Luciérnaga (Firefly)

1955

Rafael Soriano

Associated Names
Rafael Soriano

Artist, Cuban, 1920 - 2015

This painting displays geometric shapes and lines in an abstract composition. Rectangles, triangles, half circles, and diamond shapes all fit together in shades of orange, yellow, blue, green, red, white, pink, and brown. Some of the shapes have bold black outlines. The arrangement resembles a mosaic or a patchwork quilt.

Media Options

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Artwork overview


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The artist. Private collection, Matanzas, Cuba, by 1962; purchased by Eduardo J. Labrada Acuna; purchased 2 February 2012 by the Rafael Soriano Family Collection, Miami Beach, FL;[1] purchased 2024 by NGA.
[1] According to the Rafael Soriano Foundation, the painting was likely given by Rafael Soriano before he went into exile in 1962 to a family in Matanzas, Cuba (the artist’s hometown), from whom it was later acquired by Eduardo J. Labrada Acuna. See email of 9 April 2024, copy in NGA curatorial file.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2017

  • Rafael Soriano: The Artists as Mystic-El artista como místico, McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Boston, the Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, Florida International University, Miami, and Casa de America, Madrid, 2017-2023, no. 16.

Bibliography

2018

  • Uszerowicz, Monica. "A deeply Modern Cuban artist who connected with the Divine, "_Hyperallergic_January 5, 2018, https://hyperallergic.com/420102/a-deeply-modern-cuban-artist-who-connected-with-the-divine/. Accessed 15 July 2024.

2022

  • Blanco, Richard, Alejandro Anreus, and Carol Damian. Rafael Soriano. Transcendentalism, Distilled. Exh. cat. LnS Gallery, Miami, 2022: 8, 9 10, 68, repro.

Inscriptions

lower right: Soriano / 55


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