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Preview image of work. pastel  on off-white wove paper,  Nudes  6163

1966.36.a

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Nudes

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Artist

Emilio Cruz (1938 - 2004)

Title

Nudes

Creation Date

1964

Century

20th century

Dimensions

10 7/8 in. x 13 3/4 in. (27.6 cm. x 34.9 cm.)

Object Type

drawing

Creation Place

North America, United States

Medium and Support

pastel on off-white wove paper

Credit Line

Gift of Walter K. Gutman, Class of 1924

Copyright

This artwork may be under copyright. For further information, please consult the Museum’s Copyright Terms and Conditions.

Accession Number

1966.36.a

Distorted figures interact in a boldly colored landscape that evokes a dreamlike atmosphere. Emilio Cruz’s pictorial approach hovers between abstraction and figuration. As a Black artist of Afro-Cuban descent, he believed that meaningful art is made by those who have an irrefutable dedication to humanity and understand the obligations of being a person on this earth. This moral objective guided Cruz’s creative process throughout his career. In 2002, he wrote that “it is imperative that the space be composed in a manner that it invites suspension of judgment, unless it will fall victim to romanticism and sentimentality. Because we are either alone in the universe or exist as an element of the divine, the space must bring into focus the terrifying irrationality of that knowledge.”