NEW YORK, Oct. 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Movado is proud to announce its next Artist Series collaboration with Carmen Herrera, a renowned 106-year-old Cuban-American artist. Herrera's style, defined by bold colors, strong lines, and dynamic geometric forms, portrays a sense of orderly minimalism influenced by her early training as an architect. Her groundbreaking creations are a unique cross-cultural dialogue within the international history of modernist abstraction. Carmen's masterpieces have been displayed at solo shows and in permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and leading art institutions worldwide.
Movado, Herrera, and Public Art Fund first joined forces in 2019, when Movado Group Foundation was the presenting sponsor of Public Art Fund's landmark exhibition Estructuras Monumentales, Herrera's first-ever major exhibition of outdoor sculptures, on view in New York City's City Hall Park.
"Carmen's work is truly extraordinary," says Efraim Grinberg, Chairman, and CEO, Movado Group. "From our first sponsorship through Public Art Fund, it was clear the partnership was a natural fit. There's a shared sense of modernism, an appreciation for clean lines, and bold, minimalist design. Culture is also something Carmen and I have in common—we are both Cuban-Americans. Her story, dedication to her craft, and enduring drive really resonated with me. We are proud to honor Herrera's legacy and support Public Art Fund with this collection."
"It was important to me that this collection represent work from throughout my career," stated Carmen Herrera. "It is, after all, a design for a timepiece and I was very conscious of the implications of that philosophical and challenging concept, as well as the history and prestige of the Movado brand. Movado has worked with many incredible artists, ranging from Max Bill to Andy Warhol, so it has been wonderful to work on this project. I'm delighted to see my designs come to life with the help of Movado's talented team."
"The idea that an artist might just as well design a watch, a textile, or a piece of furniture as create a painting or sculpture is central to the ethos of modernism. How fitting that the legendary Carmen Herrera, an artist who began as a student of architecture in Havana in the late 1930s, should embrace the opportunity to collaborate with Movado," says Public Art Fund Artistic & Executive Director and Chief Curator Nicholas Baume. "This dazzling series of watches embodies that modernist vision of the integration of great art and design into functional form and everyday life. Public Art Fund was proud to bring Carmen's sculptures to the people of New York and Houston, and we are thrilled to see this elegant translation into timepieces of her timeless art."
The Carmen Herrera X MOVADO Artist Series consists of five unique designs inspired by some of Herrera's most seminal works, reinterpreted through the lens of Movado's iconic Museum Dial. The collection represents Herrera's vision of geometric abstraction reflected on the museum dial, creating wearable works of art. Herrera drew inspiration from an early black and white painting, created in 1952 while she lived in Paris. Untitled (1952) is now in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art, New York. She was also inspired by works from her Estructuras series, a group of sculptures first constructed in 1971 and still created today, as well as the Blanco y Verde painting series that was completed between 1959 and 1971. For other designs, Herrera chose to showcase more recent work in the timepieces, selecting a painting from 1989 and one from 2016 as inspiration. When curating for this collection, Herrera sought out works that are symmetrical as well as asymmetrical, highlighting contrasting balance and tension, color and form.
The Artist Series is limited, with only 100 pieces created of each style and is available now on Movado.com. A total of seven collector's sets that included all five watches in the series, along with exclusive packaging, were also created and sold out immediately. In celebration of this launch, Movado is proud to support Public Art Fund by donating a portion of the proceeds.
The first Movado Artist Series launched in 1988 with Andy Warhol, featuring Warhol's photography on the dials of his Movado "Times 5." Movado has continued to collaborate with a diverse group of artists, including sculptor Yaacov Agam, pop artist James Rosenquist, designer Max Bill, graffiti artist Kenny Scharf, and environmentally conscious photographer and philanthropist Alexi Lubomirski.
ABOUT CARMEN HERRERA
Carmen Herrera was born in 1915 in Havana, Cuba. Her parents actively fostered her love of art with private art lessons from the age of eight. She moved frequently between France and Cuba throughout the 1930s and 1940s; studying architecture at the Universidad de La Habana, Havana, Cuba (1938–39), and training at the Art Students League, New York, NY, USA (1942–43), before exhibiting five times at the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France (1949–53). She settled in New York in 1954, where she continues to live and work at the age of 106.
Herrera's work went broadly unrecognized for decades, and she faced significant discrimination as both a woman and an immigrant. In recent years, however, that has changed, with a major solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York in 2017, which traveled to the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio (2017) and Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen (K20) in Düsseldorf, Germany (2017–2018), as well as a recent exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston (October 2020 – April 2021). Her work is in the permanent collection of The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and leading public art institutions worldwide. Her work is rightly acknowledged as groundbreaking, a unique cross-cultural dialogue within the international history of modernist abstraction.
ABOUT MOVADO
Movado is the hallmark of some of the most famous timepieces ever created, notably the Movado Museum® Watch with its celebrated single dot dial. One of the world's premier watchmakers, Movado has earned more than 100 patents and 200 international awards for artistry and innovation since 1881. Movado is renowned for its modern design aesthetic and is closely associated with the fine and cultural arts. Today, Movado's watches are distinguished by this legacy of design innovation and a dedication to the future of time.
ABOUT PUBLIC ART FUND
As the leader in its field, Public Art Fund brings dynamic contemporary art to a broad audience in New York City and beyond by mounting ambitious free exhibitions of international scope and impact that offer the public powerful experiences with art and the urban environment. Learn more at PublicArtFund.org.
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SOURCE Movado Group, Inc.
Heather Sugarman, hcohen@movadogroup.com
