Despite being short-lived, the constructivist art movement has had a significant influence on the artistic movements that followed. In this lesson, we will define constructivism and explore some examples that illustrate the style.
What is Constructivism?
In 2014, Kara Walker unveiled her newest work ‘Sugar Baby’ at the old Domino Sugar factory in Brooklyn, New York. Walker’s piece – a giant sphinx made of sugar – is a powerful commentary on the capitalist origins of slavery, but it quickly received attention for the ways in which white audiences chose to interpret or engage with the work. The dialog around Walker’s sculpture, though difficult at times, is an important reminder of the power of constructivism.
In the context of artistic movements, constructivism was a concept that emerged from Russia in the early 20th century. At its core, constructivism operates from the position that art should serve a social purpose that extended beyond aesthetics. Shepard Fairey’s ‘Hope’ image, for example, is a now iconic piece from Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign that was used to send a particular message about social change and the state of American politics.
Critical of the idea of art for art’s sake, the constructivist movement originally began with the idea that art should be used to emphasize how its materials and ideas could make a communist society stronger or more productive. This idea, however, was short-lived, as many within the movement still found considerable value in the power of art as a means of social critique and cultural analysis. Ultimately, the latter of these two arguments was successful, and the concept of constructivism in support of a communist state declined in the 1920s.
Aesthetically Appealing and Utilitarian
In its earliest form, constructivism was literally based on the importance of construction. For example, artists might use glass or wood to construct their art. Rather than simply being an aesthetic choice, the intent was to emphasize the material, and propose new ways that they could be used to strengthen society, literally and figuratively.
Take, for example, ‘Monument to Commemorate the Third International’, by the early constructivist artist Vladimir Tatlin. It was originally designed to be the headquarters of Russia’s Communist International Party (the Third International), but was never actually built. It remains only in the form of a scale model. Tatlin’s intention was for it to be a massive structure that towered over other monuments of the world, and celebrated the industrial achievements of Communism, through the use of a modern design and materials like glass, iron, and steel.
The concept of constructivism had a significant influence on the Bauhaus, a German art and design school that operated between 1919 and 1933. During this time, modernism was gaining in popularity along with the broader avant-garde movement that was spreading across Europe and into the United States. Like constructivism, the objective of the Bauhaus school was to blend design, industrial production and art, thus creating works that were aesthetically appealing and socially significant and utilitarian.
In both the work of Tatlin and the artists that emerged from the Bauhaus school, there is a noticeable shift away from the sentimental or subjective appeal that was present in art of the previous century. Instead, this new constructivist approach demonstrated how art could be integrated into a future oriented industrial society.
Constructivism in Two-Dimensional Art
The strongest examples of early constructivism are those that use materials in a new way to convey ideas of utilitarian potential, but the idea of constructivism extends well beyond that into areas like painting and photography.
In ‘Pure Red Color, Pure Yellow Color, Pure Blue Color’ (1921), for example, constructivist painter Alexander Rodchenko reduced the art of painting to its simplest form, in a tryptic of colored squares. Rodchenko’s painting is a symbolic representation of the Virgin Mary’s robes, but it is intended to challenge the conventional thought and emotional investment in painting. By reducing the romanticism of earlier paintings to their basic primary colors, the artist emphasized the materials being used (primary paint colors), and effectively rejected the sentimental notions that are often attached to art.
In many ways, constructivism has always had strong ties to politics, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the agitprop movement of the early 20th century. Combining the words ‘agitation’ and ‘propaganda’, the agitprop movement used bold, bright colors to convey political messages or ideas, in posters or advertisements, much like the Obama ‘Hope’ poster referenced earlier.
Agitprop uses bold and bright graphic design to promote political parties or causes, as in this work by Vladimir Mayakovsky.
Despite a less obvious emphasis on the materials being used to create the art, agitprop remains an important and popular form of constructivism. In this case, the fundamental elements are still present: art that serves a social, rather than individual purpose. Vladimir Mayakovsky’s ‘Want it? Join’ poster, for example, encourages citizens to support or join the shock brigades of so-called super laborers who were overly productive members of industrial society. Lesson Summary Constructivism was an artistic movement that emerged from Russia in the early 20th century. Taking a productive or utilitarian perspective, constructivist artists highlighted construction over aesthetics in order to emphasize the potential of the materials. Early constructivist Vladimir Tatlin, for example, used a column of winding steel in his ‘Monument to Commemorate the Third International’ as a celebration of industrialism.
As the movement spread across Europe, its influence grew, particularly with the Bauhaus School, which blended industrial production and art to create designs that were aesthetically pleasing and functional. While architecture was significant in the movement, painters like Alexander Rodchenko created constructivist works that challenged conventional ideas and sentimental attachments to art.
Finally, the agitprop works of artists like Vladimir Mayakovsky serve as a strong reminder of the movement’s political and nationalistic origins. Using bold and bright graphic designs, agitprop became a useful tool in the early 20th century for promoting political messages and propaganda.
“At the beginning of my journey as a visual artist, my only goal was to be able to express my interest in perceptual effects and optical illusions through the use of geometry; highlighting that discrepancy that exists between our perceptual judgement and the actual physical character of the original stimulus. Hence, my obsession with forms within forms, hiding and revealing them to the eye, supported by the brilliance of color, like in those vintage kaleidoscopes of my childhood.”
Ernesto Briel was born in Guanabacoa, Cuba in 1943. With a particular interest in scenography, Briel worked as a painter, producer, and set designer, and briefly as an actor. He studied painting at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes San Alejandro and design at the Escuela Nacional de Diseño in Havana, Cuba, and later photography at the Parsons School of Design in New York. In 1969, he founded the Grupo Cubano de Arte Óptico with fellow artists María Irene Fornés, Helena Serrano, and Armando Morales, becoming the most representative and methodic artist of the genre. Feeling ostracized by the Cuban regime due to persecution directed at his sexual orientation, he migrated to the US through the Mariel boatlift mass emigration in the spring of 1980. Soon after his arrival to the US, he participated in the exhibit “Three Cuban Painters” at Middlesex County College, Edison, New Jersey in 1982. In 1992, the Jadite Galleries in New York City, NY presented the exhibit “Two Geometric Artists,” that featured Briel alongside Carmen Herrera’s pieces. Following Briel’s passing from AIDS-related complications in 1992, the Jadite Galleries in New York held a posthumous solo exhibition on the artist. His work is in various public collections nationally and globally, including the Jersey City Museum in Jersey City, New Jersey, the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Havana, Cuba, and the Housatonic Museum of Art in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Rather than leading the birth of a new aesthetic movement, Briel explored the pre-established confines of concrete abstraction through the use of three elementary geometrical figures: the circle, the square, and the triangle. Layered on top of these basic, recognizable shapes are the use of repetition, superposition, and displacement, creating a formal mixture and vocabulary that speaks on the growth of modernity within our developing world. Compared often to the mystic work of Hilma af Klint, the reserved, enigmatic nature of the artist’s works reveal the assertion the painter had with the idea of a dimension beyond the tangible; a space where the organic visuals the natural eye sees merge with the barely visible optics to create illusions and creative effects that emerge as ocular vibrations, striking juxtapositions, and unique perceptions that distort conventional visuals.
Ernesto Briel Untitled, mid-1960s India ink and corrective fluid on paper 21 1/8 x 29 inches 53.34 x 73.66 cm.
Ernesto Briel Untitled, ca. 1971 Indian ink on paper 10 3/4 x 7 1/4 inches 27.31 x 18.42 cm.
Ernesto Briel Untitled, ca. 1971 Indian ink on paper 10 3/4 x 7 1/4 inches 27.31 x 18.42 cm.
Ernesto Briel Untitled, ca. 1971 Indian ink on paper 10 3/4 x 7 1/4 inches 27.31 x 18.42 cm.
Ernesto Briel Untitled, ca. 1971 Indian ink on paper 10 3/4 x 7 1/4 inches 27.31 x 18.42 cm.
Ernesto Briel Untitled, ca. 1971 Indian ink on paper 10 3/4 x 7 1/4 inches 27.31 x 18.42 cm.
Ernesto Briel Untitled, ca. 1969 Indian ink on paper 16 1/4 x 21 1/4 inches 41.28 x 53.98 cm.
Ernesto Briel Untitled, ca. 1960s Indian ink on cardboard 9 1/2 x 12 3/4 inches 24 x 33 cm.
Ernesto Briel Different Directions, 1988 acrylic on canvas 48 x 36 inches 122 x 91 cm.
Ernesto Briel El Faraon, 1987 acrylic on canvas 48 x 48 inches 122 x 122 cm.
