OSWALDO VIGAS | Ligúrea lúdica

Estate of the artist
Acquired from the above by the present owner 

Bogotá, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Oswaldo Vigas 1943 - 1973, May - June 1973
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas Sofía Imber, Oswaldo Vigas, Lo Figurativo y lo Telúrico 1942-1990, October - November 1990
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Lima; Santiago de Chile, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes; Bogotá, Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá; Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo; Oswaldo Vigas: Antologica 1943-2013, October 2014 - July 2016

This work is in good condition overall. The canvas is unlined and well-stretched. The colors are vibrant and the media layer is stable overall. Under raking light inspection, two isolated 2-inch lines of faint brown drip accretions become apparent in the upper left quadrant. A faint 4-inch horizontal fine line of indentation to the canvas with a few associated pinpoint media losses is present in the lower center quadrant. Under ultraviolet light inspection, fluorescence occurs throughout due to the pigments utilized by the artist. Four isolated ½-inch spots of inpainting become apparent: one at the lower left corner, three at the upper left corner in the orange and black. Two isolated 1-inch lines of inpainting become apparent in the white and orange bands in the lower right corner.
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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Over the course of his lengthy career, Venezuelan painter Oswaldo Vigas' rigorous formalist approach to solving the compositional problems raised by twentieth-century modernism led him to develop one of the most celebrated abstract vocabularies of his generation. Following the success of his first retrospective exhibition at the Museo de Bellas Artes in Caracas, he traveled to Paris in 1952, where he quickly was immersed in avant-garde artistic circles. Enraptured by the geometric explorations of colleagues and friends including Victor Vasarely, Fernand Leger, Jean Arp, and Matta, he synthesized these influences to build a unique pictorial lexicon that resists classification.  Ligúrea lúdica, executed in 1970, embodies the "unique expressive, representative and organic form of visual writing" (Bélgica Rodríguez, Vigas Constructivista, Miami 2012, p. 3) that characterizes Vigas' oeuvre. The harmonious interplay of deep coral, soft lavender and rich black tones contributes to a sense of rhythmic vibration in the work. This playfulness is underscored by the kaleidoscopic effect of the composition's sharp diagonals. Lyrical and vibrant, Ligúrea lúdica is a striking example of Vigas' technical mastery and poetic sensibility.