Loló Soldevilla Sin título de la serie Cartas celestes (Untitled from the series Cartas celestes ) ca. 1957

Dolores Soldevilla Nieto was a key figure in mid-20th-century Cuban art and one of the few women pioneers credited with the development of postwar geometric abstraction in Latin America. Known colloquially as “Loló,” the artist was a founding member of “Los Diez,” a group of ten artists who first introduced abstraction to the island. Sin título is a paradigmatic example of Soldevilla’s rare work, boasting a remarkably large scale and a high degree of formal elaboration. The work features an assortment of abstract elements that seem to dance against a yellow field. By carefully calibrating the respective size, shape, and color of each of these elements, the artist achieves a precisely balanced composition. 
Identification
Title
Sin título de la serie Cartas celestes (Untitled from the series Cartas celestes )
Production Date
ca. 1957
Object Number
2019.183
Credit Line
Collection Pérez Art Museum Miami, museum purchase with funds provided by Jorge M. Pérez
Copyright
© The Estate of Loló Soldevilla
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Physical Qualities
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
38 x 76 inches
Visual Description
Sin título [Untitled from the series Cartas celestes (Celestial Letters)] by Loló Soldevilla is an oil painting on canvas made in 1957. It measures six feet wide by three feet tall and is hung in a landscape orientation meaning its longest side runs parallel to the ground. This painting is an example of an abstraction, which is a style of painting that focuses on the gestural movement of shapes and colors rather than depicting scenes or figures.   The painting depicts a variety of shapes over a cream-colored canvas. Starting from the top left as if reading lines of text on a page, there are four small circles. They are orange, yellow, olive, and red. Slightly underneath the four circles is an orange circle with a green rectangle within it. Continuing to the right there are two cubes, one brown and the other orange. There is also a long olive rectangle and a smaller yellow one underneath it followed by two medium sized circles painted orange and green. Moving down along the left side of the composition and starting anew, on the left we see an orange circle surrounded by a green letter “C” shape. Moving rightward, it is followed by two small orange arcs that meet in the middle forming an interrupted letter “S” shape. Next to the segmented “S,” there is a middle section that is comprised of many different shapes close together. There are two circles painted light green with dark green at their core followed by two diagonal purple lines. There is also a red square at the bottom, a small green square above it, and two arcs painted yellow, as well as an orange square with a green one inside it. Continuing to the right, there are two small orange squares, a larger teal square with brown squares at opposing corners, and a yellow letter “C” shape facing the edge of the canvas. Finishing the bottom row of the painting, starting on the left there is a large olive rectangle with a yellow half-circle underneath it. Underneath, there are three circles painted brown, green, and yellow. To the right there is an orange square with a green square within it followed by four circles painted olive, orange, brown, and yellow. Moving right, there is an olive circle with a green square inside followed by three squares painted olive, yellow, and brown. Above the squares, there is an orange circle with two teal-colored half-circles inside it.
Loló Soldevilla
Loló Soldevilla — b. 1901, Havana; d. 1971, Havana
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