Carmen Herrera's Whitney Exhibition Examines 1948-1978 Period, Raises Questions About Artistic Influence

Carmen Herrera's exhibition 'Lines of Sight' at the Whitney Museum of American Art ran from September 16, 2016 to January 2, 2017 at 99 Gansevoort Street in New York City. The show focused on three decades of her work from 1948 to 1978, tracing her development from Paris to New York. Early Parisian pieces like Siete (1949) and Untitled (1947-48) reveal her experimentation with hard-edge abstraction, while New York works such as Horizontal (1965) show simplified, large-scale compositions. A dedicated gallery featured nine 'Blanco y Verde' paintings from 1959-1971, including Blanco y Verde (1962) and Irlanda (1965), which demonstrate her mastery of geometric abstraction. Four wooden sculptures from the 1960s, including Azul 'Tres' (1971), and seven large-scale 'Days of the Week' works from the 1970s complete the exhibition. The review questions Herrera's originality by comparing her Green and Orange (1958) to similar works by Ellsworth Kelly and other American artists, wondering about mutual influence or independent development. As a 101-year-old Cuban-born woman artist, Herrera faced historical neglect, making the Whitney's attention an act of reparation. The exhibition's limited scope leaves unanswered questions about her Parisian context and New York transition, calling for more comprehensive future presentations.