Arte e Historia

Art and History

at the Banco popular dominicano visual arts collection

acrylic/canvas, 100x76 cm., 1991 v «Merengueros,» acrylic/ In his presentation of the exhibition «Autum in
Spring,» Don Alejandro E. Grullón writes: «Last year Banco
canvas, 101x127 cm., 1992. Popular Dominicano initiated a program to annually sponsor art
exhibitions in Altos de Chavón. In this second year of the program
MARIO GRULLÓN: we are showcasing the first solo exhibition of renowned painter
SPRING IN AUTUMN Mario Grullón. Thus Banco Popular Dominicano continues
to offers its support to the development of the visual arts in the
Sponsored by Banco Popular Dominicano, Mario Dominican Republic, providing an opportunity to present solo
Grullón held in Altos de Chavón the solo exhibition exhibitions of artists who for one reason or another could not do
«Spring in Autumn,» in November 1984. It was an ap- it, at the same time contributing to the wonderful work on behalf
propriate title. The painter born in Santiago de los Ca- of art and culture that makes the Foundation Altos de Chavón.
balleros in 1918 had found the turning point to become We hope that this joint task (…) will stimulate a new generation
a fulltime artist, at age 66 when he was going through the of artists and thus contribute to the cultural development of our
autumn of his life. Gone were those jobs required to sup- country, with the enthusiastic support of all Dominicans.»
port his family and their needs. With his palette, brushes
and color palettes, he began transcribing his visions as In the Main Gallery Altos de Chavón, maestro
spring tunes. Grullón displayed fifty works on various topics especial-
ly costumbrista, and almost all of Cibao. Recognized as
Mario Grullón liked to paint since he was a child, a national artist, the newspaper «El Caribe» September
helping his father in decorative tasks. When Yoryi Morel 1996 dedicates him an editorial: Mario Grullón. «With
discovered him working at the Sociedad Cultural Alianza the same ease with which he lived, the painter Mario Grullón
Cibaeña in 1940, he urged him to attend the Academy of died recently in Santiago, his land, where he always remained
Painting, which he had established in Sol Street, adjacent devoted to his art in a quiet and fruitful manner. Was an artist
to the old site of the Church of Altagracia. After a period who, despite not having been among the best-known representa-
of guidance, in his twenties, he was awarded a scholar- tives of the current visual arts not for lack of merit but of oppor-
ship by the City Council to continue his studies at the tunities, he can be considered as one of the pillars of the paint-
National School of Fine Arts, founded in the capital city ing of the Cibao region. Region that he successfully brought to
in 1942. He graduated from this center as a painting the canvas with skill, realism and love. Modest as it was, did
teacher, associated with the young artistic generation of not hesitate to complete the murals initiated by Vela Zanetti in
the 40s, and with remarkable modern Dominicans and what was Monument of Peace and is now dedicated to the He-
Europeans maestros who breathed modern rhetoric, al- roes of the Restoration, in the city of Santiago de los Caballeros.
ready contaminated with Yoryi’s production. And perhaps few know that to help his great friend Yoryi Morel
at times he was suffering temporary blindness, Mario Grullón
Upon graduating, Mario Grullón returned to his took the brush of maestro Yoryi, so he would not suffer from eco-
home city, dividing his time between multiple jobs dur- nomic hardship. Good artist and tireless worker, Mario Grullón
ing the day and painting at night to keep alive his recog- will always be remembered with respect and affection by those
nition as an artist. He was a painter of signs, banners and who knew him, while his paintings, reflections of nature and a
decorative murals. Also, he was a penman and teacher, people he adored, will become the permanent testimony of visual
honoured by numerous awards from the Dominican Col- arts values of this native of Santiago that made the world of his
lege of Visual Artists (1987), the National Competition birth his freely chosen habitat.»
for Children (1988), the Science and Art Foundation
(1989), and among others, the one from Fine Arts and
Culture for this teaching (1992).

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Danilo De los Santos

«Farewell to a big,» editorialized the newspaper La is a challenge the painter could not escape, therefore hi
Informacón (August 30, 1996), stating in the paragraph: enters on an intense working period. Six years of paint-
«With the death of the master of Dominican painting, Mario ing give a new depth to his work, reflecting on his canvas
Grullón, Santiago has lost one of its most devoted creators of Vi- the affection for this country. In an individual exhibition
sual Arts. His life was an example of dedication to a vocation held at the Art Nouveau Center (September 22, 1983),
manifested in the brushwork to capture the landscape, the reali- the themes are focus on locations: «Children on donkeys»
ties and traditions of Santiago and the Cibao (…). Permanent (Constanza), «Little house on the Beach» (Samaná), «Car-
member of the so-called School of Santiago, highly regarded pu- riage» (San Pedro de Macorís), «Shacks» (Juan Dolio),
pil of maestro Yoryi Morel, distinguished professor of the School «Modern Market» (Santo Domingo)…
of Fine Arts, founder of an Academy of Painting, Don Mario
had a lifelong attached to humanist values. His work, full of His identification with the islands, allows the paint-
impressionist and costumbrista ink, will live in transcendence er from Valencia, to be considered Dominican at the In-
saved to his race.» ternational Collective in New York Customs Museum,
where he shows 36 canvas. A newspaper from that city
«Peasant Landscape,» acrylic/canvas, 60x50 cm., 1988 considers him «the sole expositor (…) representing with an
v «Car,» acrylic/canvas, 91x76 cm., 1986 v «Countryside obvious and owned style his country». Another newspaper
Landscape,» acrylic/canvas, 75x91 cm., 1985 v «Landscape,» reviews «The merengue’s delightfulness came to us from Santo
acrylic/canvas, 75x91 cm., 1985 v «Untitled,» acrylic/can- Domingo, in Masiá brushes», adding that the Museum manage-
vas, 75x60 cm., 1985 v «Santo Domingo Cathedral,» acrylic/ ment «had to insulate his paintings». Nevertheless, the light,
canvas, 91x75 cm., 1989 v «Untitled,» acrylic/canvas, 91x76 the grace and the Caribbean colourfulness powerfully
cm., 1987 v «Market,» oil/canvas, 100x83 cm., 1984 v «Little attracted the critic and the audience that unanimously
Black Woman from la Linea,» oil/canvas, 75x60 cm., 1984 v gave the highest score to this artist. By this, New York
«Car of Santiago,» acrylic/canvas, 73x58 cm., 1988 v «Land- doors were opened to him. «well deserved, specially, if one
scape,» acrylic/canvas, 90x75 cm., 1984. consider the huge quality of the exhibited works, signed by pres-
tigious well-known artists who were shrouded by the Dominican
AGUSTIN MASIÁ: brushes’ irresistible assertiveness.»
THE APPROPRIATION OF A COUNTRY HE
MADE OF HIS OWN Esteemed by his landscapes, Masiá is the author of
a seascape series painted before his death in Santo Do-
As a globetrotter, he arrives in Santo Domingo in mingo, on the Christmas day, 1994, leaving behind as a
1975. Agustin Masiá, born in Valencia, Spain in 1931, patrimony a discourse of diverse subjects.
studied at his native city Beaux Arts School. After incur-
sions on diverse modernist styles he was not satisfied «Untitled,» oil/canvas 60x91 cm., 1987 v «Untitled,» oil/
with, he opts for the traditional school regarding land-
scapes. Since 1946 he starts showing individually, follow- canvas, 75x100 cm., 1981 v «Peasant,» oil/canvas, 40x29 cm., no
ing a route from Valencia through out Madrid, Palma de
Mallorca, San Sebastian to Santo Domingo, apart from date v «Seascape,» oil/canvas, 60x45 cm., no date v «Untitled,»
Miami and New York.
acrylic/canvas, 90x121 cm., 1989 v «Seascape,» oil/canvas,
According to his biography, Agustin Masiá takes
roots in Dominican Republic «captivated» by its people 60x90 cm., no date v «Seascape and Fisher,» oil/canvas, 60x91
and the paradisiac landscape (…) The tropical luminosity
cm., no date v «Bueyes mellando terreno,» oil/cancas, 75x100

cm., 1992 v «Untitled,» oil/canvas, 60x101 cm., no date v «Lev-

elling the Ground,» oil/canvas, 100x125 cm., no date v «Un-

titled,» mix/canvas, 50x93 cm., no date v «Untitled,» acrylic/

canvas, 65x85 cm., no date v «Untitled,» mix/canvas, 60x90 cm.,

403

Art and History

at the Banco popular dominicano visual arts collection

no date v «Carriage and Ox,» oil/canvas, 60x90 cm., no date flavour of someone influenced by the environmental features, es-
v «Caravel,» oil/canvas, 60x75 cm., no date v «Seascape and pecially for the material offered by it: He has worked splendidly
vessel,» oil/canvas, 60x45 cm., no date v «Carriage and Ox,» the Dominican stones: Samana’s onyx, pink marble, granite,
oil/canvas, 70x118 cm., no date v «Washers,» oil/canvas, 60x75 alabaster; and the woods like Guayacan wood, mahogany and
cm., no date v «San Rafael Beach, Barahona,» oil/canvas, 60x90 teak. His pieces made in stone present a formal strength and an
cm., no date v «Seascape with Sailboat,» oil/canvas, 55x75 cm., expressive sureness only seen in the contemporary sculpture’s real
no date v «Ox, Carriages and Canes,» oil/canvas, 54x88 cm., masters: Brancusi, Moore and Arp. The technic hasn’t have
no date. «Country Little House,» acrylic/canvas, 54x75 cm., no secrets for this young sculptor (…) Prats-Ventós has been present
date v «Seascape,» acrylic/canvas, 75x100 cm., no date. in all the Biennials held in Dominican Republic (…) He is rep-
resented in many public buildings and private residences.»
Prats-Ventós:
SCULPTURES AND PAINTINGS A sculptor of bulk and relief pieces, he stands out
also as orator for the symbolic or referenced abstraction.
With an artistic reputation as professor as well as an A discreet painter as well, with differentiated styles and
sculptor, Antonio Prats-Ventós played a significant role themes. According to María Ugarte (Prats-Ventós 1925-
during the 1966-1970 period. Exhibitor on the rise, he had 1999, page 195), in 1970 he starts the series «Las Damas,
an individual showing at the Universidad Madre y Maestra las Meninas y Los Infantes» (…). Exhibit for the first time
campus’ opening (1966). Other individuals from that peri- «Los Apóstoles» at the Museo Del Hombre Dominicano
od: Universidad de Santiago (1964); in Puerto Rico, at the (…). He build the «altarpiece» Basílica de Nuestra Señora
Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña and the Museo Uni- de la Altagracia en Higüey (…). With «Los Apóstoles,»
versitario de Río Piedras (1968). By that time, the cultural Prats-Ventós takes part at the Expo Nueva Imagen de la
group La Máscara had elected him as the Year’s Sculptor Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra. `
(1966), taking into consideration his personal exhibition
at the Fine Arts Palace, where he showed 81 sculptures. The decades 1970 and 1980, see an outstanding
productive and exhibitions vitality in the master, who
He was a professor at the Universidad Nacional Pe- got the Dominican citizenship by the naturalization
dro Henríquez Ureña’s (UNPHU) Architecture School decree 1109, extended in 1971. That vitality multi-
and at the same time, teaching at the Fine Arts National plies him as a sculptor and a painter, on the basis of
School when, in 1969, when two expressive statues he a sounded drawing skill that give form mainly to his
had created for the Fine Arts Palace front were downed. unmistakable round faces icons, as well as his still lives,
The Palace, opened in 1956, was transformed into the na- and landscapes where he combines a chromatic range
tional collection venue that included his awarded works handcrafted command. On top of that, his technic
from different Biennials; hosting at the same time the mastering of the basic plastic material substrates and
school in which he was a sculptor professor. The shame- extracts, flows with an apparent cold frugality, but lyric
ful event provoked his resignation, producing at once a in the accuracy’s rationality where the Basque, Spanish
sculptural group forged in iron entitled «Angels Proces- or Dominican references join hands.
sion for a Death Statue,» group of 100 abstract pieces
plus one figurative shown at UNPHU in 1969. «Drawing,» charcoal, 13x21 inch., no date. The piece
of graphic strokes, part of the bank collection, seemingly
Darío Suro, in his monograph «Arte Dominicano,» results in an sculpture draft, due to the circular forms of
(1968, p.72), said: «Prats-Ventós created and matured his its plan, on the base as in the curvatures defining thin
work in the Dominican Republic. In Prats-Ventós remains the and edgy resembling an abstract cubical enclosure.

