Carmen Herrera facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Carmen Herrera
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Herrera laying out a new piece
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| Born | May 31, 1915 Havana, Cuba
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| Died | February 12, 2022 (aged 106) New York City, U.S.
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| Nationality | Cuban American |
| Known for | Painting |
| Style | Minimalism |
| Movement | Abstract Expressionism |
Carmen Herrera (born May 31, 1915 – died February 12, 2022) was a Cuban-American artist. She was known for her amazing abstract paintings. Abstract art uses shapes, colors, and lines instead of showing things exactly as they look. Carmen was a minimalist, meaning she used very simple forms in her art. She was born in Havana, Cuba, and later moved to New York City. Carmen Herrera became famous for her art much later in her life.
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Early Life and Learning
Carmen Herrera was born in Havana, Cuba, on May 31, 1915. She had six brothers and sisters. Her parents, Antonio and Carmela, were important thinkers in Havana. Her father was a captain in the Cuban army. He later became an editor for Cuba's first newspaper. Her mother was a journalist, writer, and a strong supporter of women's rights.
Carmen started art lessons when she was eight. Her teacher, Federico Edelmann y Pinto, taught her discipline. He also taught her the basics of drawing. At 14, she went to the Marymount School in Paris. In 1938, she studied architecture at the Universidad de la Habana in Cuba. She only stayed for one year. There were often revolutions and fighting in the streets. This meant the university was closed a lot. Carmen said that studying architecture opened up "the world of straight lines" to her. This world stayed with her throughout her life.
Moving and Creating Art
In 1939, Carmen married Jesse Loewenthal, an English teacher. She had met him in Cuba. They moved to New York City. From 1943 to 1947, she studied painting. She attended the Art Students League on a scholarship. She also took printmaking classes at the Brooklyn Museum.
In New York, Carmen found it hard to get her art shown. She felt that Cuba might have offered more chances. In 1948, Carmen and Jesse moved to Paris, France. They lived there for almost five years. Paris was a hub for many art styles. Carmen met artists like Theo van Doesburg. She also met thinkers like Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre.
During this time, Carmen started to create her unique style. She used sharp, clear lines and simple shapes. Her art was called "hard edge" and "non-objective." This means it didn't show real objects. Her style was similar to Ellsworth Kelly's work. He was also working in Paris then.
In 1950, Carmen visited Cuba. She painted abstract works with lots of movement and bright colors. She showed these paintings in Havana. But people there did not like them much.
In 1953, Carmen and her husband moved back to New York. They had money problems. Carmen kept working on her clear, simple style. She started to think of her paintings as objects. She became friends with other abstract artists. These included Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman.
Carmen still faced challenges in the art world. Many galleries did not want to show her work because she was a woman. She once said, "the fact that you were a woman was against you." She continued to create art for many years without much recognition.
Carmen's Unique Art Style
Carmen Herrera's art style was shaped by her architecture training. She loved using measurements and tools. She wanted to create orderly art in a busy world. She aimed for the "simplest of pictorial resolutions."
Her work is known for its "signature bold simplicity." It features sharp, clear blocks of color. Often, a strong diagonal line adds energy. Carmen thought about "the line, the paper, about a lot of tiny things that get bigger and bigger... and then a picture comes up."
She believed that "less is more." She painted with her brain, not just her feelings. She thought about how colors worked together. She always tried to make her art simpler and better.
How Carmen Created Her Art
Carmen's creative process was very organized.
- First, she sketched with a pencil on graph paper. She did this every morning by 9:30. She sat by a window looking out at the street.
- Next, she transferred her idea to a small piece of vellum. She used an acrylic paint marker to add color.
- Then, she made a larger version. This helped her see if her idea still worked.
- If she liked it, her assistant, Manuel Belduma, would help. He would map out the lines with tape on a canvas. Carmen watched closely.
- Finally, the painting began. Carmen usually put on the first layer of paint. Manuel added more layers.
- Once finished, she would place the art around her studio. She would study it. Sometimes, she would even start over. She always wanted to make her art as simple as possible. Manuel also helped with materials and daily studio tasks. He was a very important part of her artistic journey.