Ernesto Briel Darksome Night No. 4, 1986 acrylic on canvas 48 x 36 inches 122 x 91 cm.
Ernesto Briel Darksome Night No.2, 1986 acrylic on canvas 24 x 24 inches 61 x 61 cm.
Ernesto Briel Shape of Light, 1986 acrylic on canvas 24 x 24 inches 61 x 61 cm.
Ernesto Briel Day, 1990 acrylic on canvas 10 x 30 inches 25 x 76 cm.
Ernesto Briel Night, 1990 acrylic on canvas 10 x 30 inches 25 x 76 cm.
Ernesto Briel Untitled, 1992 acrylic on canvas 42 x 64 inches 106 x 162 cm.
Ernesto Briel Untitled, 1992 acrylic on canvas 42 x 24 inches 106 x 61 cm.
Ernesto Briel Untitled, 1992 acrylic on canvas 42 x 24 inches 106 x 61 cm.
ERNESTO BRIEL Born in 1943 in Guanabacoa, Cuba Died in 1992 in New York City, NY
EDUCATION 1961-1964 Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes “San Alejandro,” Havana, Cuba
1976-1980 Escuela Nacional de Diseño, Havana, Cuba
1989 Photography. Parsons School of Design, New York, NY
AWARDS 1968 Acquisition Award. Salón Nacional de Dibujo, Galería de La Habana, Havana
1988-1989 Cintas Fellow in Visual Arts. Cintas Foundation, Institute of International Education, New York
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba Museo de Bellas Artes Ignacio Agramonte, Camagüey, Cuba Palacio de la Revolución, Havana Miami Dade College, Miami, Florida Cintas Foundation, Institute of International Education, New York Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport, Connecticut Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, New Jersey
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2020 Ernesto Briel. Iridescent Geometries Juan Carlos Maldonado Art Collection, Miami, Florida
2017-2018 Ernesto Briel S2 Gallery, Sothebys, London, England
2016 Essential Ars Atelier, Paris, France
Merging Roads: The Art of Ernesto Briel and Cepp Selgas Jadite Galleries, New York
2011 Ernesto Briel: Le Monde Géométrique
2005 Tribute to Ernesto Briel [In Celebration of Mariel 25 The Wolfson Gallery. Miami Dade College, Miami, Florida
2000-2001 The Eye of the Beholder [with Jesús Selgas] Ars Atelier, Union City, New Jersey
1994 An Exhibition of Works by Ernesto Briel Jadite Galleries, New York
1992 Briel & Selgas. Recent Works Chuck Levitan Gallery, New York
Duo Geo [with Carmen Herrera] Jadite Galleries, New York
1991 Briel: Now Geo Taller Boricua Gallery, New York
1988 Briel. Paintings [with Jesús Selgas] Riverón Arts Center, West New York, New Jersey
The Geometric Eye. Paintings, assemblages [with Jesús Selgas] West Dade Regional Library, Miami, Florida
1974 Ernesto Briel Sala Martínez Villena, Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba (UNEAC), Havana, Cuba
1971 Ernesto Briel. Exposición de Dibujos Galería de La Habana, Havana, Cuba
1968 Dibujos OP. Armando Morales. Ernesto Briel Galería La Rampa, Hotel Habana Libre, Havana
1967 Dibujos OP-POP Galería de Santa Clara, Santa Clara, Las Villas, Cuba
1966 Morales y Briel. Dibujos OP y POP Galería de Arte, Galiano y Concordia, Havana, Cuba
PUBLICATIONS
Briel Luzardo, Ernesto. Ernesto Briel. Exposición de Dibujos, Galería de La Habana, Havana, [illus.], May 7, 1971. (Catalogue).
_________(et.al). “[introductory text of Grupo Cubano de Arte Optico].” Grupo Cubano de Arte Óptico. Centro Arte Internacional, Havana [illus.], October 4-28, 1978. (Catalogue).
Memoria: Cuban Art of the 20th Century. International Arts Foundation, Los Angeles, California, 2002.
Ernesto Briel and the Geometric Abstraction. CD Rom [open edition- digital publication], The Estate of Ernesto Briel, New York, 2009.
Ernesto Briel-Homenaje. Ars Atelier City Magazine [special edition-issue 0], New York-Paris, Winter 2010.
Ernesto Briel: Celebrating the 70th Birthday of a Masterful Cuban Artist. Ars Atelier City Magazine [Essential Collection], New York-Paris, November 2013.
PAULY, Adriana. “Latin Kinetic and Op Artists at El Museo del Barrio.” Art Report, http://artreport.com/, February 10, 2016.
RAYNOR, Vivian. “Art; Prints and Drawings By Latin Americans.” The New York Times, New York, July 1, 1990.
VALDÉS, Gustavo. “Ernesto Briel. El Pintor y su Obra.” La Razón Newspaper, Union City, New Jersey, November 3-9, 1990.
_________. “Entrevista a Ernesto Briel.” La Razón Newspaper, Union City, New Jersey, February 15-21, 1992.
_________. DUO GEO. Jadite Galleries, New York, September 24-October 6, 1992. (Catalogue). _________. Briel. Recent Works. Chuck Levitan Gallery, New York, March 24-April 4, 1992. (Catalogue). _________. “El Color de la Palabra.
32 Artistas Cubanos.” Stet, Edición Especial, New York, Vol. I, No. 2 [illus.], p.13, 1992
_________. “Ernesto Briel: Heart and Soul”. Tributo to Ernesto Briel [In Celebration of Mariel 25] Miami Dade College Art Gallery System, Miami, Florida, June 2005. (Catalogue).
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2019-2020 Lost Loss Preview Digital Platform along with Feliciano Centurion and Leonilson, London, England. In collaboration with Cecilia Brunson Projects.
2016 In Focus / On Paper: Op Art from Latin America Jadite Galleries, New York
The Illusive Eye (An International Survey of Kinectic and Op Art) El Museo del Barrio, New York
2010-2011 La otra realidad. Una historia del arte abstracto cubano Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba
2008 Reflections: Contemporary Cuban Art Silvermine Guild Arts Center, New Canaan, Connecticut
2004 Strictly Geometric Agustín Gaínza Fine Cuban and Latin American Art, Miami, Florida
1995 Art-Exhibit and Silent Auction of Works by Contemporary Artists to Benefit FAITH Services Jadite Galleries, New York The Geometric Abstraction Vista Gallery, New York
1991 Contemporary Caribbean Artists Creative Arts Workshop Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut
1990 Paper Visions II Biennial of Contemporary Latin American Artists. Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport, Connecticut
Day Without Art The Clocktower Gallery, New York
Mariel: A Decade After Cuban Museum of Arts & Culture, Miami, Florida
1989 Contemporary: Juxtaposing Perceptions Museum of Contemporary Hispanic Art (MOCHA), New York
In Search of the American Experience The Museum of National Arts Foundation, New York
New Names, New Works Santa Fe East Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
1988-1989 Expresiones Hispanas 88/89. Coors National Hispanic Art Exhibition and Tour Mexican Cultural Institute, San Antonio, Texas Southwest Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California. Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, Arvada, Connecticut. Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, California. Millicent Rogers Museum, Taos, New Mexico. Center for the Fine Arts, Miami, Florida
1988 Small Wall Works Amos Eno Gallery, New York
1987 Pride & Prejudice The Phillip Stansbury Gallery, New York
1985 Sotheby’s Casita Maria. Sotheby’s, New York
1983 Fine Arts Exhibition for the Festival de Las Artes Tamiami Park, Dade County, Florida
18 After Three Consolidate Bank, Miami, Florida
1979 Grupo Cubano de Arte Óptico. Exponen Centro de Arte Internacional, Havana, Cuba
XVIII Primi Int. de Dibuix Joan Miró Barcelona, Spain
Salón de Artes Plásticas UNEAC Centro de Arte Internacional, Havana, Cuba
1978 Salón de Artes Plásticas UNEAC Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana
1977 Exposición de Artes Plásticas. Homenaje al II Congreso de la UNEAC y al 60 Aniversario de la Revolución de Octubre Centro de Arte Internacional, Havana, Cuba
1971 Salas Cubanas Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba
International Book Art Show Leipzig, Germany
1970 Salón 70 Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba
1969 Salón Nacional de Artes Plásticas [drawing, engraving and experimental techniques] Centro de Arte Internacional, Havana
Joven Pintura de Cuba. ALGERIA/ U.S.S.R./MONGOLIA/KOREA.
