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

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culture:	Argentina, 21st century
technique:	pen and black ink on wove paper
department:	Drawings
collection:	Drawings
type:		Drawing
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

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CREATORS

* León Ferrari (Argentinian, 1920-2013)  - artist
Argentine sculptor, poet, and conceptual artist, 1920-2013
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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:		

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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

	title:		A Graphic Revolution: Prints and Drawings in Latin America
	opening date:   2020-03-14T04:00:00
	<i>A Graphic Revolution: Prints and Drawings in Latin America</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 14-August 2, 2020).

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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

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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: 	


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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.
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RELATED WORKS

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CITATIONS

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