José Mijares

JOSÉ MIJARES (Havana, 1921 - 2004)
"Concrete", 1958.
Mixed media on canvas.
Signed and dated in the lower right corner.
Attached certificate issued by María Antonia Cabrera de Mijares, widow of the artist.
Provenance: collection of editor of Bohemia, iconic Cuban cultural magazine.
Measurements: 130 x 60 cm.

Piece of great relevance in the development of geometric abstraction in Cuba, made in 1958, at a key moment of consolidation of concrete language in Latin America.

The work displays a rigorously structured composition by means of a grid of white lines that articulate the space in interrelated geometric planes. On this framework, the artist introduces chromatic hallmarks that intensify the visual tension and compositional rhythm.

The verticality of the format, together with the constructive solidity of the whole, gives the painting a marked architectural character, a reflection of Mijares' interest in spatial organization and formal synthesis. This approach places the work in full harmony with the international trends of concrete art, while linking it to the Cuban context of aesthetic renovation in the late 1950s.

A member of the Diez Pintores Concretos group, Mijares actively participated in the introduction and consolidation of abstraction in Cuba. In 1952 he took part in the Venice Biennial, consolidating his international projection. At the end of the sixties he settled in Miami, where he continued his artistic and exhibition activity, forming part of the GALA Group and developing an important cultural work.

His work has been the subject of retrospective exhibitions and is represented in collections and institutions such as the Cintas Foundation (New York), the Lowe Art Museum (Florida), the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA) and the Museum of Latin American Art in Washington, among others. His career was recognized with an honorary doctorate in Fine Arts from Florida International University.