(1912 - 1985) Renown worldwide, Rene Portocarrero's works are sold in major auction houses of the globe. In Havana, serigraphs of his works are still produced on a limited basis by the original workshop that bears his name, Taller de Serigrafia Rene Portocarrero.
He was born in Cerro, near Havana. At age 11, he entered an annual exhibition at the Salon de Bellas Artes. At 14, he entered the prestigious San Alejandro Academy of Fine Arts, but having and independent will, he left school and worked on his own.
His first exhibition was at the Salon of Fine Arts in Havana. Portocarrero became a professor at the Free Institute of Painting and Sculpture in 1939. A spontaneous painter, he had no concept of what he was going to paint until his brush hit the canvas. He was also a muralist and ceramist.
Portocarrero painted with a striking combination of strong linear strokes and rich, vigorous pigmentation. The use of divided color also played an important role in his work and enhanced his representation of fantasy.
His works are exhibited in the permanent collections of the National Galleries and Museums of Modern Arts of: Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Paris Houston, Indianapolis, Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Lima, and the National Museum in Havana. |