404

Danilo De los Santos

«Los Apóstoles,» sculpture in mahogany, more than The artist himself confessed that doing it was a sort of
three meters wide, carved by the end of 1980s, is formed by relief during his breaks after the sculpting job arduous
three vertical bodies extracted from the same log. It was ex- hours. The pictorial work was the concrete communion
hibited in Santo Domingo in 1970, and Santiago in 1972. with various dissipations: His beloved Azuan woman,
Rosa María García Bidó, who multiplied him with their
The artist, «just by chance found the log in a warehouse children; the soaked cigarette with coffee flavor or the
at the exact moment when a group of workers armed with an good wine shared with friends all that perhaps serve as
axe were starting to break it into pieces. Of a surprising qual- well to dissipate nostalgia.
ity, the old and perfect Creole mahogany’s trunk was already
divided into two vertical pieces. He bought it immediately and The presence of pictorial works on the Popular’s
his weight was such, that at the time it was laid at his house collection is numerous: paintings with or without date,
courtyard, the cement floor broke. He worked the piece in the of various themes: women with turbans, girls with but-
garden. Just to rough it down took him three months. The two terflies, still lives, angels with star-filled skies, landscapes
figures in the trunk transmitted to the sculptor the name’s apos- with yellow, red, green trees and with shacks… Tens of
tolic message.» (María Ugarte, cit. op, p.101). different paintings with reiterative format and approach,
but never repetitive.
«The Lady,» carved mahogany/polychrome, 129 cm.
high, 1988. «Menina,» carved mahogany/polychrome, «The Turban’s Lady,» oil/canvas, 32x25 inch., no date v
170 cm. high, no date. «Meninas,» carved mahogany/poly- «Maternity and Oranges,» acrylic/canvas, 32x25 inch., no date
chrome, 52 inch high, 1990. Sculpted in different dates, v «Green Trees and a Red Tree,» acrylic/canvas v «Houses Be-
they offer linguistic unity in the dialogue between the tween Flamboyanes v «Blue, Plentiful Grove.» v «Girls under
wood au natural and the polychrome resource that coat the Rain,» acrylic/canvas, 48x28 inch., no date v «Merchant
the slender forms («The Lady» and «Meninas»), offering Women.» v «Girls Face.» v «Little Flamboyanes with Yellow
a seat composure to the third «Menina». The pieces show Sky v «Two White Horses and Two Girls.» v «Fragmented Still
outstanding coiffure crowning their heads with dual faces, Life.» v «Women and Girls Line.»
like novel and objective mystery’s masks. The cylindrical,
short, raised and non-repeated forms, «correspond to a job Artists Confluences,
that served the artist as a divertimento and was proof of Generations and Imagery
his dialogue with wood. (María Ugarte, cit.op. page 150). 1990-2001
Hieratic solemnity, only broken by the chromatic decora-
tive head-dress, subscribes, conscious or unconsciously. In the plastic arts collection conformed by the Banco
The new Dominican figurative, dumping the linguistic Popular Dominicano there is a lineal confluence of artists
and thematic that coincided, at the beginning of 1970s, and generations that, in the Dominican art case, signal the
with the painter and Master Fernando Peña Defilló. XX century ascendant history, with representative evidenc-
es of that initiated with the XXI century.
The still life and the celestial iconography portraying
angels and human absorbed characters; are part of an ex- The artists, and the generations they are linked to, and
tensive pictorial production new phase, twice indulgent: the pieces they subscribe during the 1900-2001 period, sum-
for the artist himself and for the audience, who enjoys marize many different imageries as referent to the forms
the kindness of not disturbing works. No social drama, and the ranges of our insular republic; forms and ranges
or expressionist scenes or affected landscapes out of dissi- which are endless in its variables encompassing the day’s
pation, characterize the Antonio Prats-Ventós paintings.

405

Art and History

at the Banco popular dominicano visual arts collection

instants, in the four tropical seasons that are different from like them, whose discourses and work also stay around
the non-Caribbean realities; forms and ranges as different the landscapes, but this is not the thematic production
and diverse as the regions of our insular and Dominican ge- binding them to the collection. Besides Avilés, Núñez,
ography. Furthermore, forms and ranges that, conjugated and Ricart, there are records of Rafael Amable, Dioni-
as icons, naturalist or imaginative and subjective scene, give sio de la Paz, Jesús Desangles, and Hilario Olivo. Enri-
us historical times. Starting by the pioneer painter Arturo quillo Rodríguez Amiama, Pedro Terreiro, Carlos San-
Grullón Julia, going through Abelardo Piñeyro, Celeste tos Durán, Luz Severino, Daniel Díaz, Inés Tolentino
Woss y Gil, Yoryi Morel and some other names, many of and Miguel Gómez, among others.
them subsequent to these, it is possible to have an idea of
the Dominican art, when we multiply the numbers of years Miguel Núñez. (Santo Domingo, 1959). His soft chro-
and generations we manage to count by the means of bio-
graphic documental records or concrete visual works. matic range fluctuates in a late impressionism of dancers
and water lilies, broaden and consolidated with the Santo
In the confluence we get to by the last XX century Domingo City focalizations. His exhibitions «A Loneliness
decade, we find artists’ names from the 1930s, like the Year» (1988), «A Year Later» (1990) and «The City of Ours»
veteran painter Federico Izquierdo, with a painting dated (1991), with colonial architecture, the capital inhabitants,
in 1999, or Yolanda Monción (Yuli) with a work record- street and parks with trees, are conjugated with a mix of
ed in 2001. In between these two generational represen- revival languages impregnated with real interpretations,
tations, there are great numbers of converging artists and feelings and attachment to the humanized landscape.
works. That is to say, there exist authors during the pe-
riod, with works dated since 1989 throughout 2001. The «The Cordón Gate,» acrylic/canvas, 85x75 cm., 1985 v
first cited date, allows us to approach the collection as a «Untitled,» acrylic/canvas, 146x121 cm., 1990 v «Untitled,»
culmination effect, starting not by the artists projected oil/canvas, 75x100 cm., 1995. «Sunday’s Afternoon,» oil/can-
since 1940 and so on until 1980, but inversely, seen the vas, 76x101 cm., 1995 v «A Sunny Day at the Park,» oil/can-
1980s’ generation as the initial focus. vas, 101x127 cm., n.d v «Woman Looking at the Ozama River,»
acrylic/canvas, 100x75 cm., 1997 v «The Grandmother,» oil/
1. THE «OCHENTISTAS.» During the 1990s, they canvas, 75x60 cm., 1994.

conform a generation that, although some of them were Dionisio De la Paz. (Mella, Pedernales Municipality,
mentioned before as related to the «interiorized land-
scape painting,» this is not an objective view to their 1951). Once he finished his basic studies in Pedernales,
themes in all the cases, but a mono-thematic cycle that he transferred to Santo Domingo and graduated from the
allowed them to get acceptance and an early attention by Graphic Design career and a major in Visual Arts and Su-
the critics. These are landscapes more related to school perior Education. This fact, allowed him to remain as a
styles, from which some of them depart with differenti- professor in the same institution. He was going to be soon
ated themes, as in the cases of Elvis Avilés, Juan Mayí a well-known painter, with five individual exhibitions
and Pedro Ricart. Miguel Núñez is the only one who from 1985-2001, numerous records in collectives and
keeps lineally the landscape focus, although approach- various awards in national competitions. His discourses
ing different and novel sunny urban spots, solitary or recreate the Silent Tropic, The Hurricane Winds, My-
crowded streets, during the 1990s. To the four paint- thology, Ecology the environment and the fauna. Such
ers already mentioned, are connected «Ochentistas» speeches are elaborated with images and chromatic con-
figurations skillfully created.

406

Danilo De los Santos

«Abstraction,» acrylic/canvas, 76x114 cm., 1986 v «Com- Miguel Gómez. (Santo Domingo, 1954). He gradu-
position,» mix/canvas, 60x121 cm., 1987 v «Staring at the
Fauna,» acrylic/canvas, 75x100 cm., n.d v «Dreams on a Hid- ated from the Fine Arts National School and took part
den Paradise,» acrylic/canvas, 76x100 cm., 1991 v «From the of the first «ochentistas» generation collective exhibition
Tainismo Series» acrylic/canvas, 75x100 cm., 1991. (1983). Between 1984 and 1987, he held his first four in-
dividuals with great use of color, structured in geometri-
Jesús Desangles. (Santo Domingo, 1961). Initially, he cal fusions and usually around the dance theme as it is
the kettledrums’ party. While pointing out that Gómez
receives training at the relevant national painters work- has been an oneiric painter, De Tolentino also considers
shops between 1967 and 1973, when he enrols at the that he «goes ahead to combine three streams: impressionism-
Fine Arts National School, while taking part at collective expressionism-cubism, with some cubistic nuances.» (M.D.T.
exhibitions (1977-1985). His first individual exhibitions Listín Diario, 1986 Supplement).
turns him as an exclusive artist of Boinayel Gallery (1985-
1991). After receiving notorious recognitions at Cagnes «Original Half-Lights of a Family,» oil/canvas, 100x75
Sur-Mer (1987), Hoteles Barceló Competition (1992), cm., 1990 v «Human Persistence,» oil/canvas 125x201 cm.,
León Jimenes Competition (19..) and the National Bien- 1993 v «Popular Dancers,» acrylic/canvas, 101x127 cm., 1994
nial (19..) he is perceived as an artist of lineage, linked to v «From the Series Musicians,» oil/canvas, 75x100 cm., 1996 v
the great Caribbean modern oratories, related to a per- «Women,» mix/canvas, 100x75 cm., 1996.
sonal interpretative style about quotidian reality, magic
fauna and the popular subject. Juan Mayí. (San Francisco de Macorís, 1963). He is the

«Untitled» charcoal and wax/ paper, 85x54 cm., 1985 v «Un- author of «La muchacha de las trenzas,» acrylic canvas,
titled» mix/canvas, 151/125 cm., no date v «Characters,» mix/ 90x77 cm., no date. It is a portrait, perhaps imaginary.
canvas. 71x101 cm., 1989 v «Felines’ party,» oil/canvas, 150x100 If real, internalized with a lyric evocation. His chromatic
cm., 1990 v «Character,» acrylic/canvas, 69x94 cm., 1990. palette keeps relation with the painter’s landscape.

