MARIANO RODRÍGUEZ | Mujeres en un interior

Justo Rodríguez Santos, New York 
Private Collection, New York (by descent from the above)
Private Collection (acquired from the above and sold: Christie's, New York, November 19, 2008, lot 6)
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner 

New York, Feigl Gallery, 1945, no. 22 

José Veigas Zamora, Mariano: Catálogo Razonado, Pintura y Dibujo 1936-1949, vol. I, ed. 2, Seville, 2007,  illustrated in color p. 156

This work is in good condition overall. The colors are vibrant, and the media layer is stable. The sheet is light-struck and lightly yellowed overall. Around the edges of the sheet, the work presents minor surface creases, a few scattered pencil marks, and wear. A few artist pinholes are present in each of the four corners of the sheet. A faint intermittent vertical crease mark measuring 14 inches total in length is present in the lower right quadrant of the work, however the surrounding media layer is stable. Two one-inch horizontal repaired tears to teh sheet are present at the extreme center right edge, in the unpainted band encircling the composition. Two faint spots of rust-colored surface discoloration are present at the center left edge, in the unpainted band adjacent to the composition. A horizontal crease mark measuring ten inches in length is present at the lower left edge, in the unpainted band.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Mujeres en un interior is a definitive work by Mariano Rodríguez, conceived at the apex of the Cuban Modernist movement. Executed with the colorful expression and sinuous forms that characterize his signature style of the 1940s, this domestic scene is rich with key motifs asserting the new Cuban nationalist identity he sought to manifest in his painting of this period. In 1936 Rodríguez spent a year in Mexico City, an auspicious time when “Mexico rivaled Paris and surpassed New York in its influence upon Cuban painting” (Alfred H. Barr, Jr., “Modern Cuban Painters,” in The Museum of Modern Art Bulletin, April 1944, vol. XI, p. 4). During his short but decisive residence in Mexico, Rodríguez studied at the Academia San Carlos, entering a fascinating cultural milieu that included the influential studio of Diego Rivera.  Upon returning to Cuba, together with his contemporaries of the Cuban Vanguard—among them René Portocarrero (see lot 228), Amelia Peláez (see lot 223), and Víctor Manuel (see lot 225)—Rodríguez would elevate modern Cuban painting into maturity. The search for a true Latin American identity, Mexico’s original project launched a few decades prior, redirected his own vision for an authentic Cuban painting.

In direct contrast to the distinctly political themes, defined lines and earthy, muted tones that characterize Mexican Modernism, the artistic production of Cuba’s Vanguardia is marked by an expressionist color palette, baroque decoration, and a native symbolism mostly concerned with everyday Cuban themes. As noted by Alfred Barr, “Cuban color, Cuban light, Cuban forms and Cuban motifs are plastically and imaginatively assimilated rather than realistically represented. Expressionism is the dominant style whether applied to fighting coqs, sugarcane cutters, guanabanas, barbershops, bandits, nudes, angels, or hurricanes. But, almost without exception this expressionist handling of the Cuban scene is based on a thorough discipline in drawing and a sustained interest in classic composition” (ibid., p. 4)

Mujeres en un interior is a quintessential example of this style, in which Rodríguez depicts two women in an intimate space studded with vibrant colonial tiles and a bright bunch of bananas. Rodríguez’s rendering of the striking, partially nude woman in the foreground recalls stylistic conventions of the Italian Renaissance, her luxurious costume and outward-leaning posture commanding our attention. The woman in the background, seemingly unaware of the viewer, is caught amidst the pleasure of smelling a yellow and orange flower. Mujeres en un interior is an extraordinary example of the multidimensionality intrinsic to Mariano’s most revered period as he reinterprets established art historical methodologies with the personality of a generation reinventing art in the national arena, begetting a deeply idiosyncratic rendering of Cuba in the modern era.



We wish to thank Alejandro Rodríguez and the Fundación Arte Cubano for their kind assistance in confirming the authenticity of this work.