San Lázaro (O Yo Soy La Ruta)
Artist
José Bedia
Cuban, born 1959, Havana
Date1992
MediumAcrylic on canvas
Dimensionsheight and width: 115 x 61 1/2 in. (292.1 x 156.2 cm)
frame: 116 1/2 x 63 in. (295.9 x 160 cm)
frame: 116 1/2 x 63 in. (295.9 x 160 cm)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LinePurchased with funds from the bequest of W. R. Valentiner, by exchange
Object number2004.15
On View
On viewCentral to Bedia's work is his practice of Palo Monte, an Afro-Cuban religion with particular appeal to the artist because of its strong links with Native American beliefs. In this painting of St. Lazarus (San Lázaro), Bedia has inscribed the canvas with variant Palo names for the venerated figure, who appears with his attributes, crutches and guide dogs licking his wounds. Lazarus inspires fear and reverence. The humble saint of health and healing shows no mercy to the vain and arrogant; he provides solace to the afflicted and especially to the poor and to immigrants. His comforting words appear in the middle of the painting: "Yo soy la ruta, el camino por donde vas" (I am the way, the path to get you there).
[L. Dougherty, 2010]ProvenanceCreated Mexico City, 1992; collection of the artist; [Galería Nina Menocal, Mexico City]; private collection, Mexico City; [sale, Christie’s, New York, November 21, 1995, no. 232]; Javier Lumbreras, Miami; [sale, Sotheby’s, New York, May 31, 2000, no. 66]; Robert Paris, New York; [George Adams Gallery, New York, 2004]; sold to NCMA, 2004.Published ReferencesImportant Latin American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, November 20 and 21, 1995 (auction catalogue) (New York: Christie's, 1995), lot 232, illus. (color).
Judith Bettelheim, et al, Crónicas Americanas: Obras de José Bedia (exhibition catalogue) (Monterrey, Mexico: Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, 1997), listed 177, illus. (color) 152, fig. 72.
Latin American Art, May 31 and June 1, 2000 (auction catalogue) (New York: Sotheby's, 2000), lot 66, illus. (color).
"New Acquisitions: Sculpture, Photography and Painting," Preview: The Magazine of the North Carolina Museum of Art (March/April 2006), discussed 7-8, illus. (color) 9.
Linda J. Dougherty, entry for San Lázaro (O Yo Soy La Ruta), in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2010), 534, illus. (color) 535.
Exhibition HistoryMexico City, Galería Nina Menocal, "La isla en peso," January 23, 1992.
Monterrey, Mexico, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey; Mexico City, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Internacional Rufino Tamayo, "Crónicas Americanas: Obras de José Bedia" June 1997-April 1998, listed 177, illus. (color) 152, fig. 72.
Savannah, GA, Telfair Museum of Art's Jepson Center for the Arts, "Fast Forward: Three Decades of Contemporary Art from the North Carolina Museum of Art," January 23-April 27, 2008.
Wilmington, NC, Louise Wells Cameron Art Museum, "Bearden to Ruscha: Contemporary Art from the North Carolina Museum of Art," May 22, 2008-May 17, 2009.
Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–April 28, 2025.
Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection Reimagined" (Thematic Gallery: "Devotion and the Arts in the People's Collection"), June 7, 2025-present. Object Rights Statement
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