Armando Reverón

Private Collection, Caracas
Sale: Christie's, New York, November 17, 1987, lot 6
Acquired at the above sale

Buenos Aires, Museo de Arte Latinoamericano-Fundación Constantini, Arte de América Latina, 2001, no. 26

This painting is in very good condition, particularly for a work by this artist. The canvas has been lined with a non-wax adhesive, and the tacking edges are no longer extant. The work has probably never been cleaned, but it is not visibly dirty. It is not varnished. The texture and paint layer in general do not seem to have suffered. Under ultraviolet light, one can see that there is a diagonal line of retouching in the sky above the horizon in the upper left, which probably addresses a scratch to the surface. There is another spot of retouching on the horizon further towards the left edge. In the lower left corner, including some of the bottom edge and the lower left side, there is some very light broad retouching. In addition, there is a faint application of light color in the lower right. While the retouching in the sky is probably necessary, it is applied in a very broad manner. The other retouches are probably purely cosmetic and unnecessary. (This condition report has been provided courtesy of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.)
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Ranchos by Venezuelan Armando Reverón shimmers with the spectacular light of the Caribbean landscape. Painted in 1933, the composition belongs to Reverón’s celebrated “white period,” the iconic years between 1926 and 1934 when the translucent coastal landscapes of Macuto, Venezuela emerge as a focal point of his mature production.  Bordering on monochromatic abstraction and intensely tactile, Ranchos elicits a luminous immateriality. However ethereal, exposed segments of blank canvas allow texture to materialize and assume a representational function.“The Painter of White, of Silence, and of Solitude: The Mad Armando Reverón,” as Raúl Carrasquel y Valverde famously referred to him in a article published in 1931, openly disdained “absolutely brilliant colors of immediate effectiveness, and painted only in white, with whites, on white canvases that he prepared himself, with only faint recurrent touches of pale blue for shadows, highlights, and grand effects” (Armando Reverón (exhibition catalogue), The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2007, p. 125). Almost mythical in status, these rustic compositions were highly sought-after by Venezuelan society immediately upon their execution. Reintroduced to the public almost a century later at the artist’s retrospective organized by the Museum of Modern Art in 2007, Reveron's paradisiac compositions pay homage to Latin America's rich landscape tradition. 



We wish to thank Proyecto Reverón for their kind assistance in the cataloguing of this work.