Description
This original oil painting on canvas has no written provenance. It was acquired in April 2019 by Ray New York from a dealer in La Barra, Uruguay.
It is attributed to Nelson Ramos, an important Uruguayan artist, however it is not signed. It is inscribed on the back as follows:
J7 “PARQUE 12” (50×60) T. LA. CANTERA DURAZNO 10/10/57
- J7 is an alphanumeric artist code according to dealer (not definitive)
- “T.” is for “Taller” which means “Atelier” in Spanish.
- “Cantera” means “quarry” in Spanish.
- “Durazno” means “peach” in Spanish and is also a large city —the former capital of Uruguay.
- “10/10/57” is the date the work was created.
- It is unsigned.
“Taller la Cantera”, based in Durazno, is the name of an art collective founded in the 1950s by Nelson Ramos (1932-2006) and other students of Miguel Ángel Pareja (1908-1984). In the mid-1950s, Ramos did a few other similar paintings before switching to mixed-media assemblage similar to Louise Nevelson.
It is in a new frame custom made in Brooklyn to mimic the original 1957 frame. The painting has been removed from its original stretcher and as a result there is minimal paint loss near the edges. The linen shows signs of age spotting but is strong and resilient, not brittle. It has been cleaned with distilled water and the edges of the canvas have been restored. 22 x 26 in the frame.
A similar painting “5 de enero” (1957) is on loan to the National Museum of Fine Arts, Uruguay. It sold at auction in 2016 for $3,300.