Enriquillo Rodríguez Amiama. (Santo Domingo, Rafael Amable. (Santo Domingo, 1958.) Draftsman
and painter formed at the Fine Arts National School.
1962). His early artistic formation starts at Nidia Serra’s Just after graduating, he held his first individual at Cen-
Art Centre, continues with the painters Silvano Lora, Al- tro de Arte Cándido Bidó in 1979. He participates in
berto Bass and Servio Fría, until he completed his edu- collective exhibitions and Competitions since 1980-
cation at the Fine Arts National School. As part of the 1990, and holds individuals at Casa Nouveaux and Casa
Generation Eighty, he held his first individual exhibition Bastidas in 1984, obtaining awards at the León Jimenes
in 1984, followed by four more in the 1986-1992 period. Painting Competition in 1990 and 1992, as well as draw-
He conjugates a visual discourse that speaks «from the fruits’ ing awards at the 1994’s XIX National Biennial.
image to the imagination fruits» as stated by Maríanne de
Tolentino, underlining «a balanced art of purity, quietness, «After Fishing,» serigraph /paper, 84x53 cm., 1985 v «Pigeons
theme that is not disturbing, nor worrisome, according to Henri and Canes,» acrylic/canvas, 40x30 cm., 1987 v «The Owl Swing
Matisse.» (M de Tolentino, text. December 2nd, 1993). on Full Moon,» acrylic/canvas, 145x125 cm., 1995.

«Caribbean Island,» acrylic/canvas, 76x100 cm., 1993 v Elvis Avilés. (Santo Domingo, 1964). After his land-
«On the High,» oil/canvas, 151x100 cm., 1993 v «From the
Romantic Theme Series,» mix/canvas, 76x101 cm., 1994. scapes discourses with photorealistic connection, his per-
sonal oratories from 1990 on are takes of urban walls

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Art and History

at the Banco popular dominicano visual arts collection

with its «graffiti,» stains and wearing out. Then the myth- (National Biennial, 1992), continue studies at The Art
ological reflections arise, with the «Earth’s figuration» Students League of New York and in Bogota, Colombia.
and the signs as chromatic conjugations. Since 1995, he is a pictorial and graphic artist woman with
individuals and collectives exhibitions. In 1992, she was
«Impression,» acrylic/canvas, 40x30 cm., 1995 chosen to appear at the exhibition «Dominican Art and
Women Today.»
Pedro Ricart. (Santo Domingo, 1960). Apart from his
«Composition of an Uncertain Future,» oil/canvas,
landscape’s theme, the painter produces the icon «She, 104x107 cm., no date v «Step by Step,» mix/canvas, 149x149
with Lights on the Air,» mix/canvas 32x22 inch., 1988. cm., 1996 v «In Search for Justice,» mix/canvas, 132x102 cm.,
The iconography is centred on the image of a young 1997 v «Close to Justice,» acrylic/canvas, 173x150 cm., 1997.
woman with a hand close to her face, with the focus on
the lower plane’s lateral. Around her, there is a multiple Daniel Díaz. (1945). In 1978 he showed at the collectors
colour range representing a gale with the symbolism of a
small bird, flying in the compositional high clearer zone. circle collective exhibitions, in individuals at the Art Nou-
The figuration, combined with an abstractionist lyric veau Center in 1983 and 1986. In this institutions he also
context, announces a subsequent discourse. showed at the Miniature Biennial and at the Erotic Art
collective exhibition (1986). He participated at the Third
Pedro Terreiro. (Barahona, 1955). He studied Design Drawing National Venue (1993) and the Four Internation-
al Venue (1995), sponsored by the Arawak Foundation.
and Industrial Mechanic at his native city Vocational According to Cándido Gerón: «His work exhibits a blunt
School, obtaining a scholarship from Alcoa Exploration drawing that evades the color artifice and beauty, frequently using
Company to study Education at the Fine Arts National the graphic itself as a way of expression. (…) the figures’ fluency
School, since 1976. Being a distinctive and different artist underlines the subhuman conditions suffered by his infancy.»
among the eighty’s generation, he obtains the first drawing
prize at the León Jimenes Competition in 1983, recording «Shoe-shiner,» ink/paper, 19x23 inch., 1983.
later on his first individual «Neither Oblivion nor Silence»
(Nouveau Center, 1985). Terrero gets into a discourse in Remberto Rondón. (1960). He studied at the Beaux
which, the luminous burst, movement, and the pictorial
pulse’s gesture translate the vertigo signs of a magic and rit- Arts National School and forms part of the 80’s Gen-
ualistic underworld. Marianne de Tolentino mentions «the eration Collective, obtaining the sole award by FAO
painter’s total overturn towards abstraction, to a vehemently lyric and Youngs of the Americas competition organized in
abstract language» (Listín Diario, February the 2nd, 1985). 1986, at the time he registers his first individual show-
Amable López Meléndez do not hesitate to link Terreiro to ing. Apart from his work as already well-known drawer,
«The Baroque’s and the real marvellous paintings» ALM. Cata- he creates installations and helds a painting exhibition at
logue Presentation, November 11, 1986). the Moder Art Museum.

«Paradise. Homage to Lezama Lima’s Work,» acrylic/can- «Grandmother With Kid,» pencil/paper, 19x23 inch., no
vas, ensemble, 14x97 cm., 1986. date.

Luz Severino. (Hato Mayor, 1962). Graduates from the Vladimir Velázquez. (Santo Domingo, 1963). Origi-

Fine Arts National School as a Drawing professor. He was nally formed at the Foundation Eugenio Mendoza’
awarded with honours in various sculpture’s competitions School from Caracas, Venezuela; and the Elias Delgado‘s
(1974) and Cándido Bidó’s (1977) Academies; he also

408

Danilo De los Santos

studies Architecture at the UASD (1981-1985) and at- National School from which he graduated in 1975.
tends classes with the Argentinian master Pérez Celi at With a substantial route of collective exhibitions and
Altos de Chavón Design School. He takes part in various 11 individuals in 1983-2005’ period; his work shows a
80s Generation Collective’s exhibitions, and registered predominant red background with unusual concepts.
the individual «Agnus Dei,» (1989) and «A trip through- The surreal dreams open up visions like jungle and
out the Shadows,» (1993). He obtained an award at the tropical gardens full of enigma and symbolization, be-
National Biennial, 1990. coming «Vinculos/Invincusl» (discourse, 1988) and
later on «The Darkness’ Inhabitants;» two episodes of
«Vladimir Velázquez possesses a rear talent in the Do- pro-taino and many other auscultations of the silence
minican plastic art field. He is, at the same time, draftsman routes. Olivo is a master of the Antilles’ dissimilar, fan-
and painter with a deep profession’s awareness, acquired from tastic and new-surreality.
copious readings and arduous work through the years. He has
an extensive knowledge about universal painting and shows a «Abstraction» acrylic/canvas, 160x95 cm., no date v «Un-
style of his own, meticulous and perfectionist, which he uses to titled,» acrylic/canvas, 100x76 cm., no date v «Darkness’ In-
auscultate the humanity’s heart. The artist creates a startling habitants 1,» acrylic/canvas, 101x96 cm., 1994.
world full of oneiric visions subverting social conventions. His, is
a globe populated by amazing and monstrous figures, represent- Eduardo Rosario. «Is one of the members of Integral Young
ing the war and holocaust horrors, the ecological destruction,
the political perversions, anyway, all those demons that he exor- Art (AJI in Spanish), group that follows the German Graphic
cises by enlightening allegories.» (José Alcántara Almánzar in School Bauhaus. Together with other members he takes part of
«Alternative Lines, Vladimir Velázquez,» Banco Central a 1988’s collective exhibition» (Cándido Gerón).
Editions, 2006).
According to his paintings stylistic features, Eduardo
«Ángel with a Neck Laced,» mix/paper, 110x64 cm., 1990. Rosario is linked to the new national young abstraction-
ists, offering soft quality chromatic solutions, contrasts,
Inés Tolentino. (Santo Domingo, 1962). She studied and compositional aerial movements.

in Paris, France at the Fine Arts Superior School (1980) «Composition,» acrylic/canvas, 24x36 inch., 1990 v «Ab-
and the Sorbonne, where she got a Masters degree in straction,» acrylic/canvas, 24x36 inch., 1990.
Visual Arts and Arts Science, apart from a PhD in Aes-
thetic (1982-1985). She took part at the 80s Generation Carlos Santos Durán. (Santo Domingo, 1956). With
Group exhibitions, showcasing 10 individual showings
in 1985-1994. With various awards in Dominican and in- studies at the Fine Arts National School and the Auton-
ternational competitions, she was chosen to exhibit her omous University, where he graduates as a sociologist;
work at «Women and Dominican Art Today» (1992). he amasses four individual showings between 1987 and
1996, as well as several relevant collectives. Awarded at
«Faces with Cayennes,» serigraph/paper, 85x60 cm., 1986 national competitions, among them the León Jimenes
v «The Unrewarding Memory,» mix and collage/canvas, Competition, 1987 and Visual Art National Biennials in
82x121 cm., 1993. 1992, 1993 and 1994; his discourse is in line with the
geometric abstraction of the concrete canon; without
Hilario Olivo. (San Francisco de Macorís, 1959). He ostentatious effects other than the monochromatic con-
cepts’ rigour, namely, unmistakable compositional mak-
started artistic formation in his native city, moving af- ings of aesthetic sobriety.
terwards to Santo Domingo. He joined the Fine Arts
«The Anthropology’s Cult,» mix/canvas, 76x66 cm., 2001.

