Abstract painting by Jose Bermudez,1958(Cuban/American).This work is 49 inches by 34 inches in a frame 50 inches by 35 inches.

Davids notes: Easily one of the most important abstraction paintings to appear on the market in the last 30 years from postwar Cuba, Crucifixion of a Witch by Jose Ignacio Bermudez Vazquez is both beautiful and frightening, rare and unusual, and important in the history of art.

Jose Ignacio Bermudez Vasquez,(Cuban American 1922-1988,known as Jose Bermudez) was one of the founding members of Los Once (translates: The Eleven).Originally a group of painters and sculptors that exhibited in 1953 in Havana, their goal was to bring European and North American ideas of abstraction and non-figurative art to the Island of Cuba, whose art they felt was stuck in the Dark Ages. In their inaugural exhibit, only half of the artists were actually brave enough to attempt full abstraction, Bermudez being one of them. Remember, Batista had just taken power in a military coup in 1953, the artists and sculptors were facing a ruthless dictator on one side, and the possibility of a Communist take over by Castro on the other. Communist rulers tend to insist that any art be propaganda in nature. Faced with the risks of appearing to be radical or avant-garde in that climate, Bermudez fled the island before the Communist take over in 1959.To their credit, Los Once is now recognized as having achieved that goal of introducing abstraction and non figurative art to Havana and Cuba in the early 1950s.

In America, Bermudez was quickly realized as a great artist. His work is now in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, The Smithsonian in Washington DC, The Baltimore Museum of Art, The Cincinnati Museum of Art, The Detroit Institute of Fine Art and the Museum of Modern Art in Cali, Columbia as well as the Museum of Modern art in Ecuador.

This present work, Crucifixion of a Witch was exhibited in 1958 at the Carnegie Museum of Art, in their 1958 Pittsburgh International Exhibition of Contemporary Paintings and Sculpture.

No paintings of Bermudez of this size and quality have appeared on the market in the United States in the last 30 years. Sothebys has had none. Christies has had only one drawing of Bermudez(May 11th 2018,26 inches by 20 inches) which sold for 4800.His large paintings are nearly all in private collections and museums.

David Killen Gallery would like to thank the late Juan Martinez PHD of the Florida State University for his important research and publications about Los Once and the Cuban Modern Art movement in the 20th century which details the history of this area of postwar abstraction. Dr. Martinez passed away a few months ago in October of 2020, and was a great scholar and invaluable resource for students learning of the significance of modern art from Cuba.

Scattered restoration over 10% to 15% of the surface.Labels on the reverse include the 1958 Exhibition label for the International Show at the Carnegie Museum,a 1963 label from the Carnegie Institute of Fine Arts and a 1973/1974 label identifying Bermudez as an Artist-in-Residence at the Carnegie Museum of Fine Arts.