1968 Salón Nacional de Dibujo Galería de La Habana, Havana, Cuba
1967 Salón Provincial de Artistas Noveles Galería de Arte, Galiano y Concordia, Havana, Cuba
1965 Salón UNEAC Galería Centro de Arte Internacional, Havana, Cuba
1964 Duodécima Exposición Anual de Artistas Noveles Lyceum, Havana, Cuba
Bienal de Artistas Noveles de Cuba Centro de Arte Internacional, Havana, Cuba
1961 El Arte en las Fábricas y en la Calle el 26 de Julio de 1961 Galería Municipal, Havana, Cuba.
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NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale Announces New Exhibition: Confrontation: Keith Haring & Pierre Alechinsky
NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale Announces New Exhibition: Confrontation: Keith Haring & Pierre Alechinsky
On view from February 27 through October 2, 2022, this is the first exhibition dedicated to exploring the historic and visual intersections of Haring and Alechinsky
Fort Lauderdale, Fla — Beginning February 27 through October 2, 2022, NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale will present Confrontation: Keith Haring and Pierre Alechinsky, the first exhibition dedicated to exploring the historic and visual intersections between American street artist and art activist Keith Haring (1958-1990) and virtuosic Belgian painter, Pierre Alechinsky (b. 1927), the last surviving member of the European avant-garde art movement, CoBrA.
In 1977, while studying at the Ivy School of Professional Art in Pittsburgh, the then 19–year-old Keith Haring visited the Museum of Art at the Carnegie Institute, where he encountered a retrospective of Pierre Alechinsky. Throughout Haring’s renowned career, he would credit the experience of seeing Alechinsky’s work at the Carnegie as a watershed moment for him as an artist. In interviews, Haring would repeatedly describe the sudden “rush of confidence” he had when he saw Alechinsky’s self-generating shapes and framing devices, which were so similar to his own, but had been realized on a monumental scale. Alechinsky’s expressive and spontaneous lines thrilled Haring, who returned to the exhibition multiple times, studied the exhibition catalog, read Alechinsky’s writings and watched films of him painting enormous canvases on the floor. Haring immediately started working bigger, painting horizontally and incorporating spontaneous drips into his compositions. While Haring maintained a controlled line that was less fluid than Alechinsky’s, this encounter assured him that he was “doing something that was worthwhile.”
The inspiration that Haring derived from Alechinsky early in his career remained a constant throughout his life. In the eighties, Haring visited Alechinsky at his studio in Bougival, France; this experience is preserved through artworks they traded and a forthcoming testimonial written by Alechinsky on the occasion of this exhibition.
Confrontation: Keith Haring and Pierre Alechinsky will draw major attention in celebrating one of the most beloved figures of 20th-century American art, while simultaneously providing a means of access to one of the legends of the European avant-garde. This exhibition differentiates itself from past iterations of Haring presentations through its emphasis on showing the artist’s place within a broader historical lineage that extends to artists beyond American borders. In connecting Haring to Alechinsky and CoBrA, this presentation emphasizes the under-recognized legacy of this key experimental movement, one that eroded artistic and social barriers by bringing work into the streets and adapting non-traditional creative sources including children’s art and pre-historic visual culture in order to instigate social change.
NSU Art Museum’s collection of CoBrA art is the largest in an American museum. CoBrA – an acronym for the three capital cities in which its founding members originated: Copenhagen (Denmark), Brussels (Belgium), and Amsterdam (the Netherlands) – is the international, interdisciplinary, and collective art movement that spanned from 1948-1951.
Confrontation: Keith Haring and Pierre Alechinsky is curated by Ariella Wolens, Bryant-Taylor Curator with Bonnie Clearwater, Director and Chief Curator of NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale. This exhibition is made possible with major support from Dr. David & Linda Frankel, with additional funding from Christie’s, The John and Ljuba Lefebre Family, Linda Nathan Marks & Berenice Fisher, Stephen & Joan Marks, Jacqueline Niehaus, Lee Sider & Greg Stanton and those who wish to remain anonymous.
Special thanks to Pierre Alechinsky, Annelise Ream and The Keith Haring Foundation, Kristen Accola, Bonnie Barnett, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Lauren Nijerk Bogen, Jeffrey Deitch, Galerie Lelong, Suzanne Geiss, Alison M. Gingeras, Gladstone Gallery, Tseng Kwong Chi Estate, the Rubell Family Collection, Rita Krauss, Austin Ma, Kermit & Lisa Oswald, Tony Shafrazi, Kenny Scharf and Larry Warsh.
NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale is located at One East Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301. Face Masks are required in all NSU facilities regardless of vaccination status. For more information, please visit nsuartmuseum.org or call 954-525-5500. Follow the Museum on social media @nsuartmuseum.
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About NSU Art Museum
Founded in 1958, NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale is a premier destination for exhibitions and programs encompassing many facets of civilization’s visual history. Located midway between Miami and Palm Beach in downtown Fort Lauderdale’s arts and entertainment district, the Museum’s 83,000 square – foot building, which opened in 1986, was designed by architect Edward Larrabee Barnes and contains over 25,000 square feet of exhibition space, the 256 -seat Horvitz auditorium, a museum store and café. In 2008, the Museum became part of Nova Southeastern University (NSU), one of the largest private research universities in the United States. NSU Art Museum is known for its significant collection of Latin American art, contemporary art with an emphasis on art by Black, Latinx and women artists, African art that spans the 19th to the 21st-century, as well as works by American artist William Glackens, and the European Cobra group of artists. Two scholarly research centers complement the collections: The Dr. Stanley and Pearl Goodman Latin American Art Study Center and the William J. Glackens Study Center.
Exhibitions and programs at NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale are made possible in part by a challenge grant from the David and Francie Horvitz Family Foundation. Funding is also provided by the City of Fort Lauderdale, Community Foundation of Broward, the Broward County Board of County Commissioners as recommended by the Broward Cultural Council and Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau, the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture. NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale is accredited by the American Association of Museums.
Gertrud Louise Goldschmidt (1 August 1912 – 17 September 1994), known as Gego, was a modern Venezuelan visual artist. Gego is perhaps best known for her geometric and kinetic sculptures made in the 1960s and 1970s, which she described as “drawings without paper”.
Sonia Delaunay was a multi-disciplinary abstract artist and key figure in the Parisian avant-garde. Alongside her husband, Robert Delaunay, she pioneered the movement Simultanism. Her exploration of the interaction between colours has created a sense of depth and movement throughout her oeuvre.
What is her background?
She was born Sonia Illinitchna Stern to a Jewish Ukrainian family. At the age of seven she went to live with her comparatively wealthy uncle Henri Terk and his wife, Anna, in St Petersburg, Russia. The Terks offered her a privileged and cultured upbringing in St Petersburg. Nevertheless, her childhood memories of Ukraine remained with her and she often referred back to the ‘pure’ colour and bright costumes of the Ukrainian peasant weddings.
How did she start her career as an abstract artist?
About 1911 I had the idea of making for my son, who had just been born, a blanket composed of bits of fabric like those I had seen in the houses of Russian peasants. When it was finished, the arrangement of the pieces of material seemed to me to evoke cubist conceptions and we then tried to apply the same process to other objects and paintings.
What does she do?
I always changed everything around me… I made my first white walls so our paintings would look better. I designed my furniture; I have done everything. I have lived my art.
Delaunay’s creativity expanded beyond painting to include many other outlets such as Casa Sonia, an interiors and fashion boutique that she set up 1918; The entire set and costume design of Tristan Tzara’s 1923 play Le Cœur à Gaz; An illustration for the cover of Vogue in 1926; Costumes for the films Le Vertige directed by Marcel L’Herbier and Le p’tit Parigot, directed by René Le Somptier; Furniture for the set of the 1929 film Parce que je t’aime; And her textiles label Tissus Delaunay, which sold her designs worldwide.
What is Orphism?
Orphism is a term originating from 1912 when French poet and art critic Guillaume Appollinaire identified the new style of Cubist painting. Appollinaire was inspired by the work of František Kupka and the Delaunays, who, although channelling the Cubist vision, prioritised colour in their work. Appollinaire felt this use of colour brought movement, light and musical qualities to the artwork and therefore referenced the legendary poet and singer of ancient Greek mythology, Orpheus, when naming the movement.
What is Simultanism?
Simultanism is the strand of Orphism practised by the Delaunays. The name comes from the work of French scientist Michel Eugène Chevreul who identified the phenomenon of ‘simultaneous contrast’, in which colours look different depending on the colours around them. For example, a grey will look lighter on a dark background than it does on a light one. The Delaunays dispensed with form and aimed to created rhythm, motion and depth through overlapping patches of vibrant hues.