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Manuel Traboux. (Santo Domingo, 1955). He studied «Paseo por la aldea,» screen print/paper, 72x51 cm., 1986
v «Jardinera,» acrylic/canvas, 75x100 cm., 1990.
at the Fine Arts National School (1978-1982), obtaining
a Drawing professor position, and at the Autonomous Dionisio Blanco. (San Cristóbal, 1953). He held an
University Architecture School where he graduated with
an outstanding record (1987). An exhibitor of the 80s individual exhibition in New York, in 1993, showing a
Generation Collective, which he cofounded and directed, consistent discourse in which real motives conjugated
in 1984 he registered his water-colour individual «Horse, with an imaginary space, translates a magic revelation.
Form and Expression.» A drawing professor in various The poet Juana Rosa Pita considers him the universal
academic institutions and a notorious draftsman, he is palette of today’s Dominican painting (El Caribe, supple-
also a mural painter and a sculptor. ment, December 11, 1993). Around the same time, the
New York’s critic Rodolfo A. Windhousen writes: «In the
«Horses,» watercolor/paper, 63x84 cm., 1984. painting of the Dominican artist Dionisio Blanco, the sense
of fusion and reality is the outstanding feature (…) is loyal to
2. THE SETENTISTAS who produce works in the a Caribbean attribute: the magic realism.» (RW Dionisio
1990s, most of them are artists who follow their thematic Blanco’s catalogue, June 17, 1994).
discourses, strengthened with new composition scenes,
more chromatic vitality, and visions according with the «Oneiric Fantasy,» acrylic/canvas, 75x100 cm., 1992 v «Sow-
language each of them individualized. If some exceptional ing with wish cards,» acrylic/canvas, 75x100 cm., 1996 v «Sow-
authors visually break up with precedent discourses, this ing Oneiric Fantasy Series,» acrylic/canvas, 75x100 cm., 1997 v
is because they have are located in realities that are differ- «Sowing,» acrylic/canvas, 75x100 cm., 1997.
ent from the native country; which does not mean, that
the issues and references pertaining to identity, are absent Carlos Hidalgo. (Santiago Rodríguez, 1948). In a broad
or no connoted. Dionisio Blanco, Luis Bretón, Carolina
Cepeda, Alonso Cuevas, Carlos Hidalgo, Freddy Javier, discourse about the landscape reality and the costumes
Teté Marella, Manuel Montilla, Amaya Salazar, Francisco or vernacular, this plentiful and laborious painter, who
Santos, Alberto Ulloa and Fernando Ureñas Rib sign up assumed his Dominican identity as a visionary celebra-
on the collection –almost all them– produced during the tion, keeps offering since 1989 and throughout all the
last ten years of the past millennium. 1990s, a pictorial writing that embraces geography, from
the countryside to the urban and maritime extremes. His
Merchor Terrero. (Enriquillo, Barahona Province, palette expends mainly the yellow colour, as a symbol of
a sun-shining reality.
1942). He leaves his native municipality and initiates his
pictorial education with a Spaniard master, who initiates «Beach,» oil/canvas, 75x90 cm., 1989 v «Village,» oil/
him on the Classic artists knowledge. In 1967-1972 studies canvas, 75x90 cm., 1996 v «El Conde Street,» oil/canvas,
at the Fine Arts National School. Held his first individual, 75x100 cm., 1999.
showing pastel paintings at Casa de Teatro (1974). On his
second showing, already obese men and women show up. Luis Bretón. (San Francisco de Macorís, 1953). With
This theme reiterates the bodily excess expressed in div-
ers scenes, like the pleasant landscapes in which, especially surreal, signs his discourse, while approaching themes
the fat women, appear tropically dressed, carrying fruits like the urban space, provincial cities and Santo Domin-
and flowers or covered with an umbrella. go, provides the streets and the architectural precincts
with a metaphysical environment of mirages and silence.
His native city in Macorís, La Vega, and Santiago de los

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Caballeros have been the painter’s visual focus, who Amaya Salazar. (Santo Domingo, 1951). As a sculptor
also pays an «Homage to Santo Domingo,» tittle of his
1993’ speech. «This painter of cities» as he is called by and painter, she appears as one of the 40 exhibitors at
Pedro Antonio Valdez, «portraits with accuracy and en- «Today’s Women and Dominican Art-Homage to Ce-
chanted features, various fragments of our urban landscape. leste Woss y Gil,» event held at Casa de Bastidas, 1992.
The observer, from any part of the world he might be, while In 1993, she has an individual showing in which she
looking at this canvas, would enjoy following the precision of reconfirms «the highly personal place she has achieved
a skillful line, never lost to the colour brightness; conducting as an artist, specially preserving a fidelity of a luminous,
him through a city composed for a double concrete and oneiric refreshing, soothe style. Her lyric conjugates light and
structure.» colour as lit ranges on the pictorial texts, representing an
ascent and a status consolidation, clearly manifested at
The writer Valdez produced a work entitled «The the Guernica Gallery on the mentioned date.
other fabric city» aiming to the painter eleventh individu-
al exhibition. (P.A.V. December 14, 2004). «Maternity,» acrylic/canvas, 30x42 inch., no date v «Ma-
ternities,» acrylic/canvas, 30x40 inch., no date.
«The Cord House,» oil/canvas, 101x76 cm., 1990 v «The
Cord Gate,» acrylic/canvas, 119x89 cm., 1995 v «Las Damas Francisco Santos. (Santo Domingo, 1949). In his dis-
street. National Mausoleum,» acrylic/canvas, 119x89 cm., 1995
v «A Venezia in San Francisco,» acrylic/canvas, 37x100 cm., course, linked to the Dominican new-figuration, from
1995 v «Conde Street,» acrylic/canvas, 73x100 cm., 1999. 1999-1994, the painter was still focused on the mulatto
woman with pigeons, and on these birds, gathered or
Carolina Cepeda. (Río San Juan, Trinidad Sánchez alone. Then he produced the discourse «Quarter Experi-
ences. Homage to a Friend» at the Modern Art Museum
Province, 1952). With an important number of individ- (1997). In it, the figurative representations result in anon-
ual exhibitions and her bonds with the Santiago’s Pic- ymous allusion and narratives of individuals expressing
torial School, her relevance as a woman artist allowed their quotidian experiences, not alien to the social reality.
to pick her name for «Today’s Women and Dominican As an affectional new-constructive from the Antilles, he
Art. Homage to Celeste Woss y Gil» (1992). From the conjugates the orange-colour, the purple and, especially,
capital city, she remains loyal to the luminous tropical the black. An eloquent apology to the aestheticism and
landscape, full of composition solutions and technics, as awareness of his belonging, as well as a broad look to the
the use of relief au palette knife. Her landscapes, mar- theme; are the unifying elements in his discourse.
ket by multicolour ranges and well-mannered visions are
product of a harvest, as in her work dated between 1989 «The table,» acrylic/canvas, 47x28 inch., 1988 v «Compo-
and 1991: emblematic landscapes of her own radiant per- sition,» mix/canvas, 100x100 cm., 1996 v «Camino a la liber-
sonal style. tad,» acrylic/canvas, 40x30 inch., 1997.

«Landscape,» acrylic/canvas, 75x100 cm., 1990 v «Land- Tete Marella. (Buenos Aires, 1943). Living in Santo
scape,» acrylic/canvas, 60x75 cm., 1990 v «Landscape,» acryl-
ic/canvas, 136x49 cm., 1990 v «Landscape,» acrylic/canvas, Domingo and assuming the Dominican nationality, her
60x75 cm., 1991 v «Landscape,» acrylic/canvas, 100x75 cm., incipient drawing iconography, including the sweet fat-
1991 v «Landscape,» acrylic/canvas, 75x60 cm., 1991 v «Ba- ties, was searching for architectural scenic contexts. With
nana Leaf,» oil/canvas, 60x49 cm., 1991 v «Landscape and a time, the augmented silhouettes reflected better the in-
River,» acrylic/canvas, 60x75 cm., 1991. fluential Antilles colours and, of course, the country to
which these characters subscribed. They make evident

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the Marella’s universe as restless and ludic; fatties (men acrylic/canvas, 115x97 inch., 1987 v «Submarine Dreams,» oil/
and women), unrelated to some other cold flesh, stiff, hi- canvas, 128x90 inch., 1987 v «Nymphs,» acrylic/canvas, 173x122
eratic obesities, Teté fatties are naive, theatrical, mischie- inch., no date v «Submarine Astral,» oil/canvas, 98x72 cm., 1990
vous, playful, even «prima donnas» singing and dancing v «Chrysalis on the rocks,» oil/canvas, 30x40 inch., no date.
on the canvas.
Alberto Ulloa. (Puerto Plata, 1950/Santo Domingo,
«Fat Lady Portrait,» acrylic/canvas, 70x50 cm., 1992
v «Girl Portrait,» acrylic/canvas, 60x50 cm., 1992 v «Doña 2011). He held eighty individual exhibitions until 2002,
Flor,» mix/canvas, 76x60 cm., 1995 v «Something is Been in Dominican cities and internationally, even some itiner-
Cooked,» mix/canvas, 75x60 cm., 1997 v «Opening with Bad ants. Besides taking part in more than a thousand collec-
Habits,» acrylic/canvas, 24x30 inch., 1997. tive exhibitions and depositing works in relevant museums
and private collections, the art critic look at him, underlin-
Freddy Javier. (Hato Mayor. El Seibo Province, 1946). ing his work’ links with the perceptible linguistic conjuga-
tions taken to the plural synthesis. Plentiful, intense and
Colour, movement and a mass of passengers in the a plural creator, he is also a ceramist, draftsman, sculptor
streets, especially in the transport media as the popular and painter. The Spaniard critic Raúl Chavarri has judged
Onatrate’s guaguas, even the «concho» and the «mo- him when he was about to conclude studies in Spain: «Al-
toconcho,» transformed by the painter in the centre of berto Ulloa is a magic and surprising painter who makes, out
a reality inspiring a dramatic, expressionist and parodic of the quotidian reality, from every day meets; an unusual dis-
discourse which consecrates the author. His speech cul- covering possibility, a surprise cadence, a rhythm of colours and
minating years about the transports, and the «guaguas strokes.» (El Caribe, June 4th, 1977) On the other hand, the
voladoras,» mobility and march; offer diverse linguistic critic Armando Álvarez Bravo points that: «Alberto Ulloa is
ingredients in a plural synthesis reflected in his crucial an authentic expression of the Caribbean magic and spirit.» (El
pieces. Almost all of his works produced in 1989-1990 Nuevo Herald, Miami, Florida).
belongs to the Transport Series» and are part of the col-
lection treasured by Banco Popular. «Portrait of a Stranger,» acrylic/canvas, 98x152 cm.,
1988 v «Untitled,» acrylic/canvas, 75x101 cm., 1997 v «The
Fernando Ureña Rib. (La Romana, 1951). The oneiric Herald Woman,» acrylic/canvas, 100x75 cm., 1990 v «Juana,
The Lyric Black Woman,» acrylic/canvas, 155x83 cm., 1995 v
draftsman, the organic sculptor, the diverse facets painter, «The Rooster and the Moon,» mix/canvas, 126x102 cm., 1991
excludes himself from grotesque images and constructive v «María moñito,» mix/canvas, 100x75 cm., 1990 v «Face,»
landscapes to put ahead of the waters’ poetic in which the mix/canvas, 100x75 cm., 1990 v «Two women,» mix/canvas,
submarine dream helps him to subtract the astral conceptual- 150x100 cm., 1997.
ity, shoals, carnivorous, erotic and flowery forms in unbeliev-
able accumulations or, on the contrary, in self-transforming Alonso Cuevas. (El Limón, Jimaní Province, 1953) He
soliloquy. The surreal accentuation and oneiric submersion
of the expositive discourses, develop with the flowery afflu- resided in Europe, where he showed in collective exhibi-
ence, the fruity and vegetal marine reality: «Crisálida» (1991), tions, held some individuals and obtained recognitions,
«Spring Dance» (1992) and «Oceánica» (1993). namely, the Festival de las Palmas Prize in Spain and the
la Villa de Vitry’s, both in 1980; Monaco’s International
«Carnivorous,» oil/canvas, 40x30 inch., no date v «La Prize (1981) and Firsts Golden Palette at the Cagnes-Sur-
Crisálida,» oil/canvas, 32x50 inch., no date v «Dancers,» oil/ Mer Painting Festival, France, 1985. He often returns back
canvas, 67x87 inch., no date v «Mountain Sickness (Soroche),»

