Granma

Viredo, the most ephemeral of Los Once

BY VIRGINIA ALBERDI BENÍTEZ

Cuban painter Viredo Espinosa died this weekend at the age of 84 in Costa Mesa, California, U.S.A., where he had lived his last forty years.


Granma
EL CABILDO VIENE, ÓLEO DE VIREDO ESPINOSA

Although his work moved towards folkloric motifs which are highly appreciated by certain sectors of the American arts market, his name will be forever engraved in the history of the Cuban plastic arts as a member of Los Once, the "Group of Eleven", which marked the emergence of abstractionism on the island.

In 1953, eleven artists –hence the group's name– exhibited a number of abstract paintings and sculptures at the La Rampa gallery. Their names were Hugo Consuegra, Guido Llinás, René Ávila, Fayad Jamís, Tomás Oliva, Agustín Cárdenas, José Antonio Díaz Peláez, José Ignacio Bermúdez, Francisco Antigua and Viredo Espinosa, who were joined in short order time by Raúl Martínez.

Viredo's disagreement with the rest of them didn't take long to surface. According to his colleague Consuegra, some of the others were very upset when Viredo chose for a second exhibition in the Lyceum later that same year a painting that looked unfinished and was still bearing the traces of wet paint.

Cuba was ever-present in his work and thoughts. In 2009 he wrote: "I'm glad that my Island has produced a new generation of highly qualified artists so eager to experiment. They're putting Cuban art on a very high place in the world".