Luis Martínez Pedro

LUIS MARTÍNEZ PEDRO (Havana, Cuba, 1910- 1989).
Series "Territorial Waters", 1967.
Oil on canvas.
Signed and dated on the back.
Measurements: 46 x 61 cm.

This painting is inscribed in the stage of maturity of the Cuban artist, when his formal language reaches a balanced synthesis between structural rigor and poetic sensibility.

The series "Territorial Waters" is one of the most significant cycles of 20th century Cuban abstraction. In it, Luis Martínez Pedro develops a plastic language based on undulating forms that evoke the movement of the sea through a refined geometric construction. The enveloping rhythm of the curves, articulated around a central nucleus, generates a sensation of expansion and depth that transcends the two-dimensionality of the canvas.

The chromatic range refers directly to the insular landscape, but does so from a non-figurative perspective. The artist does not represent water: he synthesizes it in visual structures that suggest currents, tides and flows in constant transformation. The superimposition of planes and tonal modulation provide vibration and compositional balance.

Luis Martínez Pedro was a key figure in the development of Cuban artistic modernity. A member of the group of the Ten Concrete Painters and a referent of lyrical abstraction in Cuba, he was able to articulate his own plastic identity based on the dialogue between nature and geometry.

In 1981 he was awarded the Félix Varela Order, Cuba's highest cultural distinction. His work is part of important international collections, among them the National Museum of Fine Arts of Cuba, the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation and the Salvador Allende Solidarity Museum.