Important Works and Ideas
Carmen Herrera's art is known for its "geometric abstractions." She often used just two colors in her paintings. Yet, they created a feeling of endless space. She developed these ideas in Paris. She was inspired by artists like Kazimir Malevich and Piet Mondrian.
Her art is important for its geometric shapes. But many of her works also show the natural world. For example, her series Blanco y Verde (White and Green) from 1959 is about landscapes. She used horizontal lines to create a horizon. A diagonal line added a focal point, like in many landscapes. The white and green colors also captured the feeling of nature.
Carmen also experimented with the shape of her canvases. She wanted to show how a circular canvas, for example, "wanted to roll." She used arrows and other shapes to show movement. She also explored how triangles could be used in her art.
Becoming Famous Later in Life
For many years, Carmen Herrera was not widely known. She sold her first artwork when she was 19. But she only had one major show before the 2000s. This was in 1984 at the Alternative Museum in New York. Her first solo art exhibition in New York came over 50 years after she moved there. This was partly because of how women artists were treated. Also, being Cuban-American was a challenge.
Everything changed for Carmen in 2004. Her friend, the painter Tony Bechara, suggested her work to Frederico Sève. Sève owned the Latin Collector Gallery in Manhattan. He was planning a show of female geometric painters. An artist had dropped out. When Sève saw Carmen's paintings, he loved them. He thought they were similar to Lygia Clark's work. But he found out Carmen's paintings were done ten years earlier!
Even though she lived in the U.S. for most of her life, she was often called a Cuban-American artist. Carmen was proud of her heritage. But she did not want her art to be linked to one country or group. She kept her art separate from politics, even during the Cuban Revolution.
Carmen Ramos, a curator at the Smithsonian, noted that Carmen was rarely seen as an American artist. Her later success often highlighted her Latin American background. This sometimes hid the fact that she was an artist living and working in the U.S.
Exhibitions and Recognition
Carmen Herrera's art was shown in many places. She exhibited at the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles in Paris starting in 1949. She had solo shows in New York at various galleries. In 1998, El Museo del Barrio in New York held an exhibition of her black and white paintings.
In 2005, Latincollector held a big show called Carmen Herrera: Five Decades of Painting. In 2007, they showed her wooden sculptures for the first time. Her art was also shown at the Ikon Gallery in England in 2009. It then traveled to Germany.
In 2016, she had important exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of Art and the Lisson Gallery. In 2020, her work was shown at The Museum of Fine Arts Houston. She also had a breakthrough exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art.
Whitney Museum of Art Exhibition
From September 2016 to January 2017, the Whitney Museum of American Art showed Carmen Herrera: Lines of Sight. This was her first museum exhibition in almost 20 years. It featured over 50 works from 1948 to 1978. These included paintings, drawings, and sculptures. The show was organized in time order. It had sections for different periods of her work. One section focused on her famous Blanco y Verde series. This was a collection of paintings she thought were her most important. The exhibition also showed her experimental pieces. Many of these had never been seen by the public before.
Estructuras Monumentales
Estructuras Monumentales was Carmen Herrera's first major outdoor sculpture exhibition. It was shown in City Hall Park in Manhattan from July to November 2019. Carmen first thought of these sculptures in the 1960s. She made sketches that turned her paintings into 3D forms. But these works were never built until this exhibition. This show allowed people to see her "estructuras" (structures) in a public space for the first time.
Film About Carmen
In 2014, filmmaker Alison Klayman started a documentary about Carmen Herrera. The film, called The 100 Years Show, came out in 2015. It was later released on Netflix and Vimeo.
The documentary showed Carmen's life as she approached her 100th birthday. It explored her childhood, her later years, and how she finally became famous. The film received many good reviews. It also made more people interested in Carmen's amazing art.
Later Years and Passing
In her later years, Carmen could no longer walk. She lived at home with full-time caregivers. Her close friend and neighbor, Tony Bechara, helped her with artistic ideas. Manuel Belduma also continued to assist her.
Carmen often said that the "beauty of the straight line" kept her going.
Carmen Herrera passed away on February 12, 2022. She was 106 years old.
Images for kids
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Herrera laying out a new piece
See also
In Spanish: Carmen Herrera (pintora) para niños