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Danilo De los Santos

to Santo Domingo, showing, teaching and representing them «The Transfiguration of my dreams,» displayed
the country in world events. In 1986, at the Modern Art in his native city, in that year. In the exhibition, cata-
Museum, he delivers his speech «Earth’s Memoir,» which log historian and critic Carlos Dobal writes: «From the
left a sequel on another title: «Written portraits about outset, I note that these paintings of Daniel Henríquez
painted portraits». seem to represent vague dreams or inconsistent appear-
ances. The fabrics are veiled by unknowable reality, to
Highly weighted by local and international critics, the quote Ortega. All these works seem to have a «beauty
mentioned discourses are the result of an accumulation we feel» as Winckelmann thinks, but we cannot easily
of casted aside elements that determine, in the painter’s explain.»
version, a connotative poetic about the timeless reality,
about life as remembrance of identity, and as an evoca- «Dominican House,» acrylic/canvas, 103x78 cm., 1991.
tive speaker of the imagination’s ability. Between the real
data and the imaginary, there is a writing surreal halo; a Leopoldo Pérez (Lepe). (Santo Domingo, 1938). Re-
reality that is obviously dazed and magic at once.
fined painter distinguished, thoughtful and unhurried
«Composition I. Earth’s Memory Series,» mix/canvas, in his celebrated exhibitions «Lepe M + FM, I, FG,» in
76x104 cm., 1989. 1990, his twelfth personal sample. He holds the rank of
master twice, as an artist and as a teacher. Colleague Elsa
3. THE SESENTISTAS. These are Cándido Bidó, Nunez testifies: «Throughout his career Lepe has tried several
Elsa Núñez and Leopoldo Pérez, who integrated Group themes, such as landscapes, Christ, still life and animals, but
«The Three» in the 1990s, when they graduated from his concern for the human being has always been predominant.
the National School of Fine Arts. Later, they reassem- In that 1990 exhibition he offers a variety of themes: heads,
bled together to celebrate the brotherhood in the arts. Christ, cassava-makers, landscapes, lovers…»
It was the same with members of Friordano, whose
works produced from 1968-1971, formed retrospectives «The Cassava-maker Woman,» mixta/canvas, 101x76 cm.,
in 1980 and 1990.  In the current XXI century, selec- 1990.
tions of their paintings are included in the art room
of the Centro Cultural Eduardo León Jimenes. The Danicel/Danilo De los Santos. (Puerto Plata, 1942).
Friordano group consisted of Friordano Torres, Orlan-
do Menicucci, Roberto Ceballos, Daniel Henríquez, With a record of numerous solo exhibitions between 1972
Danicel and Nonora Fondeur. Almost all of them, the and 1996, two in Ponce, Puerto Rico and in Petropolis Bra-
Friordano and «The Three,» maintain a current activ- zil. He participates in exhibitions and important national
ism going from the moment they emerged artistically collective, winning awards in National Biennials 1992
in the early 1960s, to exhibitions in the nineties, reach- (drawing and installation) and 1994 (Sculpture), regularly
ing this century. The same happens with other artists departs from his familiar maroliano theme to produce series
of the sixties generation whose works are in the bank and exceptional paintings on landscape themes, magic and
collection: Norberto Santana, Julio Susana, Justo Su- carnival, as the one in the bank collection designed for a
sana and Ramón Oviedo. Santiago’s carnival poster. Later, he held an small retrospec-
tive and, in the nineties, exhibits in Chicago, Laurence Mas-
Daniel Henríquez. (Santiago 1946-1996). Until sachusetts and Moscow, Russia. He works as a researcher,
art historian and exhibitions curator. He is been Jury in vari-
1991 the painter has recorded 16 solo shows, among ous international competitions.

«Carnival,» mixed media/paper, 74x109 cm., 1990.

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Julio Susana. (Jamao, La Vega, 1937). Holds a solo of Women (1996), this recognition is one of many received
by a sustained discursive linearity. Elsa Núñez develops in
exhibition in 1959, as a student of the National School a territory that extends from the expressionist testimony
of Fine Arts, from which he graduated, holding anoth- to the romantic, geographic and symbolist visions, and
er single exhibition in 1964. Draftsman, sculptor and mostly figurative in almost all her works.
painter who was awarded a scholarship to study at the
School of San Francisco, Madrid, Spain. Upon returning «Untitled,» oil/canvas, 100x75 cm., 1991 v «Mujer alada,»
to Santo Domingo activates his pictorial projection with acrylic/canvas, 100x75 cm., 1991 v «Dama con flores,» oil/
social content and subscribed to the so called «Colonial canvas, 75x100 cm., 1992 v «Mujer acostada con mariposas,»
Cubism.» Susana went to the United States, residing in mix/canvas, 75x100 cm., 1995.
Miami, Florida and New York, while maintaining links
with the home country. Ramón Oviedo. (Barahona, 1927). Artistic subject of

The writer John Austin, speaks of «Magic revealed» in several monographs written between 1987-1999, by Efraín
the paintings of Susanna. «The visual result is eerily, authentic Castillo, Cándido Gerón and Marianne de Tolentino, all
art that transcends time, space and cultural boundaries. The of them are valuable documents on the role of this «Il-
magical aspect of each work is psychic residue that remains be- lustrious Master of Dominican painting,» as stated by the
tween ineffable distance of the conscious and unconscious real- House of Representatives of the Republic in 1997, year
ity…» (Catalog Justo Susana, with text by John Austin, in which Oviedo presents his production «Evolutionary
November 3, 2010). Persistence of Form in Matter,» in Ecuador, Venezuela,
United States and in his home country.
«Protection of Life,» oil/canvas, 128x89 cm., 1999.
«En algún lugar,» mix/canvas, 30x40 inch., 1992 v «El
Cándido Bidó. (Bonao, 1936/Santo Domingo 2011). Canal de la Mona,» acrylic/canvas, 30x40 inch., 1992 v «Un-
titled,» mix/canvas, 140x81 cm., 1995.
Small in stature however, big as a painter. When the
monograph «El paraíso azul (Blue Heaven) «was   pub- Norberto Santana. (Santo Domingo, 1943). Muralist,
lished, in 1999, and this title was the theme of a solo
exhibition in Panama, he adhered  to an artistic history easel painter and teacher, until 1999 he has had sixteen
of nearly half a century with dozens of solo exhibitions personal samples and multiple group exhibitions. Odalis
in important individual and collective exhibition, many G. Pérez writes the following about his style: «You can say
awards and a remarkable international recognition. that in Norberto Santana’s work, sensitive geometry is light in
the drawing, and he particularizes an object that we cannot
«Sembradores,» acrylic/canvas, 90x106 cm., 1991 v «Dama classify as Cubist or Neo-Cubist or just Neo-Expressionist, but
con sombrila azul,» acrylic/canvas, 101x101 cm., 1992 v rather stylistically syncretic. For the pictorial object is organized
«Maternidad,» acrylic/canvas, 80x59 cm., 1996. on a planimetric surface, taking its significance in the various
pictorial screens of the subject’s perceptual.» (Catalogue of
Elsa Núñez. (Santo Domingo, 1943). Until 1995, when Norberto Santana, G. context Odalis Pérez, November
15, 2006).
she registers the discourse, «Back to Yesterday,» the painter
has made 31 solo exhibitions, event thought with varied «La Guagua,» acrylic/canvas, 60x75 cm., 1993.
thematic issues, drawn from various research sources and
life, her work offers an unmistakable personal mark even Jorge Severino. (Puerto Plata, 1935). Until 1986, when
when it is hanging in a collective, whose number is large.
Medal of Merit by the Department for the Advancement the publication of the monograph «Jorge Severino. Twenty

414

Danilo De los Santos

Years of Painting,» written by Marianne de Tolentino, the the musician of Matrams and drums painting and the dancer
artist born in the north coast, has held eight solo exhi- that never stops,» notes Silvio Raigorodski in the catalog of
bitions, all in the country, an amount that exceeds his the exhibition the artist held at the Museum of Modern
records on national and international exhibitions. With Art in March 2007.
an agenda focused on negritude, he has referred to a line
of relatives, framing women on recreations of Art Nou- «Untitled,» oil/paper, 68x48 cm., no date.
veau, with indicators of Czech painter Alfons Mucha or
the «Salon des Moulin» patented by Toulouse-Lautrec, 4. THREE GENERATIONS REPRESENTA-
becoming subsequently, the brides of mythological Ogún TIVES. The «cincuentistas» (the fifties generation).
and other elegant, dressed-up and adorned brides, Mu- Ada Balcácer, José Cestero, Domingo Liz, Fernando
latto divas. Peña Defilló and Guillo Pérez. The «cuarentistas»
(the fourties generation): Vela Zanetti and Marianela
«The Bride,» oil/canvas, 106x90 cm., 1992 v «Untitled,» Jiménez (the only woman painter in this section; and
acrylic/canvas, 104x90 cm., 1993 v «Black Lady,» acrylic/can- the «treintistas» (the therties generation): Darío Zuro
vas, 101x76 cm., 1994 v «Bride 1,» acrylic/canvas, 101x91 cm., and Federico Izquierdo, the later, the sole painter
1994. survivor of the 30’s generation.

