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Zilia Sánchez: Soy

Institution
The Phillips Collection
Grant Cycle
Spring 2018
Amount
$100,000
Type of Grant
Exhibition Support

The Phillips Collection presents the first museum retrospective of Cuban artist Zilia Sánchez (b. 1926, Havana). This long-overdue exhibition examines the artist’s prolific yet largely unknown career that spans almost 70 years, featuring more than 60 works including paintings, works on paper, shaped canvases, and sculptural pieces, alongside illustrations, design sketches, and ephemera. The exhibition traces Sánchez’s artistic journey from her early days in Cuba to her extended visits to Europe and residence in New York, and finally her move to Puerto Rico, where she now lives and works. Many of Sánchez’s works reference protagonists from ancient mythology (such as Trojans, Amazonians, and Antigone—all warriors and female heroines). Others have reoccurring motifs of lunar shapes, erotic topologies, and tattoo drawings that map physical and psychological spaces and add another dimension to her curvilinear geometry, rich with metaphorical meaning. The exhibition title, I Am an Island,​ serves as a personal metaphor for Sanchez’s experience as an islander—connected to and disconnected from both the mainland and mainstream art currents.


A visitor with Zilia Sánchez, Troyanas (Trojan Women), polyptych, from the series Módulos infinitos (Infinite Modules), 1967. Acrylic on stretched canvas, 71 3/4 × 54 × 9 1/2 in., Collection of Laura Delaney Taft and John Taft, promised gift to Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
Zilia Sánchez, Lunar (Moon), 1985. Acrylic on stretched canvas, 71 1/2 × 73 1/2 × 14 in., Collection of Ignacio J. López Beguiristain and Laura M. Guerra, San Juan
Zilia Sánchez, Topología erótica (Erotic Topology), 1960–71. Acrylic on stretched canvas, 41 × 56 × 13 in., Collection of Jose R. Landron, San Juan
Zilia Sánchez, Lunar negro con tatuaje (Black Moon with Tattoo), 1975. Acrylic on stretched canvas, 33 × 43 3/4 × 8 1/2 in., Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, ME, Museum purchase from the Jere Abbott Acquisitions Fund, 2016.228
Zilia Sánchez, Encuentrismo ofrenda o retorno (The Encounter–offering or returning), video of a performance, 2000, Berezdivin Collection
Zilia Sánchez, Amazonas (Amazons), from the series Topologías eróticas (Erotic Topologies), 1978. Acrylic on stretched canvas, 43 × 70 × 11 in., Princeton University Art Museum, NJ, Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund, 2014-53

We believe freedom of artistic expression is fundamental to an open and enlightened democracy and are committed to promoting and defending it. 

The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts

The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts
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