Is she religious?
For a very long time I hadn’t believed in God, but I would seek out nature, and I felt the need to fulfil my desires […] Now, I would worship pagan gods; it’s the only religion I recognise. Praying to beauty — there is a great deal of selflessness in that, and a purely aesthetic element which alone ennobles life and makes it love.
Where has she exhibited her work?
As well as a major retrospective at the Kunstmuseum Bielefeld in 1958, Delaunay was the first living female artist to have a retrospective exhibition at the Louvre in 1964. She has also had her work shown at Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris, Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Musée National d’Art Moderne and Tate Modern.
What are her key artworks?
Prismes électriques (Electric Prisms), 1914, displays Delaunay’s trademark concentric circles at their best. Interpreted as an ode to modernity, Delaunay refracts the lights and bustle of Boulevard Saint Michel into almost complete abstraction. Everything disintegrates into colour except two figures, which remain discernible in the lower centre of the piece.
Nu jaune, 1908, juxtaposes the models’ warm yellow skin against lashings of cool emerald. This is one of Delaunay’s most striking uses of tone. The bright colours are frequently offset by black marks. These create a bold and heavy outline which is primitivist in its intention. The face of the model is mask like, suggesting melancholy. Delaunay makes no attempt to depict her as attractive, giving the artwork a brusque, modern feel.
What are her thoughts on colour?
Colour is the skin of the world.
Colour was the hue of number.
One who knows how to appreciate colour relationships, the influence of one colour on another, their contrasts and dissonances, is promised an infinitely diverse imagery.
What techniques did Sonia Delaunay?
The Delaunay couple used Orphism to create non-objective imagery, the significance of which was based on the intensity of the expression that they could create with color on the surface of the canvas.
What was innovative about Sonia Delaunay?
Sonia Delaunay’s innovative explorations of color and form were integral to the development of abstract art in the early 20th century. Initially inspired by quilt patterns, Delaunay eventually incorporated the stylistic concerns of Cubism, Fauvism, … Represented by internationally reputable galleries.
What materials did Delaunay use?
His reputation declined somewhat in the latter part of his career but he continued to experiment with materials such as sand, mosaics and lacquered stone to be used in his acclaimed ‘Reliefs’ series.
What medium did Sonia Delaunay use?
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface. The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and airbrushes, can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action.
Sonia Delaunay’s innovative explorations of color and form were integral to the development of abstract art in the early 20th century. Initially inspired by quilt patterns, Delaunay eventually incorporated the stylistic concerns of Cubism, Fauvism, and Futurism into her bright, geometric paintings and prints. She variously dubbed her style “Orphism” or “Simultaneism” and focused on the possibilities of color combinations. In 1964, Delaunay became the first living female artist to have a retrospective exhibition at the Louvre; her work would later be shown at institutions including the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, the Centre Pompidou, Tate Modern, and Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Delaunay also worked in fashion, interior design, graphics, collage, bookmaking, and textiles—and blurred the boundaries between these disciplines and fine art.
Accomplishments
By matching primary and secondary colors (red with green, yellow with purple, and blue with orange) to create a kind of visual vibration, Robert Dulaunay developed a new type of expressive, abstract paintings. He called this exploration “Simultaneous Contrast,” but the movement became officially known as Orphism and Sonia was one of its chief practitioners.
The Delaunay couple used Orphism to create non-objective imagery, the significance of which was based on the intensity of the expression that they could create with color on the surface of the canvas. They placed lines of primary color beside those of secondary color, understanding that the scientific effect on the eye of such combinations would result in art that could be just as scintillating to the viewer as those depicting a standard view of reality such as a figure reclining on a couch. Their efforts produced a body of work that forced the viewer to experience their pieces visually – yet powerfully.
Sonia Delaunay’s exploration of expressive color in the field of textile design differentiates her significantly from other members of the contemporary avant-garde. Besides designing, making, and selling garments in her own fashion boutique, she was responsible for costume design in a range of the performing arts including theatre and dance. She ended up creating a line of textiles so significant that it was picked up by one of the biggest fabric manufacturers in Europe.
Biography of Sonia Delaunay
Childhood and Education
Sonia Delaunay was born Sara Élievna Stern, the youngest of three children, to impoverished Jewish parents in Odessa, Ukraine. At five, she was sent to live with her mother’s well-off brother, Henri Terk, and his wife in St. Petersburg, Russia. Although her mother never allowed a legal adoption, Delaunay thought of them as her family and took the name Sofia Terk, using “Sonia” as a nickname. She received a good education, had access to great art collections, and traveled Europe spending summers in Finland. At sixteen, Delaunay’s art teacher noticed her talent and encouraged her uncle and aunt to send her to Germany for further art training.
Early Training
Eighteen-year-old Sonia began her studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe in 1904. After two years in Germany, Delaunay moved to Paris to study at the Academie de la Palette. On December 5, 1908 she married her friend Wilhelm Uhde, an art dealer, ensuring that her family wouldn’t be able to force her to come home while also covering for Uhde’s homosexual lifestyle. Uhde gave Delaunay her first one-person show in 1908 featuring numerous portrait studies that demonstrated the early influence of Fauvists like Henri Matisse and introduced her to important art and literary figures, including, in 1909, her future husband, Robert Delaunay.
Sonia married Robert on November 15, 1910 after amicably divorcing Uhde, and their son Charles was born in January 1911. The two were to become one of the art world’s most important partnerships, co-founding Orphism, a variation of Cubist art composed of abstract forms of vibrant color.
Although Delaunay’s early work was in the field of painting, the creation of a patchwork quilt for her son instigated an entirely different direction to her work. She assembled the quilt according to a style she’d seen years earlier in Russia, laying scraps of fabric one beside the other. She was fascinated by the effects of the colors created from these strips once removed from their original context. This interesting discovery, coupled with Robert’s interest in chemist Eugène Chevreul’s theories on color, led the two to create works based on simultaneous color relationships known as Simultanism and soon enough Delaunay began to apply simultaneously contrasted colors not only to paintings, such as Bal Bullier (1912-13), but also to objects, such as cushions, boxes, and clothing.
Delaunay’s refusal to distinguish between the worlds of fine art and crafts, and her friendships with the creative people who gathered at her home on Sundays, resulted in rich a career that included exciting collaborations. Her friendship with poet Blaise Cendrars, for example, led to the creation of a series of “poem-paintings,” including La Prose du Transsibérienn et de la petite Jehanne de France (1913).
Mature Period
Delaunay traveled extensively throughout her life, each location influencing her work. While in Madrid in 1917, she began to design costumes for a production of Cléopâtre. This was just the first of what would become a number of ballet and theatrical performances for which she would provide designs. The following year she opened a design and fashion shop known as Casa Sonia. Never favoring one artistic pursuit over another, she described these diverse endeavors as, “noble work, as much as a still-life or a self-portrait.”
Between the years 1918 and 1935, Delaunay painted very little, devoting herself to parenting and trying to make a living in order to support Robert’s artistic career. She opened a fashion shop featuring her designs in Paris in 1921 which quickly attracted glamorous customers such as Hollywood actress Gloria Swanson. Delaunay’s fabric designs became so popular that she eventually started her own company with Jacques Herm in 1924 and began a relationship with the Holland-based department store Metz & Co. the following year that would last more than three decades. A growing interest in the Dada art movement led to a fashion collaboration with poet Tristan Tzara, creating “dress-poems” with designs featuring color combinations inspired by his words.
Delaunay returned to painting in 1937 when she and Robert were asked to decorate two buildings for the Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne. The murals she created for this commission were well received. After Robert’s death in 1941 things became very difficult and Delaunay survived by selling both her own designs and Robert’s paintings. Being of Jewish heritage she was forced to move frequently during the war, worried that she would be arrested. There was an occasion, in Cannes, when she was questioned regarding her middle name, “Stern.” Apparently she stood her ground and, refusing to show fear, succeeded in boarding her train and escaping capture. Delaunay was acutely aware of the war, frequently hearing gunfire and watching German troop activity from as close as just outside her hotel windows.
Later Period
At the end of the war, in 1944, Delaunay returned to Paris, intent on assuring that Robert’s artistic legacy received proper recognition. When she was confident that this goal had been met she finally began to focus on her own art, concentrating primarily on painting with a series of gouaches in the 1950s called Rhythme coloré. The series explored the power of color, and the inherent rhythm in their combination on the canvas.
In 1964 Delaunay met author and poet Jacques Damase who would eventually become her partner, nurturing her late career by arranging numerous gallery exhibitions as well as the 1967 retrospective of almost 200 works at France’s Musée Nationale d’Art Moderne.