Justo Susana. (Jamao, La Vega, 1918/Santo Domingo Domingo Liz. (Santo Domingo, 1931/2013). The dis-
tinctive is represented by three works that reiterate his
2001). Renowned naïf painter, whose naive magical re- peculiar style with which he interprets the underworld
alism unveiled a personal discourse that has widened of La Ciénaga, situated on the banks of the Ozama, as a
since his first exhibitions in the early 1960s. He was and wonderful hallucinated reality. His characters are of pop-
remains unanimously recognized as the head of a daz- ular extraction, individualized by a lyrical oratory, play-
zling style. His themes on reality, in principle defined by ful and shaded with Antilles Surreality in colour, shape
a dense writing in colour, line and subjects, which at the and movement. There are three works, completed two
beginning were considered very «primitive,» were widen- decades before his death, occurred in 2013, when he was
ing during the four decades of the twentieth century. His granted in life the National Arts Award, by the Domini-
visions of insular landscape of plain and coastal environ- can Government. The three works of maestro Domingo
ment, reached its idyllic fullness with a luminous and Liz are executed in acrylic/canvas, inch., 1993, with the
illuminating sky. titles:

«Untitled,» acrylic/canvas, 60x75 cm., 1990 v «Land- «Composición 1,» 76x101 cm. v «Composición,» 75x60 cm.
scape,» acrylic/canvas, 75x60 cm., 1990 v «Landscape,» acryl- v «Ciclista,» 100x75 cm.
ic/canvas, 60x75 cm., 1990 v «Untitled,» acrylic/canvas,
100x126 cm., 1992 v «Untitled,» acrylic/canvas, 123x150 Fernando Peña Defilló. (b. 1928). A painter of vari-
cm., 1993 v «Landscape,» acrylic/canvas, 75x66 cm., 1993 v
«Landscape,» acrylic/canvas, 75x60 cm., 1993 v «Infantile ous themes, conjugated with the expertise of a trained
Landscape,» acrylic/canvas, 100x75 cm., 1994. teacher and equipped with a special lyricism in his trea-
tises «on the matter and spirit,». His works 1981-1984 al-
Geo Ripley. (Caracas, Venezuela, 1950). Abstract paint- ready referred to stands out, as well as the 1985 colour
screen prints. This teacher, signed three exemplary works
er, advocate of conceptualism, performativity, ritualistic in the 90s: «Butterflies,» oil/canvas, 76x88 cm., 1990 v «Wild
installer and scholar of religious magical belief «Ripley is

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Flowers,» oil/canvas, 101x142 cm., 1995 v «Rocky Peak,» oil/ traces, graphics or transparent or abstract stains. On the
high cliff, at its peak, there are three spectral birds in
canvas, 100x75 cm., 1998. a still descends, perhaps threatened during their flight.
The three works are figurative and approach real- Behind the humanoid resembling rocky body, there are
the blue sea and the black night dotted with stars. It is
ity as pure references, spiritually distilled with a variety a pictorial work that invites reflection, aesthetic enjoy-
of unique approaches. In the painting «Butterflies,» the ment, and longing to reach the harmony of life.
composition settles into geometric planes, whose axis is
the central square where a large spectral butterfly lies José Cestero. (b. 1937). He continues its biographical
trapped in a calcified metaphysical time, divided into
two inner planes. The blue top coincides with the celes- speech on Santo Domingo’s ancient architecture, tran-
tial backplane, also diurnal and imparting an accented scribing with romantic and nostalgic memory two works
white which borders both planimetric forms. The central in acrylic/canvas «Antigua Plaza Colón» (76x100 cm.,
accented and transparent frame extends to the large all 1990) and «Antigua Casa de Diego Colón» (76x101 cm.,
black flat bottom, representing the nocturne containing 1991). His unique style of painting, spontaneous writing,
blue floating butterflies and budding circles. The con- almost instantaneously, avoiding any academic or realis-
trast between the delicate and bottom shade of cream tic faithfulness, being faithful to his own masterly com-
where the large butterfly is diluted, increases the magical mand of expressionism.
or surreal atmosphere of a time that stood still.
Ada Balcácer. (b. 1930). Is an unmistakable female art-
«Wildflowers» is a masterpiece like «Butterfly».  It of-
fers a special tonal difference, as well as a compositional ist with rank of teacher, who was awarded the National
and thematic ambiguity or, as in the representation of the Prize of the Arts by the Dominican State   (2012), and
«Flowers,» incipient emanations of female faces that em- whose exhibition «Wings and Roots,» in the Centro
body and refer to the «Three Graces.»  They run through, León (November, 2011/February, 2012) brought together
specter-like, in their plantations, which are multiplied in a collection of works produced since 1966 through 2011.
three gray planes, rectangular and separated, giving the The catalog offered a summary of her resume, indicating
impression that they evolved from space-time, since the her further studies, after graduating from the National
composition suggests distance between iconic texts and School of Fine Arts, in colour theory, textile design, en-
background. The wild flowers are spirits perceived as graving; and also her teaching experience, her role as pro-
objectives dilutions of transparent ranges of yellows and moter and activist, as well as a muralist. Also underlines
pinks on a pearly white. The painting reflects a magi- her awards, and personal exhibitions between 1966 and
cal, poetic, and lyrical movement, distinctive of a lyrical 2002, such as: «Participating Spaces» (1973), «Tales of
painter in all his fullness. Ada» (1980), «Palm Tree» (1981), «Tests of tropical light»
(1986), «Tropical Light Art» (1991), «Sculptures jungle»
«Rocky Peak,» a work created with acrylic and oil/ (1996)… besides her showing in major Dominican col-
canvas, 100x75 cm., 1998. This is the third work of Mas- lective: the Projects Group, of which she was a member
ter Defilló Peña, unlike the previous one, eloquently con- (1968-1970), «New Image Expo: Twelve Vanguard Art-
ceived with technical handling of combined effects in the ists» (1972), «Contemporary Dominican Art» sponsored
chromatic ranges and in the composition. A rocky and by the Banco Popular, and her showing at the New York
symmetric body dominates the main plane of the land- Sign Gallery (1981).
scape vision; a cliff affording the variables of the mat-
ter affected by time in its stony condition, filling it with

416

Danilo De los Santos

The Banco Poplar’s collection owns 17 works from fifty years consecrated to painting with the faith of someone
Balcácer. Besides «The Television» (1969), «Vase of Flow- who gives himself to religion,» writes Marianne de Tolentino
ers» (1973) and «Miami» (1985), referred to in previous (Listín Diario, July 22, 1995). His 28th personal exhi-
chapters, the remaining ones relate in large part to the bition, «Santiago, time, place and color,» is held at the
series Light Trials which, are testament to the discur- Cultural Center (1989) and also exhibited at Gallery of
sive scope of a great Dominican master in the balance Modern Art, of the Dominican capital (1990). With a dia-
of the essentials of the tropics, her Antilles identity, «in lectical, constructionist, and deconstructive conjugation,
the Caribbean and beyond,» as states the American critic he offers a visionary apology of the city from Cibao.
Edward J. Sullivan, noting that: «While it is important to
consider Balcácer work as an integral reference in the genesis In the catalog, our teacher writes about his «pictorial
of modernity in Dominican painting, especially for the current poem that I have always felt for my homeland, Moca, Santiago,
context, one must examine how it relates to the wider range of full of memories and anxieties to such an extent that I could
artistic interests related to the colour and shape that places her never dream of another place on earth than Santiago. For these
in a more developed space of  Modern Arts.»  (EJS, text from intimate and infinite reasons, and my strong faith in God, I
the catalog «Wings and Roots,» November 2011, p.20). wanted to use my colour, my form and my expression to create
this poetic and pictorial tribute to Santiago, which I call San-
«Light Trial 3. Tropical Window,» oil/canvas, 75x60 tiago, time, place and colour.»
cm., 1989 v «Light Beam. Light Trial Series,» acrylic/canvas,
80x129 cm., 1990 v The Bayou,» oil/canvas, 136x202 cm., 1990 The pictorial tribute, according to the critic Cándido
v «Tropical Heart. Light Trial Series,» mix/canvas, 72x59 cm., Bidó, is: «The narrative of reencounter. In an exhibition dedi-
1990 v «Ginger. Light Trial Series,» oil/canvas, 128x90 cm., cated to Santiago de los Caballeros, the master of colour, Guillo
1990 v «Light Brush and Tropic,» mix/canvas, 75x60 cm., 1991 Pérez, shows what is not yet polluted by the snobbery of the
v «Flowers for the Trip to the Pilar, Zaragoza I,» oil/canvas, time. What until then had been in his painting (colours and
76x60 cm., 1991 v «Flowers for the Trip to the Pilar, Zaragoza shapes) –suddenly– the artistic proposal becomes a narrative of
II,» oil/canvas, 76x60 cm., 1991 v «Flowers for the Trip to the popular, where design and architectural graphic represents
the Pilar, Zaragoza III,» oil/canvas, 76x60 cm., 1991 v «Light the movements of history. I mean to the history of his city (…)
Essay,» acrylic/canvas, 88x142 cm., 1992 v «Tropical Lights The iconography of this history tells of a popular and cultured
II,» oil/canvas, 101x76 cm., no date v «Text of Light,» oil/can- art (…) All components of this exceptional collection of paint-
vas, 76x60 cm., no date v «Children Playing,» acrylic/canvas, ings coalescing within a cultural process and human activity,
125x151.5 cm., 1995 v «Basketball,» acrylic/canvas, 20x32 recording with his quick brush and his fertile imagination, all
inch., 1995 v «Anti-rust Shoes,» mix/canvas, 101x75 cm., 1996 and every aspect of Santiago’s society, each psychological char-
v «The Wise Fisherman,» mix/canvas, 129x95 cm., 1996. acteristic, every spiritual fact, costumbrista and, in particular,
the mixture of blood and customs.»
Guillo Pérez. (St. Víctor, Moca, 1926). With 39 solo
It is not difficult to see the devices that this artist does man-
exhibitions from 1958 to 1989, a number that he mul- age, from a vantage of images and symbols, following his own logic
tiplies showing in major international and native collec- and analysis of synthesis, without showing contradiction when he
tive events, this distinctive master obtained many honors sketches the traditional and the modern. The reference of these de-
in plastic at institutional levels, is awarded the Order of vices is to provide evidence of what master Guillo Pérez manages
Duarte, Sánchez and Mella, in the rank of Knight by the to recreate using a chronological order and human needs. The
President of the Republic in 1995.» «This honour crowns perspective focuses –precisely– in the architectural design, flowing
from the free invention to the non-academic naturalism.

