José María Mijares

JOSE MARIA MIJARES (Havana, Cuba, 1921 - Miami, USA, 2004).
"Concrete Abstraction", c. 1956.
Oil on canvas adhered to board.
Attached certificate issued by Doña María Cabrera Mijares, widow of the artist.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 51 x 61 cm; 56 x 66 cm (frame).
Concrete is a concept that Mijares gave to several of his works. The title was inspired by his membership in the artistic group Diez Pintores concretos, which was active from 1958 to 1961, to which the artists Pedro Carmelo Álvarez López, Wilfredo Arcay Ochandarena, Mario Carreño Morales, Salvador Corratgé, Sandú Darié, Luis Martínez Pedro, Alberto Menocal, José María Mijares, Pedro de Oraá, José Ángel Rosabal Fajardo, Dolores Soldevilla Nieto and Rafael Soriano López belonged. The work reflects an aesthetic language that reflects various avant-garde movements and the translation of the history of art. From a new perspective in which the aesthetic transgression at the hands of José María Mijares means the creation of an image with its own language and personality. Through the use of color, the work offers the viewer a new vitalist aesthetic that merges with a technique close to geometric abstraction that extends over the entire piece in an apparently random way. However, compositionally the artist has managed to create a completely harmonious image where the mastery of color and technique achieve an expressive, vitalistic and dynamic image that captures and creates a dialogue with the viewer.

Mijares' artistic production oscillated between a more figurative current and an abstract one in which he developed concepts of kinetic and neoplasticism. However, these compositions acquired the idiosyncrasy of the artist, who endowed them with exceptional color. The work reflects an aesthetic language that reflects various avant-garde movements and the translation of the history of art. From a new perspective in which the aesthetic transgression at the hands of José María Mijares means the creation of an image with its own language and personality. Through the use of color, the work offers the viewer a new vitalist aesthetic that merges with a technique close to geometric abstraction that extends over the entire piece in an apparently random way. However, compositionally the artist has managed to create a completely harmonious image where the mastery of color and technique achieve an expressive, vitalistic and dynamic image that captures and creates a dialogue with the viewer.
Mijares studied at the San Alejandro National School of Fine Arts in Havana, where he taught. He was a member of the group Diez Pintores Concretos. Between 1968 and 1973 he was a member of the Gala Group in Miami, where he settled at the age of 47. He directed the magazine Alacrán Azul in Miami. He held his first exhibition at the Havana Lyceum (1947). In the eighties he exhibited in Coral Gables, Florida, where he reiterated his presence. In 1994 the Cuban Museum of Art and Culture of Miami dedicated a retrospective to him. Also the Alfredo Martinez Gallery of Coral Gables would organize an ontological one in 1996. As for group exhibitions, it is worth mentioning his participation in the Venice Biennial of 1952. He is represented at the Cintas Foundation in New York, the Lowe Art Museum, Florida; the Museum of Modern Art of Latin America in Washington, D.C., and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Mijares' well-deserved recognition came above all for knowing how to harmonize his universal vocation with the search for an autochthonous Cuban language. In this composition, he starts from a colorist postcubism through which he practically enters abstraction, but without losing the referential thread. A preened female figure is still recognizable, as in his "habaneras", but she has been stripped of personal features, transforming her body into a set of gears that animate a beautiful and elegant automaton.