Near the end of her life, Delaunay’s work achieved both acknowledgement in her own country as well as global attention. As a measure of goodwill, French President Pompidou even gifted U.S. President Richard Nixon her painting Rhythme-couleur No. 1633 (1969).
In 1978, a year before she passed away, she helped design costumes for a performance of the play Six Characters in Search of an Author and finally published her autobiography. Having made an impact on both the art and fashion worlds, it was fitting that she chose to be buried in a dress that Hubert de Givenchy had designed for her to wear while attending a reception for England’s Queen Elizabeth.
The Legacy of Sonia Delaunay
Orphism inspired artists such as Paul Klee to explore the effect of non-objective colored shapes. Later, proponents of the Op art movement, such as Bridget Riley, used color and shape to create optically-charged movement and vibration in their works that have connections to Delaunay’s explorations. Kinetic movement artists, such as Yaacov Agam and Alexander Calder, continued this investigation in the third dimension in their sculptural constructions as well. Delaunay’s textile designs extended the range of her influence into fashion, home decor and the theater. Her ability to introduce art into regular life by creating and wearing clothing, and living in spaces that were of her own design, can be seen as an early form of performance art, inspiring contemporary artists such as Marina Abramovic.
OPENING NIGHT – THURSDAY MARCH 3, 2022 (SPECIAL EVENT NIGHT)
FRIDAY-SATURDAY, MARCH 4-5 AT 8:00 PM AND SUNDAY, MARCH 6 AT 6:00 PM
THURSDAY-SATURDAY, MARCH 10-12 AT 8:00PM AND SUNDAY, MARCH 13 AT 6:00PM
THURSDAY-SATURDAY, MARCH 17-19 AT 8:00PM AND SUNDAY, MARCH 20 AT 6:00PM
PERFORMANCE TIME 1 HOUR AND 30 MINUTES. PRE-SHOW COCKTAILS ONE HOUR BEFORE THE SHOW / POST SHOW AT THE END OF EACH PERFORMANCE FOR A NIGHT OF MUSIC AND GREAT DRINKS
Las Lloronas is a hyper-realistic and impactful immersive theater production that introduces the audience to the historical practice of professional mourners and how it was utilized in a fictional Cuban funeral home in the 1950’s and later in Miami, Florida. By utilizing drama and dark humor, the play will show how the practice of hiring professional mourners began as a noble profession designed to assist grieving families and how one llorona distorted the practice into a money-making, criminal enterprise that resorted to extortion and worse.
Las Lloronas will also follow the story of the Perez family from the founding of their family funeral business in Havana, Cuba in the 1950’s, the loss of the business to the Communist regime, their immigration into the United States in the early 1960’s and the restarting of their funeral home in Miami. The play will also show the growth of the business, the introduction of a new generation of family members into the business and the assimilation and partial acculturation of the family and the Cuban community while still struggling to maintain their Cuban customs, culture and traditions.
The audience will be introduced to Little Havana, the epicenter of the Cuban exile experience built on strong Cuban coffee, Cuban food, Cuban music and Cuban work ethic and business sense. The play will emphasize the importance and sanctity of family values.
Las Lloronas is a wild ride through a harrowing epoch of Cuban and South Florida history. It is a saga of family values, nostalgia, crime and corruption, brotherhood and betrayal, power and survival.
WRITER & EXECUTIVE PRODUCER – MIGUEL MASPONS
Miguel Maspons is a corporate lawyer and a third-generation funeral home owner. Miguel was born and raised in Miami, Florida. He attended Christopher Columbus High School, Harvard College and Boston College Law School.
Some of his earliest memories as a child are spending time on the second floor of his family’s funeral home in Miami where his grandfather, Leopoldo Rivero, who founded the family funeral home business in Havana, Cuba and later in Miami, lived with his parents and Miguel’s great-grandparents, Jose Nestor and Rosa “Abuela Tita” Rivero. Miguel’s first job at the age of fourteen was at the family funeral home, where he was responsible for cleaning up funeral chapels after services. Although the family business did not utilize or employ “lloronas” at the funeral home, Miguel is convinced that some of the women that attended the viewings did not know the deceased and came to the viewings as a sign of respect and to grieve with the families. This is where the idea for Las Lloronas was born.
Beginning in high school and continuing through college, Miguel would often write short stories about the funeral home with no intention of ever sharing these stories. Some of the stories were fact and many of the stories were fiction. In 2013, Miguel shared some of his stories with a friend, Juan Soler, an accomplished and award-winning actor, who encouraged Miguel to continue to write.
As a result of Juan’s encouragement, Miguel created a pilot script for a television series based on many of his stories. While working on the pilot script, Miguel was introduced to Miguel Ferro, an accomplished producer and playwright, who agreed to assist Miguel in making Las Lloronas a reality. Without the support and encouragement of his “tocayo”, you would not be experiencing Las Lloronas.
GENERAL PRODUCER – MIGUEL FERRO
As the founder of Venevision International Theatre, Miguel has produced over twenty two plays in Spanish, most notably A $2.50 La Cuba Libre, which evolved into a twelve week run in New York City, Baño de Damas, the world premiere of La Lechuga, which he also presented in Santiago, Chile, Master Class at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts and Puerto Rico, Confesiones de Mujeres de 30, the very successful musical, The Queen, La Lupe, Havana en el Fondo del Mar, Palabras Encadenadas, Sorpresas, and Quien Mato a Hector Lavoe?, among many others. Mr. Ferro was the Executive Producer of the popular talk show Laura, which aired on NBC/Telemundo becoming the most successful in Hispanic television for over five years, the Director of Entertainment of America TV, and more recently Vice President of Production of MEGA TV and Vice President of Programming and productions of MIRA TV as well as the Executive Producer of the two largest AIDS Campaigns targeting the Hispanic community for the State of Florida Department of Health. He was nominated for the Emmy Award for the creation and production of a Florida Department of Health AIDS Campaign and is an Emmy Award winning producer of the show Maria Elvira Live. Mr. Ferro was also the co-founder of Microtheater Miami, and is the creator and founder of Paseo de las Artes and Paseo Wynwood, now Paseo Regency, which has presented more than 500 short plays and one hundred long format plays during the last eight years. Mr. Ferro holds an MBA and MIB from Florida International University. Mr. Ferro is the Vice President of Histepa, Hispanic Theaters and Producers Association, a recently created organization that represents the only eight Hispanic theaters in Miami Dade County. Mr. Ferro was also the co-writer, director, and co-producer of Cuba Under the Stars that opened in December 2020 and ran for sixty-eight shows until March 2021.
DIRECTOR – EDUARDO PARDO
A screenwriter, producer and director of television, radio, film, theater and alternative media, Mr. Pardo graduated as a Social Communicator with a specialty in Audiovisual at the Catholic University. He received the National Award for Audiovisual Journalism 1980 in Venezuela for Síntesis Revista Cultural Televisivo. Pardo has been in the industry for forty-three years, with twenty-seven of them in the USA.
He has worked in mass media with television networks such as RCTV, Venevision, Canal 5 and 8 of Venezuela (Cultural) and has been the director of music videos for the Rodven Venezuelan label. He has been the director, producer and writer of productions for Ecuavisa, Vme (Hispanic PBS in the US), Telemundo, Univision, Fox, Discovery Latin America, Mega TV, Casa Club and MGM, among others, and with international producers such as SEAL (UK), PRISA (Spain), Latin World USA, Promofilm (Argentina) and Estefan Enterprises. He is the designer of television formats and has been the director of reality TV shows in the Hispanic market in the USA with protagonists of Promofilm Argentina for Telemundo. He has been the director of the reality music TV show Nuevas Voces De America, with Estefan Enterprises for Telemundo Network and has been the writer and director of the sports reality show The Final Challenge with Seal UK for Fox Sports USA.
