Background
Carmen Herrera was born on May 30, 1915 in Havana, Cuba. She is a daughter of Antonio Xavier, a founding editor of the newspaper El Mundo, and Carmen (Nieto) Herrera, a journalist.
Havana, Cuba
In 1938, Carmen enrolled at the University of Havana in order to study architecture.
215 W 57th St, New York, NY 10019, United States
In 1942, Herrera entered Art Students League of New York, where she remained till 1943.
Carmen Herrera in her New York studio.
Carmen Herrera speaks with Linda Yablonsky in her studio in New York.
Carmen Herrera in her studio in Paris.
Carmen Herrera was born on May 30, 1915 in Havana, Cuba. She is a daughter of Antonio Xavier, a founding editor of the newspaper El Mundo, and Carmen (Nieto) Herrera, a journalist.
Initially, when Carmen was eight years old, she took private art lessons from professor Federico Edelmann y Pinto. As a teenager, Herrera was sent to Paris to further her studies. Upon her return to Cuba, she made sculptures of wood and in 1938, Carmen enrolled at the University of Havana in order to study architecture. Though, the tumultuous political situation in the country, following Fulgencio Batista’s seizure of power, prevented her from finishing the educational institution.
In 1939, Herrera left for New York City. Some time later, in 1942, she entered Art Students League of New York, where she remained till 1943. There, at the League, she mostly pursued figurative painting and also became friends with other artists, including Barnett Newman.
In 1948, Carmen, together with her husband Jesse Loewenthal, left for Paris, where they lived until 1954. In 1949, she became a member of the group Salon des Réalités Nouvelles, where she became acquainted with Sonia Delaunay and other artists, and had numerous encounters within the most fashionable artistic and literary circles of postwar era. During this phase, Carmen’s work alternated between Abstract and Lyrical Expressionism. In 1952, she produced her first radically geometric abstractions, including a series of black-and-white stripe paintings.
In 1954, the couple settled down in New York City. Despite the fact, that Carmen continued to produce strong work during the 1950's, she failed to attain recognition largely due to her gender. During the 1960's and 1970's, the painter continued her precise chromatic explorations, creating such works, as "Blanco y verde" (1966) and "Saturday" (1978). Also, during the 1960's, Carmen produced so-called "estructuras". These sculptures, based on preliminary drawings, represent a confrontation with architectonically oriented abstraction.
During her lifetime, she held many solo exhibitions at different museums and galleries, including Galeria Sudamericana (1956), Trabia Gallery (1963), Cisneros Gallery (1965) and Alternative Gallery (1986). Also, in 1984, Herrera held her first retrospective at the Alternative Museum in New York City. Though highly prolific throughout her life, she remained largely unknown until the Museum of Modern Art acquired one of paintings in 2004. Currently, she lives and works full-time at home in New York City with her caretakers.
Carmen married Jesse Loewenthal, English teacher, on July 10, 1939.