id: 361504 accession number: 2019.196 share license status: Copyrighted url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2019.196 updated: 2022-01-04 18:12:00.431000 Santa Faustina Kowalska 1931, 2005. León Ferrari (Argentinian, 1920-2013). Pen and black ink on wove paper; sheet: 29.5 x 21 cm (11 5/8 x 8 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the Leon Ferrari Foundation 2019.196 © León Ferrari title: Santa Faustina Kowalska 1931 title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 2005 creation date earliest: 2005 creation date latest: 2005 current location: creditline: Gift of the Leon Ferrari Foundation copyright: © León Ferrari --- culture: Argentina, 21st century technique: pen and black ink on wove paper department: Drawings collection: Drawings type: Drawing find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * León Ferrari (Argentinian, 1920-2013) - artist Argentine sculptor, poet, and conceptual artist, 1920-2013 --- measurements: Sheet: 29.5 x 21 cm (11 5/8 x 8 1/4 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: inscribed at lower left, in ink: Santa Faustina Kowalska 1931; initialed and dated at lower right, in ink: lf / 05. Inscribed on verso at center, in ink: leon Ferrari / en / Santa Ana / 27/3/05 / Domingo de Pascua / (edding 1880) translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: A Graphic Revolution: Prints and Drawings in Latin America opening date: 2020-03-14T04:00:00 A Graphic Revolution: Prints and Drawings in Latin America. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 14-August 2, 2020). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE Studio of the artist date: 2005-2013 footnotes: citations: Estate of the artist, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH through Sicardi Ayers Bacino, Houston, TX date: 2013-2019 footnotes: citations: Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 2019- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: León Ferrari created several works that incorporated texts authored by Maria Faustina Kowalska, a Polish nun. digital description: Created during the last decade of Argentinian artist León Ferrari’s life, this drawing presents a decorative flourish of cursive text. Beginning in the 1960s, the artist created a series of drawings that presented or evoked the written word in response to censorship in his native country. Here, Ferrari presented the Polish nun Maria Faustina Kowalska’s (1905–1938) description of Hell, evoking a juxtaposition between otherworldly tortures with those enacted during the political turmoil he had witnessed during his lifetime. wall description: León Ferrari worked during a period of great political upheaval and censorship in Argentina. In response, the artist created a series of drawings that he termed “written paintings.” At left, Ferrari uses marks that resemble handwriting but are abstract upon closer examination. Evoking the experience of artistic expression under a repressive regime, the image frustrates the viewers’ attempt to read it. Ferrari worked with text throughout his career. The drawing at far right, from the last decade of his life, invites comparison between a description of hell by the Polish nun Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska (1905–1938) with events that Ferrari had witnessed. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS --- IMAGES