Sin título [Untitled]
Artist: Zilia Sánchez (Cuban, born 1926)
Date: 1962/1971/1990
Dimensions:
15 × 25 × 8 in. (38.1 × 63.5 × 20.3 cm)
Medium: acrylic on stretched canvas
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the Florence Scott Libbey Bequest in Memory of her Father, Maurice A. Scott
Object number: 2022.10
Label Text:In the 1960s, Zilia Sánchez began painting onto stretched and shaped canvases with protruding elements that she constructed herself, adding dimension to her abstract and curvilinear compositions. The projections create evocative peaks and valleys, recalling the sensual contours of the body—the female body in particular.
After Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba, Sánchez moved to New York, where she lived between 1964 and 1972, during a period of robust artistic experimentation. It was the height of hard-edge abstraction (characterized by areas of color with distinct edges) and minimalism (often composed of single or repeated geometric forms). She was in dialogue with artists such as Sol LeWitt and sculptors like Louise Nevelson (see works by both artists in this gallery). In this intimately scaled rectangular canvas with its muted tones of beige, black, and white, she includes a rounded protrusion toward the work’s base, blurring the distinction between painting and sculpture. Because Sánchez often alludes to the body, Sin título evokes a protruding stomach, the rounded form giving the work a softness and sensuousness. The corporeal, even erotic, undertones and dimensionality of her works express her dedication to experimentation, which has continued throughout her career.
After Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba, Sánchez moved to New York, where she lived between 1964 and 1972, during a period of robust artistic experimentation. It was the height of hard-edge abstraction (characterized by areas of color with distinct edges) and minimalism (often composed of single or repeated geometric forms). She was in dialogue with artists such as Sol LeWitt and sculptors like Louise Nevelson (see works by both artists in this gallery). In this intimately scaled rectangular canvas with its muted tones of beige, black, and white, she includes a rounded protrusion toward the work’s base, blurring the distinction between painting and sculpture. Because Sánchez often alludes to the body, Sin título evokes a protruding stomach, the rounded form giving the work a softness and sensuousness. The corporeal, even erotic, undertones and dimensionality of her works express her dedication to experimentation, which has continued throughout her career.
DescriptionStretched canvas painted with black, beige, and white. Intimately scaled rectangular canvas with a rounded protrusion toward the base of the work. Because Sánchez often alludes to the corporeal, the way she renders this work evokes a protruding belly or stomach; the roundness provides a softness and sensuousness.
On view