José Cúneo

José Cuneo Perinetti (Uruguayan, 1887-1977)

In 1927, after studying painting in Uruguay, Turin, and Paris, Cuneo moved to Cagnes-Sur-Mer where he was influenced by Chaim Soutine’s expressionist style. Returning home to Montevideo, he began “Moons and Ranches,” an expressionist series painted between 1928-1955 in which tilted landscapes and huts are lit by enormous, hovering moons. Cuneo’s career had two phases: these early expressive landscapes signed Cuneo, and after 1957, abstract compositions signed Perinetti. These were influenced by two years in Amsterdam with COBRA, an avant-garde group focused on spontaneity and color.

Important Source Material:

Cardis-Toulouse, Regine. “Jose Cuneo Perinetti (1887-1977), un peintre uruguayen (monographie et catalogue de l’oeuvre).” PhD diss., Université Paris, 1998.

NHS