Signed Roberto Berdecio Painting - Hard Edge Ge

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Art & Artifacts of North America

By Artemis Gallery

Nov 18, 2021

Set Reminder 2021-11-18 10:00:00 2021-11-18 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Art & Artifacts of North America https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/art-artifacts-of-north-america-7894
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• Lot Description
  Roberto Guardia Berdecio (Mexican, 1910-1996). Untitled acrylic on canvas, 1971. Signed by the artist on lower left. Also signed and dated "R. Berdecio March 1971 N.Y." on the verso. A most fascinating painting by Mexican muralist Roberto Berdecio that departs from his usual politically motivated figurative art. Instead, this composition stands out in Berdecio's oeuvre as a hard-edge color field painting that also employs intriguing optical effects and vibrant coloration in varying shades of blue and violet - very different from his more politically motivated murals and figural paintings inspired by the indigenous peoples of Mexico and South America. A special work by Berdecio, replete with impressive style and technique - and particularly intriguing as a departure from his works driven by social change. Size: 23" L x 29" W (58.4 cm x 73.7 cm)
  
  Although mostly self-taught, Roberto Berdecio did study at the National Academy of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires and the Academy of Fine Arts in La Paz, Bolivia for a few years. In addition, Berdecio went to Mexico City in 1934 where he worked with David Alfaro Siqueiros and also joined the Liga de Escritores y Artistas Revolucionarios (LEAR, Revolutionary Writers' and Artists' League). Two years later he traveled to New York City as a delegate to the First Congress of American Artists against War and Fascism, joining Siqueiros, Jose Clemente Orozco, Luis Arenal, and Rufino Tamayo. Berdecio stayed in New York, assisting at the Siqueiros Experimental Workshop - a Laboratory of Modern Techniques in Art. Berdecio was featured in New York's Gallery of American Contemporary Art in 1936; painted two highly political murals entitled "Two Portraits of New York" featuring images of the Scottsboro Boys, Sacco and Vanzetti, views of Wall Street, and Nazi symbols for the Worker's Bookshop in New York. These murals also demonstrated Berdecio's innovative techniques and materials - employing nitro-cellulose paint, a mechanical brush, and a compressor. Interestingly, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship for his use of these pioneering methods. After two solo exhibitions in California in 1940 at the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco and the Raymond Galleries in Los Angeles, Berdecio returned to Mexico where he painted more murals. He continued his political work as a delegate to the Latin-American Confederation of Labor in Colombia. In 1945, back in the United States, Berdecio taught painting at Sarah Lawrence College in New York. After returning to Mexico the following year, Berdecio collaborated with the Taller de Grafica Popular, Mexico's progressive political print shop. He continued his political art for the next two decades, assisted Juan O'Gorman with his "Hidalgo Libertador" mural and also edited a book about Jose Guadalupe Posada.
  
  For another Berdecio work inspired by geometrical forms, see "The Cube and the Perspective" (1935) at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (object number 315.1941). Though a different medium (enamel airbrushed on steel panel mounted on wood) Berdecio's interest in pure geometry was apparently evident as early as the 1930s.
  
  Provenance: private Los Angeles, California, USA collection
  
  All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.
  
  A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
  
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  Display stands not described as included/custom in the item description are for photography purposes only and will not be included with the item upon shipping.
  
  #167820

  Condition

  Painting is in very good condition save slight surface wear and staining that is difficult to discern. Signed by the artist on lower left. Also signed and dated "R. Berdecio March 1971 N.Y." on the verso. Couturier Gallery stamps on stretchers. Wired for suspension and ready to display.
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