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Possessing an assertive quietude, Noche Verde embodies the late artist Carmen Herrera’s quest for “the simplest of pictorial solutions” throughout her career.i She received long-overdue institutional accolade after working in obscurity for nearly seven decades, with a major survey show that opened at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 2016. The present work, painted the same year as the survey, exemplifies her commitment to phrasing and rephrasing the subtle dynamics between and within form and color, as well as the schematic possibilities afforded by the utmost economy of means.
The dichromatic composition commands a gravitational pull at the junction of black and green, as two L-shaped forms—seemingly identical at first glance—interlock to form a perfect square. The green form, ever so slightly larger than the black, weighs down on the black form which in turn resists upwards against its counterpart. The crisp line separating the shapes engenders an optical illusion whereby the green passage immediately adjacent to the black appears brighter than the rest of the hue. The canvas exudes tension and instability as the viewer’s eye wanders, restlessly searching for a point of focus to no avail.
"My quest is for the simplest of pictorial resolutions."
—Carmen HerreraA strong proponent of the structural and compositional significance of color, Herrera emphasizes the sensory intensity of chromatic choices in her works such as Noche Verde, endeavoring to find pairings in which each color can withstand the pressure of the other and neither the hues nor values clash. This would not be the first time that Herrera employed the iconic pairing of black and green, which can also be found in the works of her peers, such as Ellsworth Kelly. In works such as Wednesday, 1978, Black and Green, 1975, and Diptych, 1978, Herrera juxtaposes slightly brighter shades of evergreen against black, exploring tilted angles within the rectangular compositional frames. Noche Verde is not only a tribute to this earlier period, but is also a departure from the explicit instability into an even more subtle and sophisticated sense of internal dynamism and contemplative energy.
Carmen Herrera, Diptych, 1978, El Museo del Barrio. Artwork: © Carmen Herrera. Courtesy of Lisson Gallery. 
Carmen Herrera, Wednesday, 1978, Museum Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern. Artwork: © Carmen Herrera. Courtesy of Lisson Gallery. 
Carmen Herrera, Black and Green, 1975. Artwork: © Carmen Herrera. Courtesy of Lisson Gallery. -
Carmen Herrera, Diptych, 1978, El Museo del Barrio. Artwork: © Carmen Herrera. Courtesy of Lisson Gallery. -
Carmen Herrera, Wednesday, 1978, Museum Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern. Artwork: © Carmen Herrera. Courtesy of Lisson Gallery.
As shown in Noche Verde, Herrera’s inquisitive attitude and analytic approach towards image-making is reflected in her exercise of deliberation and calibration of color and form. This is underscored by her meticulous methodology, where she would begin each composition by making several preparatory drawings on translucent vellum paper with rulers and pencils. As the artist professed in an interview, “There is nothing I love more than to make a straight line. How can I explain it? It’s the beginning of all structures, really.”ii Indeed, Herrera’s penchant for linearity and orthogonality was fostered long ago when she trained as an architect at the Universidad de La Havana in 1938. The formal and logical clarity of technical drafting made a lasting impression on the artist and had a distinctive influence on the facture of her most iconic paintings, such the present work, where a proclivity for strict linearity is emphasized.
Herrera’s geometric, hard-edge, and abstract style also owes much to her years in Paris (1948-1954) when the artist exhibited at the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles, during which she “simplified her work, abandoning frames and simply emphasizing structure, limiting her palette, and giving preeminence to rhythm.”iii After her return to New York, Herrera continued to create radically geometric and diagrammatic abstractions despite the predominance of action paintings in the 1960s New York art scene. Her experience living, studying, and creating on both sides of the Atlantic, combined with her upbringing and education in Havana, provided her with a sense of transcultural fluidity that transcends any schools or “isms.” A culmination of the artist’s decades-long preoccupation with abstraction and form, Noche Verde captures the artist’s fundamental contribution to the history of Minimalism, executed at the age of 101.
The artist at work in her studio, c. 2015. Artwork: © Carmen Herrera. Courtesy of Lisson Gallery. Photography by Jason Schmidt
i “Carmen Herrera | Artists,” Lisson Gallery, accessed October 6, 2022, online.
ii Dana Miller, “Carmen Herrera: Sometimes I Win,” in Miller et al., Carmen Herrera: Lines of Sight, Whitney Museum of American Art, 2016, p. 22.
iii Serge Lemoine, “Paris est une fête,” in Miller et al., p. 64.Provenance
Lisson Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2017Artist Biography
Carmen Herrera
Cuban / American • 1915
At the age of 101, Carmen Herrera is finally receiving long-deserved recognition for her arresting, hard-edge geometric compositions. Born in Cuba in 1915, Herrera has spent most of her life outside the island, permanently settling in New York in the mid-1950s. Herrera was formally trained as an architect at the Universidad de la Habana, and later completed studies at the Art Students League in New York from 1943 to 1945. During this time she became acquainted with key figures of postwar abstraction including Barnett Newman, whose work undoubtedly influenced Herrera's minimalist aesthetic.
