The Marta Permuy Legacy Collection is a gift of artwork made by Antonio Permuy in honor of his grandmother.
Marta Permuy was a pioneer in helping to establish Cuban art in the United States, and her efforts in the arts were defined by an open-hearted humanistic art patronage philosophy.
Marta Permuy began her involvement in Cuban causes early in life. She first became enchanted with Cuban art as a young woman in Cuba where she encountered memorable paintings as well as folk art that stayed with her and planted the seeds for her life’s passion in a few short years. During this period, she was one of the few women centrally involved in organizing resistance efforts against Fidel Castro’s regime through the MRR (Movimiento de Recuperación Revolucionaria) which coordinated between various cells as well as Castro government defectors, religious organizations, as well as the CIA in its resistance missions and operations to the dictatorship being established on the island. After the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion, she relocated with her future husband Jesús Permuy first to Venezuela for several months and then to the United States in 1962.
Over the following decade in the United States, Marta had become involved in the Cuban exile art community in Miami. This was largely a result of social relationships that she had, including some who shared professional backgrounds in architecture with her then-husband Jesús. An early friend was Baruj Salinas who, in 1969, introduced Marta to the now-renowned Juan González. Marta became a key early supporter of González’s career. Between 1970 and 1971, Marta helped secure him a space to use as a studio at 1901 Le Jeune Road in Coral Gables. She arranged this through another Cuban artist friend, Miguel Jorge, who lived and painted in the adjacent apartment unit. It was here in this space that González painted several key early works that brought him his early fame and career breakthrough, with Marta watching on and encouraging him in the studio with regular visits. It was also here that González welcomed the curator of the Whitney Museum, Robert Doty, in November of 1971 to show him his works in detail. Following this visit, González was added to the 1972 Whitney Annual Exhibition and received national exposure. This resulted in a solo exhibition for González at the leading Allan Stone Gallery later that same year.
After González’s sudden career breakthrough in 1972, it became apparent that he needed to quickly relocate permanently to New York. As he was still bound to his lease for the apartment unit, Marta and her husband Jesús offered to assume the lease for him, allowing him the flexibility to leave. This also paved the way for their groundbreaking decision to convert the former studio space on the first floor of 1901 Le Jeune Road into Permuy Gallery, one of the first Cuban art galleries in the United States. According to leading Latin American art critic Ricardo Pau-Llosa, Permuy Gallery was “the first pioneer gallery” that helped establish Coral Gables and Miami as the leading hub of Latin American art in North America during the second half of the 20th century. During its pioneering four-year run, Marta would run the gallery and curated its exhibitions and events. Among its cultural contributions, Permuy Gallery had initiated the tradition of “Friday Gallery Nights” in Coral Gables, which continues to this day. These “Fridays” included new exhibition openings every week as well as evening cultural salon gatherings and discussions in the evenings of the openings. These evening gatherings included many prominent members of the community from different backgrounds who came together to support Cuban art and culture in exile. Participants included artists, writers, architects, urban planners, activists, businessmen and politicians. Notable participants included then-Miami Mayor Maurice Ferré, poet and critic Ricardo Pau-Llosa, writer and critic Mauricio Fernández, and collector Marcos Pinedo. In recognition of the Cultural and Historical significance of this scene that emerged in Permuy Gallery, the site was declared a Coral Gables landmark in 2022 on the 50th anniversary of the gallery’s historic launch and five years after Marta Permuy’s passing in 2017.
Marta continued to support artists and art communities through to her later years. In the last two decades of her life she became a patron of several artists, including Neith Nevelson, Ramón Unzueta, Carlos Navarro, Manolo Rodriguez, Josevelio Rodriguez Abreu, Carlos Acostaneyra, and Noel Aquino. She had also supported the growth and development of multiple art communities, including those in Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, the Bird Road Arts District (BRAD), and Little Havana, leaving a wide-reaching legacy of patronage and impact that helped light the spark for South Florida as an international arts hub.
