Hemingway, Boina and Gattorno

A researcher in the Ernest Hemingway Collection is Colette C. Hemingway ~ the wife of Sean Hemingway who is the son of Gregory and grandson of Ernest. Colette is an art historian and is currently writing a book on the art collection of Ernest Hemingway. As a result of her research the Ernest Hemingway Library has gained a far better understanding of the significance of a watercolor stored as Oversized Material within the Other Material series. It is in fact a wonderful watercolor portrait of Ernest Hemingway in a beret.

The title on the verso in violet ballpoint pen is “Ernest Hemingway by Antonio Gattorno / 1934.”

The watercolor portrait is adhered

into an old mat with “Scotch” tape,

masking tape and strips from a

gummed address label.

The portrait is slightly cockled and

has surface grime.

Antonio Gattorno (Cuban, 1904-1980) was one of the pioneers of the modern art movement in Cuba. Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos sponsored Gattorno’s first U.S. exhibit. From the 1930’s through the 1970s, reviews of his solo exhibitions in the New York Times and other important newspapers consider him a major talent and compare him to artists as diverse as Eduard Manet and Salvador Dali.