Cuban American painter Rafael Soriano (1920–2015) was an acclaimed master of geometric and abstraction and a global figure in the twentieth-century art world. He is now being recognized in an exhibition at Casa de America Madrid that will examine his life’s work and the multiple influences that nurtured his style. The Artist as Mystic is organized by the McMullen Museum in Boston in conjunction with the Rafael Soriano Foundation, and curated by Elizabeth Thompson Goizueta.
The Artist as Mystic, features twenty-nine paintings and pastels from the Rafael Soriano Family Collection and his private collections. It begins with works, developed during a successful career in Cuba, in a geometric abstract style. When he left the island of Cuba for Miami in 1962, he turns to a transitional, experimental phase. These paintings from the 1960s and 1970s reminiscent of surrealist biomorphism are often considered his most distinguishable and provocative works. Working with his own personal visual language, Soriano masters color in remarkable ways that range as he explores deep existential concerns. The exhibition concludes with luminous, mystical imagery in paintings from Soriano’s mature period. His long, prolific career spans several art movements that has long been admired for its virtuosity and spiritual content.
This exhibition held at Casa de América will be Soriano’s first retrospective in Madrid. Accompanied by a bilingual English-Spanish catalog with contributions from American, Cuban American, and Cuban scholars, The Artist as Mystic is organized by the McMullen Museum in Boston in conjunction with the Rafael Soriano Foundation, and curated by Elizabeth Thompson Goizueta.
Dates: March 24 to May 26, 2023 .
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