(Columbian, 1933-2015) 

Abstract figural composition, signed upper right side "Granada", oil on canvas, 78-1/4 x 54-3/4 in.; unframed

Note: Colombian painter Carlos Granada-Arango graduated from the School of Fine Arts of the Universidad Nacional in Bogota, where he earned a teaching degree in painting and drawing. He then completed a specialization in mural painting and engraving at the Academia de San Fernando in Madrid, Spain.

Professor and director of the Museo de Arte and Art Department of the Universidad Nacional, in 1972 Granada-Arango founded Taller 4 Rojo with Umberto Giangrandi, Nirma Zarate and Diego Arango. In 1963 he won First Prize at the 15th Salon of Colombian Artists with the work entitled Solo con su Muerte (Only with His Death), a piece that alluded to the violence in his country.

His impressionistic paintings focused on representing social, political and sexual themes through crude and striking images that confronted viewers with the reality in Colombia. Some of his most emblematic paintings include works from the series "The Color of Life, the Color of Death" presented at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Bogota in 1976." - ArtNexus

Rita Rofe, a longtime Princeton, New Jersey educator and resident, and husband Nicolas Rofe began their art collection in the 1960s, selected during their travels in the early years of their marriage. Rita Rofe was multilingual and developed a keen appreciation for art from Latin America and elsewhere, and these are among their earliest group of artists now well established and sought after in the category of Latin American Modern Art.

Provenance: The Estate of Rita F. Rofe, Princeton, New Jersey