417

Art and History

at the Banco popular dominicano visual arts collection

In this exhibition, Master Guillo Pérez, also reveals an she trained, and to that date, had held individual,
extraordinary artist and a historian of the visual. There are and collective exhibitions showing her important works,
undoubtedly, in his motives, a romantic nuance, but also fluid including «Women and Dominican Art Today. Tribute
strokes and the effectiveness of a precise outline, due to the rigor to Celeste Woss y Gil» (1995) and «Merengue visual
of the lights. Our artist captures landscapes, monuments, vil- rhythms,» organized by the Centro León and held at
lages and animals from a moving and sentimental or synthetic the Museo del Barrio in New York (2006). Painter of
spelling. There is no doubt that this exhibition has come to rep- landscapes, still-life, popular scenes and portraits, her
resent in the life of this artist an unprecedented milestone (…) steady hand when drawing and painting, features a
because it manages to get together all the features (…) of a city more expressionistic vigour than other languages that
as important as Santiago de los Caballeros. (CB introduction combined with a palette of effective chromatic nu-
text, November 28, 1989). ances. «Figures of Women,» oil/canvas, 127x122 cm.,
Dated 2001, is a work treasured by the bank’s collec-
«Monumental I,» oil/canvas, 55x66 cm., 1989 v «Monu- tion.
mental II,» oil/canvas, 83x68 cm., 1989 v «Monumental IV,»
oil/canvas, 78x88 cm., 1989 v «Monumental V,» oil/canvas, Darío Suro. (La Vega, 1917, Santo Domingo, 1997).
96x104 cm.,  no date v «Monumental VI,» oil/canvas, 88x110
cm., 1989 v «Monumental VII,» oil/canvas, 90x104 cm., 1989. Restless painter never committed to any style, even pro-
«Monumental VIII,» oil/canvas, 97x121 cm., 1989 v «Monu- ducing differentiated works on similar dates. His «Com-
mental IX,» oil/canvas, 137x266 cm., 1989 v «Monumental position,» is full of geometry in blues and blacks against
X,» oil/canvas, 137x266 cm., 1988/1989 v «Monumental XI,» a yellow background, keeps a connection with his link
oil/canvas, 96x53 cm., 1988/1989. to the international abstraction he assumed in Spain.
He came back to his wife, to Santo Domingo, where
José Vela Zaneti. (Burgos, 1913-1999). He grew up as he died.

an artist in Santo Domingo; since his arrival in 1939. He Federico Izquierdo. (Monción, 1904/Santiago. 2004).
became a mural painter and was a professor at the Fine
Arts National School, and its director until the beginning He is the only survivor painter from the 1930s’ generation,
of the 1950’s, when he leaves for Mexico City. From his and whose first recorded exhibition was at the National
frequent returns to Dominican Republic, that he consid- and Inter-Antilles exhibition held in Santiago de los Cabal-
ered his country, two of his drawings are included on the leros (1927), where he grew up, was trained, and became
Popular’s collection. When he died, his will of resting a teacher of Secondary School and Fine Arts. Exhibitor
next to his endearing friend, the architect José Antonio of the First National Biennial (1942) and other official
Caro Álvarez; were honoured. exhibitions, his personal samples were recorded in the
city of the Yaque River.   For his extensive arts, civil,
Marianela Jiménez. (Mao, Valverde, 1925, Santo cultural and educational management, the Dominican
Government decorated him with the Order of Duarte,
Domingo 2012). She is the only painter of the 1940’s Sánchez and Mella in rank of Knight. He is a renowned
generation and member of the founding students of portraitist, painter of landscapes, folklore and vernacu-
the National School of Fine Arts that survives dur- lar typicality. His work «Carnival Evening,» oil/canvas,
ing the last century, displaying a creative potential 101x75 cm., 1999, is the last one he painted before his
as an artist woman and renowned master. She was death.
in 2000 the director of the academic campus where

418

Danilo De los Santos

5. A RETURN TO THE CRITICAL CHRO- from that source all poetic and formal resources that are neces-
NOLOGY since the early twentieth century to the sary in the definition of a personal visual universe, one of the
end of that decade allows us to focus on young artists most amazing ones that contemporary Dominican painting can
of the generation of 1990, which we call «novecentis- count on.» (Amable López Meléndez).
tas». Yolanda Monción (Yuli), Mario José Ángeles,
Dinorah Álvarez and Mariano Sánchez, are artists The upheaval, the uncertainty of the form, the painful scream
who graduated from   training centres, and their of the lacerated matter, indicate the aesthetic ritual that frames
works and names are recorded in individual or group anti-forms in Mariano Sánchez’s painting. (Arnulfo Soto).
exhibitions, as an important projection into the new
century. «The Fire Adoration,» acrylic/canvas, 76x97 cm., no date.

Mario José Ángeles. (b. 1965). He studied architecture Dinorah Álvarez. (Native of Santo Domingo). In

at the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo. Also the 1980s, she begins painting studies at the Academy
studied basic drawing and anatomy with Domingo Liz of Cándido Bidó, continuing at the National School of
and Roberto Flores, and painting with Guillo Pérez. In Fine Arts. Her association with Roberto Flores and her
1991, he celebrated his first solo entitled «Del Cono Sur a location in Jarabacoa, allows her to prepare a first exhibi-
las Antillas,» (From the Southern Cone to the Antilles»), tion held in 1990, followed by other solo exhibitions in
and the following year (1992), the second solo exhibit, 1995 and 2000, as well as participating in competitions
«La danza de los paraguas,» («The Dance of umbrellas»), and other collective. Surreality marks her speech about
portable objects to protect from the rain which the artist celestial spaces, cosmography and life experiences.
turns into a repetitive concept for drawing, photography,
installation and painting. «The Queen’s Flight,» oil/canvas, 40x50 inch., 1992.

«The Umbrellas Dance» oil/canvas, 30x40 inch., 1997. Yolanda Monción (Yuli). (Santiago Rodríguez, 1961).

Mariano Sánchez. (San Juan de la Maguana, 1964). She studied psychology from 1983 to 1985, and adver-
tising during the years 1985-1987, at the Universidad
He initiates artistic training at the School of Fine Arts in Autónoma de Santo Domingo, attending various work-
his native city. In 1918, he attends the School of Art and shops on restoration that strengthen her career. In 1994,
Design at Altos de Chavón, La Romana, obtaining the she obtained a drawing award at the XIX National Bien-
Fellowship of the Parsons School of Design in New York, nial of Visual Arts. Also, in that same year, she held her
sponsored by Larry Rivera, acclaimed American artist. In first solo exhibition. Her exhibition «Around the rain»
1988, he graduated with honors in Fine Arts and Illustra- begins investigating «the hidden umbrella’s soul.» Cecilia
tion at the School of Chavón. Between 1991 and 1999, he Casamajor states: «That in elongated formats, she developed
held seven solo exhibitions, three of them in Miami, Flor- a series of paintings of these indispensable gadgets, ubiquitous
ida, New York, and San Juan Puerto Rico. The remaining and annoying. She fills them with life, and links them with the
showcases took place in the Dominican Republic. rain, metamorphosed under the whims of the wind, she deco-
rates them, fades them, and placed them in the hands of a pass-
«Mariano Sánchez is not only an assimilator and trans- ersby or takes them away from the arms of a lonely child (…)
muter of signs with which the old European and American The division of space by octagonal shafts (…) some graffiti (…)
avant-garde articulated pictorial modernity. He also sinks into gray pigmented on high and low keys, confirms her particular vi-
the depths of time and the history of Western art, to extract sion of tropical light, decomposing or gnawing the edges.» (CC,
El Siglo, November 14, 1994).

419

Art and History

at the Banco popular dominicano visual arts collection

Yuli Monción abandoned her profession as publicist related to the 60’s generation; and Ramiro Matos, who
to devote herself to drawing and painting, strengthened emerges in the 1970’s decade.
her training with courses and workshops in Santiago de
Cuba, which set the linguistic codes of an identifiable Antonio Prats-Ventós. (Barcelona, 1925/New York,
personal style. She arrived to synthesis between configu-
rations, geometry and abstraction. 1999). Sculptor formed by masters and workshops in
Santo Domingo. He is a master of himself and school
«Henri Matisse’ Lesson I,» oil/canvas, 75x100 cm., 2001 v counsellor of a great number of young sculptures. Recog-
«Henri Matisse Lesson II,» oil/canvas, 75x100 cm., 2001. nized by the national and the European critic, he face all
type of materials to conceive his sculptures on different
The Sculpture as a Subject styles, languages, technical procedures and proportions.
«With the gouge impulsed by the hammer, Antonio Prats-Ventós
Sculpture, as a concept, comes from the Greek terms took off the volumes and the wood, taking the forms suggested
«Sculpere» or «Sculpterum», referring to the act to sculpt by the material itself, interpreted by the artist’s creative hands».
or to carve a hard material as the stone or the wood. This is a María Ugarte testimony on her book «Prats-Ventos
The Greeks used the word «Plasso» that means to express, 1925-1999», edited by Banco Popular in 2001.
capture or modelling a soft material like clay, wax and
stucco. Both words, «Sculpere» and «Plasso» are used on «Black Mahogany,» carved wood, 87x20x81 cm., 1960 v
modern languages like the Italian, referring to all artis- «Abstraction,» carved wood, 18 inch high, no date v «Untitled,»
tic tridimensional representation, opposed to the one- sculpture in mahogany, 30x30 cm., no date v «Untitled,» sculp-
dimensional nature. Both representations are part of ture in polychromed mahogany, 129 cm. high, 1998 v «Menina,»
the spatial visual arts, since they occupy a physical space. sculpture in mahogany and paint, 170 cm. high, no date.
Despite the spatial condition, drawing, photography and
painting lack the tridimensionality of architecture and Luichi Martínez Richiez. (San Pedro de Macorís,
sculpture and their specific, solidity and volume related
to their nature and outward appearance. 1928/Santo Domingo, 2005). Considered the Domini-
can master who took the sculpting to its highest interna-
The sculpture’ tridimensional art is seen through all tional level. Some of his works are on the Paris’ Modern
the national history’ artistic manifestations been it plastic Art Museum permanent exhibition. He had 10 individu-
or visual, at the various collections treasuring Dominican al showings on the French capital. Several of his outdoor
art. The one owned by Banco Popular, posses a group of pieces stand in Santo Domingo and Seoul, South Korea.
sculptures that tell us about authorship, histories, Do- He won countless national and international awards and
minican identity, even preferential specifications on the took part on equally relevant collective events.
modern sculpting or wood craving.
«Untitled» Sculpture in mahogany, 245 cm., high., 1987 v
Six of our relevant sculptors, allow us a general «Untitled» Sculpture in mahogany, 29 cm., high., no date 25x19 cm.
overview of the spatial/tridimensional art present at «Organic vertical» Sculpture in mahogany, 197 cm., high., 1987.
the Banco Popular’s Collection. They are: Luichi Mar-
tínez Richiez and Antonio Prats-Ventós, linked to the Ramiro Matos. (Azua, 1977). He received formation
1940’s generation; Gaspar Mario Cruz, representative of
the 1950’s; Nicolás Jimenez and José Ramón Rotellini, from Antonio Prats-Ventós. He achieves the Third Prize
at the 1974 National Biennial, and the First Prize at the
XIV Biennial in 1979. Initially, he works craving on
wood on abstract style, later on he looks for industrial

