Hugo Consuegra

Life & Legacy

Hugo Consuegra (born Hugo Consuegra Sosa October 26, 1929 in Havana, Cuba – January 24th 2003 in New York City, New York) was a Cuban-born artist and architect who, in 1953, became one of the founding members of Los Once (The Eleven), a group of young abstract expressionist artists which included the core members Guido Llinás, Raul Martinez, Tomás Oliva and Antonio Vidal. The group broke away from the representational style prevalent at the time in Cuba and produced its largest volume of work between 1953 and 1955. Consuegra and four of the original 11 continued to exhibit in what became known as the post-revolutionary avant-garde movement in Cuba. Consuegra was also a Professor of Art History at Havana University’s School of Architecture (1960–5).
His first solo exhibition was held in 1953 at the Lyceum in Havana. As part of Los Once (The Eleven), Consuegra was instrumental in introducing abstract expressionism to Cuba. His award-winning artwork was widely exhibited in Cuba and internationally until he received political asylum in Spain in 1967. He moved to New York three years later continuing his painting, drawing and engraving career. He became an American citizen in 1975.
Throughout his career, Consuegra widely exhibited his work in such cities as: Havana, New York, Paris, Cadiz (Spain), and Sao Paulo, among others. His work is part of major collections including Casa de las Américas (Havana), Cintas Foundation (New York), Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (Havana), Art Museum of the Americas (Washington D.C.), and the Rodríguez Collection (Miami), among others. He was awarded the Cintas Foundation Fellowship.
Edmundo Desnoes’ 1961 essay invites us to consider the artist’s impact: “The paintings of Hugo Consuegra always give us the impression of having penetrated into an occult world: of having descended into an underworld or of stumbling onto the private life of an unknown family. His paintings always produce a subjective effect. His burnished blues, his tanned browns, his nightmare landscapes with black skies and desolated countrysides, belong to the world of the inner personality. There are areas in which color concentrates and seems to form thick drops, and other places in which it evaporates or is forgotten. His canvases are always resolved in genuine good taste.”