Born in Cuba in 1915, artist Carmen Herrera charted her own alternative modernism while working in virtual obscurity for some seven decades. Filmmaker Alison Klayman (known for her documentary on Chinese artist Ai Weiwei) set out to tell the story of this abstract painter’s life as she approached her 100th birthday. 2016, digital video 30 minutes.
Introducing the screening is Walker executive director Olga Viso, who appears in the film on a visit to Herrera’s studio. Viso has been interested in the artist’s work for years and brought pieces into the collections of both the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, DC, and, more recently, the Walker. Herrera’s sculpture (Untitled, 1971) is on view in the exhibition Art at the Center: 75 Years of Walker Collections until the end of August. In mid-September the Whitney Museum of American Art will open the exhibition Carmen Herrera: Lines of Sight, which spans three decades of her work.
