Equilibrio

Carmen Herrera Cuban

Not on view


Herrera has been a groundbreaking figure in geometric abstract painting since the 1940s, marking arguably the longest sustained investigation of the idiom. As its title suggests, this bilaterally symmetrical composition contains formal oppositions that the artist brought into balance. A stack of three flat black isosceles triangles stands against a white ground. 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, whom Herrera has described as a "minimalist."

Equilibrio, Carmen Herrera (Cuban, Havana 1915–2022 New York), Acrylic on canvas

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