Lot 278: Ernesto Gonzalez

untitled
Cuba, c. 1960

27 w x 24 d x 60 h inches

bronze over hand-built ceramic with applied color

Ernesto Gonzalez exhibited widely in the 1950s and 1960s in New York and throughout the east coast. After an accomplished career and exhibition history in Cuba, including a solo show at the Museo Nacional in Havana, his artistic style and technique morphed upon his move to the United States. In Cuba, he studied as a sculptor but grew interested in welding and metalwork after a 1949 trip to the States. His primary technique utilized oxy-acetylene welding, a self-taught and self-perfected method in which he layered metal over a hand-constructed framework. This inventive approach allowed for large, expressive works that were created by hand.