He is also an independent filmmaker and has been the representative of Venezuela in Film Festivals in Montecatini, Laussane, Leicester and Cinema Venezuela USA. He is the creator and director of the radio theater series TeatroAndo and is the creator of digital projects such as Informes del Encierro on YouTube (invited to Miami New Media Fest 2020), Micro virtual live theater and Onstage (theater in virtual reality). Pardo was trained at CELARG (Centro de Estudios Latinoamericanos Rómulo Gallegos) in Venezuela) as a screenwriter and at the Venezuelan Rajatabla foundation as an actor and theater director. Pardo is also a professional trainer and coach for actors and presenters on screen for more than thirty years. He is the author of more than one hundred original plays, with more than eighty productions including three musicals and two macro theater plays. He is the Founder of the T.E.C. Experimental Communications Workshop at the Andrés Bello Catholic University in Venezuela and a founding member of the “Center of Directors for the New Theater” in Venezuela. Pardo was the guest director at international theater festivals with original works such as Juan Telon and Cosas de Niñas. He is also an author, producer and director for Microteatro USA and Container Theater of the Paseo de las Artes, Paseo Wynwood and Paseo Regency Miami. Pardo has presented at seminars on on-screen images, television production, dramaturgy, acting and acting in gibberish for the Miami Dade College and is the author of original books available on Amazon titled TeatroAndo and Bailando con las Musas.
ARTISTIC DIRECTORS – JORGE NOA AND PEDRO BALMASEDA
The tandem made up of Jorge Noa and Pedro Balmaseda are responsible for the artistic, architectural and interior design of this project. They are known and respected within the scenic panorama of Miami for their theatrical designs, as well as for the important work of rescuing the most beautiful traditions of Cuban art. Jorge was born in Camagüey, graduated in Architecture from the Higher Polytechnic Institute in Santiago de Cuba and Pedro was born in Havana and graduated in Dentistry from the University of Havana. Based in Miami since 1998, they run the company Nobarte Interior Designs, Inc. that has created commercial and residential environments throughout South Florida. Nobarte provides scenography and costume design services for various groups in the city, as well as private and corporate events.
They have collaborated closely with Teatro Avante and the Miami International Hispanic Theater Festival and with the Teatro Prometeo of Miami Dade College. Their creations have been used by various theater groups, such as Wolfson Opera/Musical Teatro Ensemble, Arca Images, Pro Arte Grateli, Veritatem Theather, Adriana Barraza Black Box, and many others.
Nobarte was in charge of designing the theatrical version of Que Pasa USA Today by Loud and Live Productions and Amparo, the true story of Havana Club rum, a Broadway Factor production.
Among their own productions, there are La Ultima Función with the Prima Ballerina Rosario Suarez and Juana, De Amor Una Historia, as well as three exhibitions that included their design works: Journey to the Center of the Scene, Brief Realities and A Decade in Prometeo.
They have participated in various international festivals and their creations have been presented on stages in Spain, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Peru, Slovenia and the United States, with excellent critiques.
Cast
ZULLY MONTERO – “ACA”, FOUNDER OF FUNERARIA PEREZ
Montero was born in Santo Suarez, Cuba. At the age of eleven, Montero gathered a group of friends and created her own plays, which were presented to family and friends. Her mother noticed her interest in performing and placed her in La Academia De Arte Dramatico De La Habana (School of Dramatic Arts in Havana, Cuba). When she graduated from school, she participated in a radio talent contest, which was searching for an actress to participate in a radio soap opera. She won the contest and was featured on the show. Montero moved to her uncle-in-law’s home in New York, and they worked to provide food and shelter for their family. There, she began expanding her acting career from theater to television. In 1979, she played Aurelia in the movie El Super. Then in 1990, she appeared in her first on-screen soap opera, El magnate, and today Ms. Montero has more than forty soaps operas, twenty-five feature films and many theater plays.
MAURICIO RENTERIA – “JOSE”, A MOBSTER KNOWN AS THE CUBAN GODFATHER
Mauricio Renteria is a Cuban actor with an international career. Mauricio’s family was recognized in the entertainment industry in Cuba. Mauricio emigrated to Venezuela where he starred in a number of very successful telenovelas, most notably De Oro Puro and Cuando Hay Pasión. Later, Mauricio moved to Miami to continue his career as an actor and participated in a leading role in Telemundo’s hit, De Mente Criminal. Mauricio also has a long and successful career in theater, with Las Lloronas marking his return to the stage after surviving a huge personal battle with cancer. Mauricio is recognized as one of the most influential voices in the entertainment industry in the fight against cancer.
LILI RENTERIA – “MARTA”, FOUNDER OF LAS LLORONAS IN CUBA
Lili Rentería is the daughter of Lilian Llerena and Pedro Rentería, two renowned Cuban actors from stage, film and television. While in her teens, Lili became a popular personality as the conductor of a music television program for the young, and she impressed in Alea’s Los Sobrevivientes (1979), as an ill-fated young lover. In the 1980’s she grew into a first-rate leading actress on stage productions, such as García Lorca’s Mariana Pineda, for which she won recognition in international theater festivals and received many awards in her native country. In the 1990’s Lili moved to Venezuela, where she appeared in several television series. After marrying, she worked in Argentina, where she gave birth to her daughter, Mariana. Lili presently lives in Miami, where she alternates between television, stage, and theater education for children.
CATHERINE NUÑEZ – “ELISA”, LLORONA AND MASTERMIND OF THE LLORONA CRIMINAL SCHEME
Catherine Nuñez is a stage actress from Cuba. She was a company member at GALA Hispanic Theater in Washington, DC and Teatro Círculo in NYC. She has appeared in Exquisita Agonía, El Perro del Hortelano, Doña Rosita la Soltera, La Vida es Sueño, En el Tiempo de las Mariposas and Que Las Hay…Las Hay! (GALA Theater). Other regional theater credits include Decamerón, Francisca y la Muerte (Synetic Theater), Oyeme, The Beautiful (Imagination Stage), and Life is a Dream (Teatro Círculo).
ARMANDO TOMEY – “PACO”, ACA’S SON AND CO-FOUNDER OF FUNERARIA PEREZ
Armando Tomey was born in 1955 in the province of Camagüey in Cuba and began his acting studies in Havana. In the Cuban capital he obtained a degree in Performing Arts at the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) and made his way in film, theater and television, thanks to his versatility. His character Antonio Fresneda on Sol de Batey, owner of the iconic phrase “Oh, Charito, oh!”, made him one of the most popular faces on the island. Another of his great performances was that of Mario in the telenovela La Cara Oculta de la Luna. This character earned him an award for best male performance on TV. In the theater, he has participated in Cuban works such as La Emboscada, Andoba, and in universal classics such as Bodas de Sangre. Within the seventh art he is also remembered for his participation in the films Kangamba, directed by Rogelio París, for which he received wide acclaim. He has also participated in several short fiction films produced by the International Film School of San Antonio de los Baños and has appeared in commercials and video clips. His filmography also includes El Soñador and La Vida es un Carnaval, two co-productions between Italy and Cuba, under the direction of Ángelo Rizo. In 2005, he participated in When the Truth Awakens.
The first thing to come to mind when thinking about geometry is math, but geometry is also very present in art. Discover the role geometric shapes play in art, including the various stylistic movements and the artists that use them. Updated: 10/11/2021
Definition of Geometric Shapes
Have you ever wondered how artists actually create art? Once they’ve chosen a subject matter, gathered their supplies, and picked up a paintbrush for the first time – what happens next? Sometimes starting with a simple square – or other geometric shape – is the answer.
Geometric shapes come from geometry, which is the math of shapes made of points and lines. Geometric shapes are shapes made out of points and lines including the triangle, square, and circle. Other shapes are so complex that it takes math in order to create them. These shapes are the opposite of organic shapes. While geometric shapes are more precise, organic shapes are natural. In this lesson, we will take a look at geometric shapes.
Geometric Shapes in Art
Let’s take a look at some movements and artists that use geometric shapes:
Bauhaus
Bauhaus was a German school of art that came out of the arts & crafts movement. The arts & crafts movement was more about flowing lines and flowery lines. Bauhaus was in direct opposition to that – it used geometry. Some German architecture that used the Bauhaus geometries still stands today in the cities Bauhaus was founded in.
Wassily Kandinsky, one of the fathers of abstract modern art, painted geometric shapes to represent spirituality and emotions. It was during the Bauhaus period that he found geometrics playing more of a role in his work.
Cubism
Cubism evolved around 1907-1914 in Spain and France. Pablo Picasso and Georges Brauque created surrealistic works using cube shapes. This means they took images that would be organic, meaning natural and flowing, and recreated them as if they were just planes and angles.
Geometric forms are forms that are mathematical, precise, and can be named, as in the basic geometric forms: sphere, cube, pyramid, cone, and cylinder. A circle becomes a sphere in three dimensions, a square becomes a cube, a triangle becomes a pyramid or cone.
Geometric forms are most often found in architecture and the built environment, although you can also find them in the spheres of planets and bubbles, and in the crystalline pattern of snowflakes, for example.
