CDS Gallery is devoted to the exhibition of works by recognized masters of Modern and Contemporary Art from the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Australia. The gallery, originally known as Estudio Actual, was founded in Caracas, Venezuela in 1968 by Clara Diament Sujo, known art historian and critic.
Estudio Actual began as a non-profit institution dedicated to showcasing the many facets of international Modern and Contemporary Art through the exhibition of groundbreaking, critically acclaimed artists, including Marcel Duchamp, Robert Rauschenberg, Jesús Raphael Soto, and Marisol, among others.
In 1981, Estudio Actual moved to New York and began activities as CDS Gallery, opening its doors with a show of major North American artists (Pollock, Still, Rothko, Guston, and Motherwell) and Latin American Masters (Rivera, Lam, Matta, Orozco, and Torres-Garcia). John Russell, chief art critic of The New York Times wrote a conceptual review emphasizing the importance of the CDS program, underlining the fact that it was the first world presentation of Art of the Americas as a crucial, unified arena of Contemporary Art.
This was evidenced by Ms. Sujo’s instrumental role in the organization of the first ever auction of Latin American Art at Sotheby’s, New York in 1979. Using her expertise within the field, Ms. Sujo collaborated on this significant undertaking with Mr. Roger Stone, (United States Ambassador to Venezuela and President of the Americas Society in New York) William S. Luers, (Chairman and President of the United Nations) and Edward Lee Cave, Executive Director of Sotheby’s. The event met with great success as every work in the auction was sold, establishing Latin American Art as a major field amongst collectors and scholars alike, and in May of 1981, Sotheby’s created a full time Latin American program of auctions.
With the cooperation of committed individuals who share the values and mission of CDS Gallery, major museums across the world have since developed significant collections of Latin American Art, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Louvre in Paris, the Tate Modern in London, and many others. CDS Gallery has been a recognized member of the Art Dealers Association of America since 1991.
