Tuesday, November 1, 2011

The Art of Emilio Sanchez


Emilio Sanchez was born in Camaguey, Cuba in 1921 to one of the wealthy families of the area. He moved to New York in 1944 to study at the Art Students League of New York City, and at the Columbia University School of the Arts. He lived in that city until his death in 1999. His foundation has put together a new book celebrating his life and work called “Hard Light: The Work of Emilio Sanchez”.   It's elegantly compiled and beautifully written.


His light and shadows and the architectural subjects that he paints are particularly appealing to me and although he's reminiscent of Humberto Calzada  I find his subjects, depict particularly well, those memories I have of the beach town of Santa Fe, where I lived in Cuba. His "Casita al Mar" reminds me of my casita that my dad and brothers built for me in our back yard, when I was small. It had the same veranda except it didn't have the sea directly in the background!  Memories of a simpler, happier place and time.