Davidoff First-ever Limited Art Edition Featuring Artwork by Quisqueya Henríquez

Davidoff Art Initiative unveiled the first Davidoff Limited Art Edition, featuring original commissioned artwork by the critically acclaimed Caribbean artist Quisqueya Henríquez. Two limited art edition, each one manufactured in a quantity of 3,000 and stocked with custom-made cigars developed exclusively for the limited art edition, will be presented at Davidoff’s Collectors Lounge at Art Basel Hong Kong.

Quisqueya Henríquez was, in addition, invited to create a highly limited run of fifty Collectors Editions, which include the special edition as well as an original artist’s print from the series of images developed for the project. Each artwork is unique and can be selected by the customer at the time of purchase. The compositions created by Henríquez for the Davidoff Limited Art Edition and the Collectors Editions call to mind the intricate handcraft of cigar making and evoke the multiple phases involved in the tradition. The richly colored images obtained from the layering of multiple photographs of tobacco leaves, create a composition that, while abstract, hints at the source materials involved in its creation.

“I have always had in mind to work with images that illustrate time and the many different steps involved in the tradition of cigar making,” said Quisqueya Henríquez, who was born in Cuba and now resides in the Dominican Republic. The finely layered images, inspired by the artist’s multiple visits to the Davidoff home in the Dominican Republic, both capture the time consuming process of craftmanship and reference the artist’s native Caribbean culture. One of the most persistent images throughout her prints is the image of the tobacco leaf, especially the complexity of its natural design. Quisqueya Henríquez also used the Rorschach technique to create a visual field depth and establish an interactive relationship with the cigar and her pattern designs. Each work in the edition is composed of three or more superimposed photographic impressions of leaves. Each layer has a slightly different hue, and each allows for a degree of transparency. Although color manipulation is quite prevalent in some works, the natural color and texture of the leaf can still be apprehended in the abstract compositions. The final pattern is based on the use of metallic colors inspired by the cigar’s relationship with luxury and beauty.

 “When we approached Ms. Henríquez to do a work for our inaugural limited art edition, we did not ask her to take up the subject of cigars. So it was all the more gratifying that she asked to visit our fields in Santiago and spend time there observing our crops and the work methods of our rollers,” said Hans-Kristian Hoejsgaard, President & CEO Oettinger Davidoff AG.

“ The works that have resulted from her experiments with photography and the manipulation of leaves are breathtakingly beautiful, and they also say something profound about the history and culture of the Caribbean.”