Photo By Gail

With an expressive composition of interwoven shapes in black, red and orange, Carmen Herrera’s  Iberic (1949) oscillates between the geometric and the organic. Herrera painted this work during a formative period in Paris between 1948 and 1954, when she experimented with different modes of abstraction informed by the European avant-gardes, from Suprematism to the Bauhaus.  For Iberic, however, she was inspired by the work of fellow Cuban artist and close friend, Wilfedo Lam. Of historical significance is the fact that Herrera is arguably the first artist in Europe to use acrylic paint, as early as 1948. Iberic is a demonstration of her pioneering use of this medium.

Carmen Herrera passed away on February 12th, 2022 at the age of 106 years!

Photographed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.