Dolores "Loló" Soldevilla was one of the first women to bring postwar abstraction to Latin America. A key figure of the ‘Geometric Revolution,’ Soldevilla is largely responsible for the development and establishment of transnational abstraction through her promotion of the aesthetic and its underlying principles of freedom. However, Soldevilla only began experimenting with painting and sculpture in her late-forties. Her previous pursuits as a musician, political activist and party politician in Cuba led to her appointment as the country’s cultural attaché to Europe in 1949. During her time abroad, Soldevilla encountered contemporary avant-garde artistic practices and the autodidact began studying fine art in earnest under the tutelage of prominent European artists. She quickly gained mastery, exhibiting her work in Parisian galleries and Salons.

By the 1950s, Soldevilla had fully transitioned from traditional figuration to abstraction that vibrated with life through geometric patterns that mimicked the interplay of light, shadow, and relief. The current lot is perhaps among the first to exhibit her new aesthetic. This composition is a desirable example of the artist's tight intersections of shape and color, which represent a specific time period in her career before giving way into her mature style. Soldevilla’s most celebrated later paintings, collages and panel constructions are characterized by the formal elements already at play in this early work.

Upon her return to Cuba, Soldevilla along with fellow artist Pedro de Oraá founded the Galería de Arte Color Luz in 1957, a venue that not only solidified the concrete art movement on the island but served as the incubator for the legendary group, “10 Pintores Concretos,” which included artists such as Sandú Darié, Jose Mijares and Rafael Soriano. Notably, Soldevilla organized the important exhibition Pintura de hoy: Vanguardia de la Escuela de Paris at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Havana, which featured the work of the foremost Op and Kinetic artists, including Jean Arp, Sonia Delaunay and Jesús Rafael Soto. During Castro’s revolution and subsequent reign, Loló’s artistic production slowed but she did stay active until her death in 1971.

Soldevilla’s work has been the subject of numerous exhibitions at leading institutions including the Museum of Montreal in Montreal; the Juan March Foundation in Madrid; Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation in Miami; Museum of Fine Arts in Houston; Centro Cultural FIESP in São Paulo; Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain in Paris; the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid; among many others.

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