Herrera's work is chiefly concerned with formal simplicity and experimentation with bold color. Through the use of sharp lines and stark color contrasts, she creates dynamic and technically sophisticated compositions that reflect movement, balance and symmetry.
Property from an Important Private American Collection
45
Noche Verde
signed, titled and dated ""noche verde" Carmen Herrera.- 20-16. Carmen Herrera. 20-16.-" on the stretcher
acrylic on canvas
60 x 60 in. (152.4 x 152.4 cm)
Painted in 2016.
Estimate
$500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $567,000
Amanda Lo Iacono
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+1 212 940 1278
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Carolyn Mayer
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20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale
New York Auction 15 November 2022
1
Ilana Savdie
Marimonda Desplegada
Estimate $50,000 - 70,000
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2
Danica Lundy
Miss Fist Kiss
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3
Lauren Quin
Arrow
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4
Avery Singer
Untitled
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5
Rashid Johnson
Standing Broken Men
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6
Pablo Picasso
Mousquetaire buste
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7
Julie Mehretu
Tsunemasa (next to Kaija)
Estimate $4,000,000 - 6,000,000
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8
Cy Twombly
Untitled
Estimate $35,000,000 - 45,000,000
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9
René Magritte
Le météore
Estimate $4,000,000 - 6,000,000
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10
Amy Sherald
Pilgrimage of the Chameleon
Estimate $1,800,000 - 2,500,000
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11
Loie Hollowell
Lick, Lick in Purple, maroon-yellow
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
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12
Tom Wesselmann
Mouth #14 (Marilyn)
Estimate $3,000,000 - 5,000,000
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13
René Magritte
Le coup de grâce
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14
Anna Weyant
Bum
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15
Mark Bradford
He Barked Just Like a Watchdog
Estimate $4,000,000 - 6,000,000
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16
Mark Grotjahn
Untitled (Circus No. 12 Face 44.30)
Estimate $8,000,000 - 12,000,000
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17
Marc Chagall
Le Père
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18
Marlene Dumas
Snow White in the Wrong Story
Estimate $3,500,000 - 4,500,000
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19
María Berrío
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
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20
Alex Katz
The Grey Dress
Estimate $1,200,000 - 1,800,000
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21
Yayoi Kusama
All The Eternal Love
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
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22
Alexander Calder
Plutôt jaune
Estimate $1,500,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for $1,482,000
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23
Amy Sherald
Madame Noire
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24
Jean-Michel Basquiat
To Repel Ghosts
Estimate $7,000,000 - 10,000,000
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25
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26
Yayoi Kusama
Nets Blue
Estimate $2,500,000 - 3,500,000
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27
Lucy Bull
Untitled
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
Sold for $478,800
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28
Willem de Kooning
Untitled
Estimate $4,000,000 - 6,000,000
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29
Milton Avery
Hot Moon
Estimate $1,800,000 - 2,500,000
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30
Amoako Boafo
Pink Shorts
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
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31
Rashid Johnson
Untitled Anxious Collage
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
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32
Joan Mitchell
Cobalt
Estimate $3,000,000 - 4,000,000
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33
Andy Warhol
Oxidation
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
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34
Alexander Calder
Petite croix
Estimate $3,500,000 - 4,500,000
Sold for $4,023,000
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35
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36
Willem de Kooning
Event in a Barn
Estimate $2,500,000 - 3,500,000
Sold for $3,055,000
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37
Pablo Picasso
Paysage au pin
Estimate $1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for $1,482,000
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38
Mickalene Thomas
I Can’t See Me Without You
Estimate $350,000 - 550,000
Sold for $441,000
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39
Balthus
La Sieste
Estimate $700,000 - 1,000,000
Sold for $1,058,500
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40
Andy Warhol
Nosepicker I: Why Pick on Me (The Broad Gave Me My Face But I Can Pick My Own Nose)
Estimate $300,000 - 500,000
Sold for $491,400
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41
Andy Warhol
Living Room
Estimate $250,000 - 450,000
Sold for $315,000
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42
Robert Motherwell
Open No. 25: In Blue with Variations
Estimate $900,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $2,329,000
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43
Luc Tuymans
Absence
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $453,600
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44
Ernie Barnes
Slam Before the Storm
Estimate $300,000 - 400,000
Sold for $604,800
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45
Carmen Herrera
Noche Verde
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $567,000
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46
Anne Truitt
Autumn Dryad
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
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