420

Danilo De los Santos

resources as support. Iron and fibreglass allows him to José Nicolás Jiménez. (Palmar, Salcedo section, 1945/
produce pieces in ascendant and expansive frozen move-
ments. A professional military, he produced works for San Juan de la Maguana (19..), He studied at the Beaux
outdoors like the Restoration’s Monument. Arts National School during 1963-1969, achieving sev-
eral awards for students, in drawing (1964) and sculpture
«The Knuckle,» iron and plastic filler, 126 cm., high., 1987. (consecutively in 1966, 1967 and 1969). Once graduated,
he continues sculpture and industrial ceramic studies in
José Ramón Rotellini. (Santo Domingo, 1941). Stud- Perugia University, as well as in the State’s Art Institute,
Florence, Italy.
ied at the Beaux Arts National School where he won
several student’s awards for drawing and sculpture. He In 1972, his piece «El Mutilado» whose dramatic re-
follows graduate studies in Academia San Fernando, in alism resembles the French master Auguste Rodin, wins
Madrid, Spain. In 1969 records his first individual exhi- at the National Biennial. Other tridimensional pieces
bition, takes part on different concourses and receives carved in wood and stone transform him into a cult
awards as sculptor: First Prizes at the Art Competition author.
León Jimenes 1969 and 1971, as well as, at the National
Biennials in 1972, 1974, 1979 and 1981. Rotellini pro- «Abstraction,» carved marble, 13 inch high, no date v
duces equally sculptures on welded metal, carved wood, «Untitled,» carved marble, 18 inch high, no date.
moulded mud and assembled means. He is the author
of big dimensions public works, conjugating abstraction, Domingo Batista:
expressionism and the academic figuration. The Photography’s Art

«Abstraction III,» carved mahogany, 69 cm. high., 1987. Born in Santiago de los Caballeros in 1946, he
joints the contemporary photography’s movement by
Gaspar Mario Cruz. (San Francisco de Macorís, 1925/ entering the group «Thursday 68,» becoming a forceful
pursuer of the exact instant; the state of siege’s eagle
Santo Domingo, 2006). In 1948 he joints the Beaux Arts eyed, a passionated routes walker, specially the national
National School being a self-educated engraver and be- ones. In 1991, Manuel A. Grullón, Banco Popular’s
comes directly oriented by the Spaniard master Manolo Chairman, refers to his speech and book «Light Time»
Pascual. Linked to the 1950’s artistic generation. He ob- with this words: «Banco Popular, in its permanent stand
tains First Sculpture Prize at the 1956 National Biennial for the national art development, is happy to embrace, in this
and become part of the faculty at the same school he is legendary Casa del Cordon, the photography art master in our
been formed. In 1958 again, he wins the National Bien- country, Domingo Batista, and his exhibition “Light Time”.
nial First Prize, then the Second at the 1960’s similar It comprises a collection of original black and white photos
competition. In 1964 he obtains a Sculpture Award and related to his same title book’s, published by our lens’ artist,
registers his first individual exhibition at the León Jime- in which, stands out his exquisite command of the infrared
nez First Art Competition. Considered a national mas- technic. Batista formally started his artistic work many years
ter, his style reveals modernity loaded with romantic and ago by joining the Photography Group Thursday 68. Since
popular references, extracted from voluminous trunks. that moment he hasn’t stop his creations, transforming his
He is considered a modern «primitive». work on a refined art with romantic and optimistic profile. In
his numerous individual exhibitions, he has shown steadily,
«Untitled,» carved mahogany, 80 x 30 cm., no date v «Un-
titled,» carved mahogany, 82 cm., high., no date v «Calitome,»
carved mahogany, 154 cm., high., 1991.

421

Art and History

at the Banco popular dominicano visual arts collection

his astonishment capacity while contemplating natural scenes glass instrument such as a camera on a painter, on of those that
and our country’s human groups, so he can dazzle us with his are born at the rate of one in every century.»
poetic images full of radiant colour. We can say Batista has
created and style of looking at his homeland and its people. Jeannette Miller in his book «History of the Domini-
His photos unravel our people warmth and hopes. Banco can photography, Part 2,» says: «In 1980 Domingo Batista
Popular congratulates master Domingo Batista for this won- (1946) won photography’s first prize of Geomundo, the inter-
derful book, that gathers up his more recent production and, national magazine, and this important recognition places him
specially, for the photographic showing we open today for the definitely as one of the heads of the Dominican photographic
audience joy». (M.A.G. «Tiempo de Luz» presentation/ movement that had been carried out from 1968 with the found-
Domingo Batista, September the 2nd, 1993). ing of the photographic group Thursday 68. (…) The colour and
the landscape have been distinctive elements of a work that over-
«Light Time 22. Bao River, Bao Valley,» photography came the gratuity and the beauty of the island surroundings, to
penetrate it with the significance of a divine will that proposed
black and white. 30x40 cm., 1993 v «Light Time 7,» photog- it in constant mutation, so his work constantly raises new vi-
sions on the subject of the island, its people, their environment,
raphy black and white. 20x30 cm., 1993 v «Light Time 6, Bao their ways of life and places inhabited by them».

River, Mata Grande,» photography black and white. 24x30 cm., Danilo De los Santos, the author of this work, wrote
in the early 1980s: «With Domingo Batista, we can’ t have
1993 v «Light Time 5, San Rafael River, Infrared Caribbean,» economy of judgment to recognize him in his human endeavour,
with his public achievements, but above all with his work of
photography black and white. 24x30 cm., 1993 v «Light Time. artistic perseverance, in which the quality has prevailed as well
as its sincerity. We do not go in circles to consider him such a
Trunk and Moon,» photography black and white. 20x40 cm., good photographer as he is a good artist, recognizing that many
names of Dominican photography we can find them first, but
1993 v «Light Time 3. Villa Altagracia’s little house,» pho- not the second, because photography as art is not just a manipu-
lation of mechanical procedures, but an orderly maturation of
tography black and white. 24x30 cm., 1993 v «Light Time 9,» what has to be the means of expressing talent, sensitivity and
awareness. A photographer who is not an artist is hardly a doer.
photography black and white. 24x30 cm., 1993 v «Landscape,» The artist who is a photographer is who knows how to give
meaning to what he does. In Domingo Batista, we appreciate
colour photography/paper. 40x49 cm., 1984 v «Landscape II,» this last condition».

colour photography/paper, 50x39 cm., 1984 v «Untitled,» Marianne de Tolentino, art critic has said: «Undoubt-
edly, Domingo Batista is the poet of Dominican photography,
colour photography/paper, 39x50 cm., no date. means of expression that it leads to the climax capturing the
Ansel Adams, an American teacher of photography, “uncaught” by most detail, exploring the romanticism of things,
of the land and the people, making us to think differently about
in 1982’ letter writes to him «Dear Domingo Batista; thanks photography and its emotional aesthetic potential. The artist
for the book that has just reached me.» I enjoyed browsing it. has the gift of “seeing” with a particular sensibility and spiritu-
I can see that you have worked long and hardly and, also feel ally communicate feelings and anxieties to their subjects, to the
great love for you art! Continue with the good work. I definitely surrounding native reality.»
wish you luck!»

Pedro Mir, national poet wrote in 1995: «Domingo Ba-
tista has the indomitable power to lead us to the heart of things.
Today more than never I trust his art to walk the paths of light,
the Sun and the soul.»

Juan Bosch, writer and former President of the Re-
public writes in 1989: «To do with a camera what Domingo
Batista does, is required to have eyes able to apprehend colours,
shades and volumes perceived only for those who have brought
to life the conditions of creator… Because we must live long
years to find the privileged being who can convert a steel and

422





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–El arte de nuestro tiempo, Trujillo City, 1957. Ortega», Poesía Sorprendida, magazin. January-March,
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427



The Author

Danilo de los Santos, is a visual artist, art critic, cura- giving lectures, taking part in different colloquiums,
tor, historian, cultural consultant and professor. Biennials and national competitions Juries. He was a
consultant for the León Centre project and the curator
He was born in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic in for the opening exhibitions «Traces and Memory: León
1942, linked with Santiago de los Caballeros, where he Jimenes Family» and «Dominican Art: Origin and Tra-
grows up and get an education. He was initiated in arts jectory.» As a Puerto Plata’s native, he keeps permanent
by the painter Mario Grullón, then studied at the Fine contacts with that city, collaborating with the Renova-
Arts Academy under Yoryi Morel and Federico Izquierdo tion Society, its Competition «Our Country First» and
guidance. He also studies Education at the Pontificia Uni- many other local cultural festivals.
versidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM), then pur-
sues a Master at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras He is the author of a number of art and history
premises (1974-1976) with the Ford Foundation support. texts, among them: «Painting on the Dominican Soci-
Later on, he gets certified in Cultural Management at the ety» (1978), «The Santiago’s Painters» (1970), «Notes of
Latin American and Caribbean Centre for Cultural Devel- a Young Painter» (1979), «Cándido Bidó’s Blue Paradise»
opment (CLADEC), Caracas, Venezuela, 1989. (1999) and Dominican Painting’s Memories» (2003-2009)
a research in 10 volumes sponsored by the León Jimenes
As a university professor, he works at the PUCMM Group. Also: «Raul Morilla: Corpus Common Narra-
(1969-1989), as the Director of University Cultural Ex- tives» (2012), and «50th Anniversary’s Album 1962-2012
tension, Publications, History and Geography Depart- - Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra.» He is
ments. He also directed the EME-EME Dominican Stud- also the co-author of «Dominican History’s General Vi-
ies Magazine (1980-1987). sion» (1977), «100 Years of Dominican Painting» (1988),
«Customs Collection» volume I, (Customs General Di-
He co-founded the Friordano Group, has more than rection, 2007), Äpeco: Photography, History and Life»
30 individual exhibitions in his record participating (Cámara de Diputados de la República, 2008), «Clara
in several collectives as well. He has been awarded for Ledesma, Fantasy Kingdom» (Cámara de Diputados
painting (VI León Jimenes Competition, 1970), drawing de la República, Galería de Arte Nader, 2008). Also,
and installation (XVIII National Biennial, 1992), and «Juan Plutarco Andújar, Contemplation and Serenity»
sculpture(XIX National Biennial, 1994); besides the Jury (2009).
Special Prize at the First Nickel Palette Biennial (Bonao,
2005). On the arts field he is known by the artistic nick- In 2009, on a public ceremony, the Ministry of Cul-
name Danicel. ture declared him a Nation’s Cultural Asset. In 2010 he
works as a curator of the First Caribbean International
He was the President of the Art Critics Dominican Triennial. The Puerto Plata VI Restoration Festival, in
Association, affiliated to the Art Critics International 2013, paid homage to him.
Association; and the Director of Santiago’s Fine Arts
School. He has written for different media, apart from

429



Esta reimpresión del libro,

Arte e Historia

en la colección de artes visuales

del banco popular dominicano,

terminó de imprimirse en el mes de julio de 2014,

en los talleres de la editora Amigo del Hogar,

Santo Domingo, República Dominicana.