Europe and North America. She studied in Paris before returning home to study architecture and finally settling in New York City in the 1950s.

IRIA CANDELA: She actually was a friend of all the artists of the New York School of her generation, but she remained completely unknown in the city and internationally for many, many decades.

NARRATOR: She began to gain recognition in the nineties, and she continues to make art, with the help of her studio assistants.

IRIA CANDELA: She is now 103 years old, and she’s still working in her studio downtown in Manhattan. So we can revisit her and the audience can get to know her better. 

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