Organic forms are those that are free-flowing, curvy, sinewy, and are not symmetrical or easily measurable or named. They most often occur in nature, as in the shapes of flowers, branches, leaves, puddles, clouds, animals, the human figure, etc., but can also be found in the bold and fanciful buildings of the Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi (1852 to 1926) as well as in many sculptures.
What is geometric artwork?
Geometric art is an artistic movement created in the early 20th century by artists with a fascination for geometric shapes. Geometric Art is created using geometric elements, shapes… Geometric art is inspired by geometry. Geometry is a branch of mathematics related to the shape, size, and relative position of figures.
Why do artists use geometric shapes?
In art, geometric shapes such as circles, lines, squares, and triangles are all used to define and organize space. The use of geometric shapes in art allows artists to express and isolate emotions; Wassily Kandinsky is well-known for expressing spirituality in his later work.
Who started geometric art?
Kazimir Malevich
One of the pioneers and most emblematic artists of abstract geometric art was Kazimir Malevich, who founded the Suprematist movement. His purpose was the search of an absolute and pure expression, nonfigurative, unlike customary art.
When was geometric abstract art popular?
1910 – 1960
Although the genre was popularized by avant-garde artists in the early twentieth century, similar motifs have been used in art since ancient times.
Madí Art movement
Madí is an international abstract art movement initiated in Buenos Aires in 1946 by the Hungarian-Argentinian artist and poet Gyula Kosice, and the Uruguayans Carmelo Arden Quin and Rhod Rothfuss. The movement focuses on creating concrete art and encompasses all branches of art.
Constructivism is an approach to education that seeks to construct knowledge through experience. This is loosely based on the philosophy of constructivism that states that objective reality doesn’t exist such that all knowledge is a human construct. The following are illustrative examples of constructivism in education.
Advisors
Constructivism calls upon each student to build knowledge through experience such that knowledge can’t simply be transferred from the teacher to student. As such, teachers play a facilitation role. For example, a school that has students pursue their own projects with the teacher playing a advisory role.
Love of Learning
Students are expected to pursue knowledge in a self-directed fashion. This is based on the idea that people, particularly children, are inquisitive and naturally pursue knowledge. Constructivism avoids doing anything that is likely to damage this love of learning.
Assessment
Tests may be avoided or may be based on unique outputs such as an essay. Assessment may be solely based on a teacher’s opinion as constructivism completely rejects objectivity such as a “correct answer.”
Play
A recognition of the value of play typically runs through constructivist school culture.
Group Work
In many cases, constructionist teaching methods are heavily based on group work. This tends to benefit students who prefer talking to quiet reflection, reading, analysis and synthesis. Where group work is overdone, students who have potential for concentrated quiet effort may suffer.
Simplicable Guide
Class discussion or debate. Constructionism allows students to challenge all ideas including those put forward by teachers and learning materials.
Leadership
Groupings may be mixed-age and older children may be given a leadership role. For example, older children may play a role in leading a field trip.
Experimentation
Running experiments to acquire original knowledge. For example, a student who tests different algorithms for the autonomous movement of a small robot.
Research
Research projects whereby students collect knowledge from sources and apply skills such as critical analysis and composition.
Learning by Teaching
Students are asked to share the results of their projects, research and initiatives with others such that they learn by teaching.
Problem Solving
The development of solutions to open-ended problems. This can be contrasted with traditional education that is mostly based on close- ended problems with a known solution. For example, developing an algorithm for an automated watering system for plants as opposed to an algorithm for sorting a list that has a known optimal solution.
Field Trips
As constructivism views learning as a process of experience, field trips may be viewed as a core learning activity.
Media
The consumption and production of media such as film.
Art
Creative exercises based on the principle of art for art’s sake.
Design
Solving problems with design and design thinking. For example, redesigning a shelve to solve a problem of clutter in a classroom.
Postmodernism
Constructionism and its rejection of objective reality is a defining characteristic of postmodernism. This is a broad academic trend that has had great influence over the social sciences since the 1960s. Science, technology, engineering and mathematics are less influenced by postmodernism because objective reality is important to these fields. For example, if you’re designing an aircraft it is important to calculate the objectively correct answer to how much thrust is required in a particular scenario such that the constructionist idea that there are “no correct answers” is useless or dangerous.
Social constructionism is the philosophy or academic approach that views human reality as artificially constructed by social processes. In other words, it views things that people commonly view as “real” as a flexible reality that is defined by processes of communication. The following are illustrative examples of social constructionism.
Culture
Culture are the intangible aspects of society that are defined by shared experiences. For example, a street dance that emerges amongst youth in a city. Culture is convincingly a social construct. However, it can also be argued that culture is driven by physical things like technology, economics and biology. For the example, the invention of portable music players lead to an explosion in street dance as suddenly it was possible to play recorded music anywhere.
Law of the Instrument
Law of the instrument, also known as law of the hammer is a cognitive bias that attempts to use a familiar tool to solve all problems. Social constructionism can be accused of being an attempt to inappropriately expand the social sciences to explain things that are well beyond its useful scope. For example, if you are a psychology professor you may have a tendency to explain everything in terms of psychology, even in areas where this has questionable relevance.
Postmodernism
Social constructionism is often used to suggest that things aren’t “real.” This is used to support relativism, the postmodernist idea that there are no universal truths such that individuals and cultures are free to define reality as they see fit. For example, if democracy isn’t “real” than an individual may feel free to replace it or ignore it. However, if it is based on universal truths of human rights and freedoms, it is not so easy to dismiss.
Idealism
Idealism is the philosophy that ideas define reality. This is a broader view that is consistent with social constructionism. For example, an idealist may believe that a seemingly physical problem such as a large
asteroid speeding towards the Earth can simply be overcome with the mind.
Hard Sciences
Social constructionism tends to run in opposition to hard sciences such as physics, chemistry, biology, geology and climatology. For example, climatology may model an environmental problem in terms of changes in composition of the atmosphere primarily driven by the burning of fossil fuels. Social constructionism may model the same problem using psychology or gender studies. It is common for hard sciences to view this type of analysis as an example of the law of the instrument bias whereby social sciences aren’t the correct tool of analysis.
Economics
Social constructionism effectively views things like money or economic systems as purely illusionary. Traditional economics views such things in terms of capital, goods and constraints that are physical. For example, social constructionism may correctly state that fiat money is simply a digital entity or piece of paper. However, traditional economics would point out that this is a contract that is tied to physical realities such that the value of money is backed by a nation’s future ability to tax its economy. This economy has things like infrastructure, factories and institutions that are very real and not merely a product of popular imagination. This latter view would model the value of the American dollar in terms of the hard and soft capital of the United States as opposed to being a mere illusion.
Fashionable Nonsense
Social constructionism is often based on arguments that reference vague abstractions. It is accused of being ideological as opposed to academic. In 1996, physics professor Alan Sokal submitted an article to the journal Social Text that was purely nonsense but included many of the ideological catchphrases associated with postmodern tribes. The article was accepted for publication. This was the basis for a book by Sokal entitled Fashionable Nonsense which criticized social constructionism as being an ideology that rejects objective reason or that cherry picks data to support ideological aims.
Un sábado 29 de enero del 2022 con el trinar de los cristo fue, azulejos y las estridentes bandadas de loros, desperté tras haber tenido un extraño sueño en el que me encontraba encerrado en un cubo de vidrio, cuyos soportes eran de madera de pino limpia y lijado. Imaginaba el vacío pleno de energía, era el instante del Big Bang, cuando surgió el primer destello de luz. Abrumadora pasión en la que me introdujo el artista a Rafael Montilla, la visión del horno cósmico en forma de agujero negro del que emano el primer resplandor de luz del universo, veía traspuestos a estos fotogramas oníricos la transparencia de las aguas de los llanos inundados, otro mundo mágico al cual fui lanzado por el explorador y fotógrafo Iván Mikolji.
La calma que había fraguado en mi ser en el sueño, hasta el instante entre que el aroma del café achocolatado, llegó a mis sentidos me abandono y fui a buscar una taza, cuando la angustia comenzó a dominarme al imaginarme las cristalinas aguas del amazonas venezolano y los afluentes del parque nacional Canaima, donde se encuentra el altivo salto Ángel y cerca de él veía a decenas de indígenas Piaroa, Yekuana y Sanema asesinados y esclavizados por ralea humana de los mineros con sus más de 3.700 campamentos de minería ilegal que extraen cada uno 100 kg diarios de oro, que se pueden ver sus puntos satelitalmente, muy protegidos por la narcoguerrilla aliados del régimen, armados hasta los dientes hacen del Amazonas su territorio y fuente de riqueza. Logran extraer toneladas de oro, también diamantes vinculados a las mafias internacionales, que son extraídos en vuelos ilegales de pista escondidas entre la selva y los llanos a Brasil, Colombia y el terrorismo islámico; dejando muerte y desolación mercurial con cada vuelo, están destruyendo uno de los pulmones del planeta y su mayor fuente de agua dulce, sin crearle ningún cargo de conciencia. Arboles milenarios, ríos, caños ricos en cardúmenes.., convertidos ahora en caños secos, que será el futuro de nuestra única selva Amazónica sino se actúa para detener este ecocidio que a su vez es un genocidio, solo desolación…. El aroma del café seguía guiando la terrorífica ensoñación.
