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Carmen Herrera: Estructuras Monumentales installed at the Parrish Art Museum © Estate of Carmen Herrera; Photo Image: Courtesy Parrish Art Museum and Vision Maker Productions, Inc.
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Carmen Herrera (American, b. Cuba, 1915–2022). Gemini (Red), 1971/2019, acrylic and aluminium, 213.4 x 384.2 x 38.4 cm, 84 x 151 1/4 x 15 1/8 in. Installed at Cheekwood Estate & Gardens, Nashville, Tennessee, USA, 2023. © Estate of Carmen Herrera; Courtesy Cheekwood Estate & Gardens and Diana Rosales.
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Carmen Herrera (American, b. Cuba, 1915–2022). Angulo Amarillo, 2017, acrylic and aluminium, 213.4 x 307 x 48.3 cm, 84 x 120 7/8 x 19 in. © Estate of Carmen Herrera; Courtesy Lisson Gallery. Photography by Jack Hems.
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Carmen Herrera (American, b. Cuba, 1915–2022). Estructura Verde, 1966/2018, acrylic and aluminium, 213.4 x 373.7 x 26.7 cm, 84 x 147 1/8 x 10 1/2 in. © Estate of Carmen Herrera; Courtesy Lisson Gallery.
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Carmen Herrera (American, b. Cuba, 1915–2022). Angulo Azul , 2017, acrylic and aluminium, 213.4 x 307 x 48.3 cm, 84 x 120 7/8 x 19 in. © Estate of Carmen Herrera; Courtesy Lisson Gallery. Photography by Jack Hems.
Carmen Herrera: Estructuras Monumentales features four large-scale sculptures in red, blue, yellow, and green in the Museum’s South Meadow. Carmen Herrera (American, b. Cuba, 1915–2022) is known for her hard-edge paintings, prints, and sculptures—often representing geometric shapes with both symmetrical and asymmetrical abstractions. The four works installed in the Meadow, Angulo Azul (2017), Angulo Amarillo (2017), Estructura Verde (1966/2018), and Gemini (Red) (1971/2019) are part of Herrera’s series Estructuras, which she initially envisioned as sketches and paintings in the 1960s. In 1971, Herrera fabricated four Estructuras in wood—three wall-based works and one free-standing. However, it was only in the final fifteen years of the artist’s life that she was able to realize her vision for these monumental sculptures on a larger scale. The Estructuras series at the Parrish provides an opportunity to view the acrylic and aluminum works the way Herrera imagined them—each piece fabricated to her exact color and shape standards.
The Estructuras may allude to Herrera’s life and identity as a Cuban American coming to terms with the political tensions between her native and adopted countries. Some of the drawings were first drafted in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis when Herrera and her husband, Jesse Lowenthal, helped family and friends to escape the conflict. The original sketches for Estructura Verde and Gemini (Red) are dated to 1966 and 1971, respectively, while the chevron shape of Angulo Amarillo and Angulo Azul is a more recent composition from 2017. Like her iconic dichromatic paintings, Herrera’s Estructuras play on the relationship between positive and negative space. The sharp, wedge-shaped cutouts emphasize the contrast of the sculptures’ bold, monochromatic forms against the surrounding environment.
Carmen Herrera: Estructuras Monumentales is organized by Corinne Erni, Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Chief Curator of Art and Education, and Deputy Director of Curatorial Affairs, with additional support by Kaitlin Halloran, Assistant Curator and Publications Coordinator.
Exhibition Support
Carmen Herrera: Estructuras Monumentales is made possible, in part, thanks to the generous support of Tony Bechara; The Fuhrman Family Foundation; Agnes Gund; Lisson Gallery; Movado Group Foundation; Estrellita and Daniel Brodsky; Jeff Lipsitz, Allison Koffman, and Family; and a donor who wishes to remain Anonymous.
The Parrish Art Museum’s programs are made possible, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and by the property taxpayers from the Southampton School District and the Tuckahoe Common School District.
