Sandú Darié Romania, 1908-1991
Born in Romania in 1908 of Jewish parents Darie trained initially as a lawyer in Bucharest. Amid growing political instability and the advent of Stalinist influence, Darie migrated to Paris in the 1930’s and became part of the first wave of literary and artistic members of the Romanian avant garde diaspora. There, he socialized along with the Romanian circle of writers and artists (Brancusi, Tzara, Brauner and Luca among others), until 1941, when he emigrates to America choosing Cuba as his final destination. Once in Cuba he established himself as an artist with strong emphasis on geometric abstraction. After his first solo exhibit in NY at Carlebach gallery, reviewed in the NYT by Stuart Preston, he initiated correspondence with the Argentinean Concrete Art movement, exchanging ideas and participating in their Concrete manifesto of 1951. That same year he participated in a group show at the Rose Fried gallery along with Mondrian, Delauney, Vantongerloo, and Albers. He represented Cuba at the 1953 II São Paulo Bienal and was part of the Concrete Cuban manifesto in the 1958 exhibit in Havana of the group of 10. Referred as “the prophet of Concretism” by his fellow painters, Darie led the Cuban Concrete art movement beyond local to a wider international attention. He died in 1991.