Me vi nuevamente en el cubo flotando en que había soñado, volvió entre el alba con otros flash back que invadieron mi imaginación, pude así salir de aquel apocalíptico presente y veía a mi hijo Oyantay flaco llamado pero pleno, bajo las faltas de un volcán haciendo una sanación, concentrado en su etéreo Ser penetraba la piel y el alma de la dolorida mujer que tenía frente a él. Veía en el rostro huellas de bienestar ante aquellas sanaciones que realizaba el joven curandero, vestido con su bata blanca y su amorosa mirada, recordaba a una Máma Kogui, que están diezmados por el progreso y la narcoguerrilla, en la Sierra Nevada de Colombia los hijos de la Diosa Madre Gauchovanga, que creó a la humanidad de un pelo de su vagina y su sangre menstrual, se consideran los protectores de la tierra madre y ese es el sentido de su existencia.
Al terminar de tomar el café la luz del amanecer se aclaró, y caminaba entre el verdor iridiscente de las hojas de mango al ser acariciadas por la luz solar, con la taza de café vacía me senté a disfrutar de aquella quietud, que me llevó a los momentos más felices de mi vida. Casi todos giran entre la espumante espuma de las olas del Caribe, huyendo de su rompiente, no en vano los griegos asociaban la blancura espuma de las olas a blancos corceles. Durante años el amanecer estuvo para mi signado por la espera de la mejor ola. Aún tengo en mi cuerpo las cicatrices de las quillas de la tabla cuando salía de esa montaña de poder, y me golpeaba en el aire una y otra vez. De ahí que mi nariz, se doblara por estos golpes y el labio se me partiera varias veces, son las cicatrices que va dejando la aventura que es la vida, tocarlas y recordarlas en lugar de transmitir dolor, me invaden de éxtasis, siempre a la búsqueda de la ola perfecta que nunca encontré…
Los otros momentos de felicidad que en ese instante reviví me vi entre la arena y el mar, con mis dos queridos hijos, que pasearon su niñez sus primeros pasos entre la arena, desnudos y el sol acariciando sus tiernos y bellos cuerpos. Edu el menor se hizo amante del viento y del océano e hizo de su niñez y juventud un desafío por surcar el azul oceánico atrapando el viento entre endebles velas, y el mar le forjó una bella alma.
En estos fotogramas mentales de extática vivencias se coló la caminata llamada la travesía de varios días desde Tabay en Mérida, hasta el pico Bolívar, varias veces a más de cuatro mil metros de altura, estuve a punto de caer al vacío, situaciones que tome con calma, sentimiento que nunca imagine tener en ese momento, cuando el suelo que pisaba cuidadosamente se hundía entre millones de piedrecillas sobre las que camina bordeando el Humboldt, resolvía el percance paso a paso, tuve que quitarme el pesado morral, para liberarme de peso que luego pude rescatar, donde cargaba el saco de dormir, las insípidas latas de sardinas y la rica leche condensada, luego lo pude rescatar cuando los compañeros me ayudaron con un especie de garfio y una cuerda pude salvarlo del fondo del barranco, todo esto ocurría porque no era un montañista, mis compañeros eran geniales alumnos de las Universidad Metropolitana que aún forman parte de mi vida, cada uno me enseñó algo, más importante que la erudición: el valor de la amistad y de la honestidad.
Volví a llenar la de café la taza y entre sorbos saboreaba la vida, como dice la canción de Maná, seguí el vuelo de mi imaginación; tras aquella ascensión quede atrapado entre el mar y el páramo, donde Juan Félix Sánchez con su humildad, devoción y sencillez desarmo todas mis creencias, al convertir su fe en pétrea belleza, en los años que conviví con él, entre el matutino desayuno ahumado en el Páramo, entre arepa andina recién hecha con guarapo y queso ahumado, a veces con trucha recién pescada.
Al irse el día no podía dormir por el frío que llegaba a mis huesos y pasaba esas horas entre lecturas nocturnas a luz de tenues velas releía a J.J.R. Tolkien, Ursula Leguin y Umberto Ecco así lograba olvidar el frío hiriente nocturno, acompañado de los rezos el Hombre del Tisure que aún dormido seguía rezando, ni con las lluvias torrenciales volaban las placas de Zinc dejaba de orar… No podía dejar aquellas vivencias en el olvido, así nació el libro El Gigante del Tisure, que nació palabra a palabra en ensayos que escribía en el Páramo para la Página Cultural de El Universal, que creó y dirigió una de nuestras tres musas culturales: Sofia Imber era una de ellas, casi en su totalidad estos ensayos fueron editados por Gráficas Armitano, gracias a Ernesto Armitano a quien conocía por su amor por el mar, era uno de los mejores veleristas del mundo, y tuvo la audacia de hacer su proyecto sobre Venezuela, una colección de libros que atrapa la belleza de Venezuela tanto en la cultura como en toda su geografía y biomas. El mismo día que lo llame para darle la idea de hacer ese libro me dijo en el acto, ven a la imprenta en Boleíta Sur. Al entrar a su oficina embellecida de cuadros de Armando Reverón, Oswaldo Vigas, Cabré, Miguel Von Dangel, lo primero que hizo fue pedirme las cientos de transparencias y verlas por horas con su gastado cuenta hilos apoyado en la mesa de luz, estudiaba cada una de las fotografía que habían sido tomado a lo largo de tres años, pasó horas viéndolas y preguntando al terminar de verlas sonrió y dijo: Esto me gusta plancharcito. Pero vas a tener que volver al páramo por un tiempo, pues faltan imágenes que muestran la belleza de la luz del páramo y me dio sin desearlo una clase magistral, de cómo debían ser tomadas las fotos, para que tuvieran profundidad, y mostrar la transparencia edénico de las lagunas, y los prístinos chorrerones paisaje que casi todo el año están dominados por la niebla y los deseaba bañados de luz solar, así que firmamos un contrato ese mismo día, y debía volver con un fotógrafo por varias semanas a tomar las fotografías que deseaba, y otras del complejo del Tisure, sin niebla lo cual solamente tendía a ocurrir en algunas ocasiones en Enero, y así empezó mi pasión por investigar la fotografía de Venezuela, en las largas conversaciones que teníamos sobre como se hacer una buena toma e impresión.
Al regresar del páramo tal era la nostalgia por su niebla, que empecé a bocetear una novela inspirada en la vida y obra de Juan Félix Sánchez, en este jardín donde tomaba café en la falda de la cordillera de la costa, lo escribí en gran parte bajo la sombra y frescura de la misma mata de mango en que estoy ahora, tarde décadas en hacerla pero al terminarla, fue otro de las perlas de mi existencia, la titule: El Mago de la Niebla y se publicó décadas después en el 2011, graciasa Miguel Perez Carreño. socio de Gráficas Lauki tras cientos de reescrituras y el año pasado lo reescribí nuevamente para publicarlo en capítulos cortos, individuales cada uno independiente del otro cual lego, adaptándola así para ser publicada en casi treinta capítulos en un Diario digital, creo es una de las manera de escribir en la era virtual de rápidas lecturas y de la globalización; y con la engañosa pandemia provocada por el virus chino todo se hizo cercano, y la lejanías reales desaparecieron y miles de lectores a lo largo de Venezuela y del mundo leyeron cada uno de los capítulos, a pesar de vivir en un país en deconstrucción son las letras y la pasión por la cultura lo que me ha permitido vivir en el aquí ahora y proyectar la innovación. Estas fueron las últimas imágenes y palabras que tuvieron eco en mi ensueño en la falda del Ávila un 29 de Enero del 2022…. Los comentarios, textos, investigaciones, reportajes, escritos y demás productos de los columnistas y colaboradores de analitica.com, no comprometen ni vinculan bajo ninguna responsabilidad a la sociedad comercial controlante del medio de comunicación, ni a su editor, toda vez que en el libre desarrollo de su profesión, pueden tener opiniones que no necesariamente están acorde a la política y posición del portal
