Amelia Peláez (1896-1968)

Acquired from the artist by the present owner 

Carlos M. Luis, et al., Amelia Peláez 1896-1968: A Retrospective, Miami, 1988, fig. 60, p. 63, illustrated 

Paper is in good condition although it is brittle because of its age. Several tears have been patched with Japanese paper and methyl cellulose. It is mounted to Lenox 100 cotton paper with Beva 371 adhesive film for support. The pigment has been consolidated and stabilized where it had been actively loose. Some inpainting has been done to minimize surface disturbances and losses. (This condition report has been provided courtesy of Mary Kearns Paper Conservation) This work is in very good condition, taking its age into account. The colors are vibrant, and the media layer is stable overall. A row of artist pinholes are present along the extreme upper edge of the sheet. Light wear is present throughout, and scattered minor spots of media loss are present throughout, primarily concentrated in the lower quadrants of the work in the foliage elements. Scattered minor areas of fine craquelure are present throughout, in the areas of heavier paint application in the lower and central left quadrants, however these areas are stable.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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Amelia Peláez is the most extraordinary example of how vigorous artists should approximate modern art currents in Paris. –David Alfaro Siqueiros, July 1943

A rediscovered masterpiece of Cuban modernism, El Jardín (1943) radiates with Baroque intensity. Painted in Havana in the early 1940s, a time of relative political and economic prosperity, the work is an outstanding achievement of Latin American modern painting. Depicted in the artist’s signature style, El Jardín resonates through a rhythm of curvilinear outlines and pulsating arabesques set against a structured space of impassable zig-zag patterns. No other work by the artist presents a richer mosaic of tropical color and exotic vegetation.

A key figure of the Cuban avant-garde—and the only woman included in the seminal exhibition Modern Cuban Painters at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1944—Peláez constructed her own brand of Cubism: a formal vocabulary of elaborate ornate elements derived from nineteenth century Cuban architectural decoration and furniture design. As was often the case with women artists working in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Peláez found rich inspiration in her immediate environment: the intimate realm of her family home and garden were not only easily accessible but also suitable habitats conforming to the proper role of women in a predominantly conservative society. It was there, in the privacy of her luscious garden, that the artist found herself surrounded by colorful “…red ixoras; queen’s wreath with violet, purple, and blue flowers; crape myrtles and aralia; or the hibiscus which offers itself in red, cream, yellow, salmon, solferino and hybrid… there were also geraniums, begonias, frangipani, jasmine, orchids; lots of ferns, elephant ears and areca palms.” (1)

Along with her Cuban counterparts Mario Carreño, Mariano Rodríguez, and René Portocarrero, Peláez understood the symbolic power of colonial architecture as a referential sign, one that could adequately testify to the cultural autonomy of its people, or their cubanidad. While most of her work from this seminal period retains certain architectural references, El Jardín appears to be an exception: by purposely distracting our attention with an all-over composition, the viewer is prevented from isolating a single element. Instead, all reference to reality is replaced by elaborate and fantastical patterns that deviate from floral to organic form.

Eventually the eye finds refuge in the indiscernible figure of a woman located in the upper half of the composition. Abstractly depicted in a mask-like face, she is practically concealed by the overwhelming vegetation that surrounds her, as if nature itself were purposely obscuring her presence and purpose. An intensely powerful composition, the work oscillates between excess and restraint, liberation and control. El Jardín is a triumph of painting built on visual contradictions resolved by the artist’s mastery of color and paint.

(1) Fernando G. Campoamor, “La obra viva de Amelia Peláez,” Bohemia, n.d, pp. 47-52.