 Fernando Botero was born on April 19, 1932 in Medellín, city in the Colombian Andes. When he was twelve, his uncle, an aficionado of bullfighting, enrolled him in a school for toreros which he attended for two years. The preferred themes of his first drawings were inspired by the world of bullfighting. Indeed, his first known work is a water-colour depicting a bullfighter. In 1948, he exhibited for the first time in his native city and began to work with "El Colombiano," the main newspaper of Medellín, drawing the illustrations for their Sunday supplements. He then moved to Bogotá where he met several members of the Colombian cultural avant-garde including writer Jorge Zalamea, great friend of Garcia Lorca. In these years he was deeply influenced by the work of artists of the Mexican mural-painting school such as Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Sigueiros and José Clemente Orozco and painted large water-colours such as Woman Crying (1949) which particularly reveal the influence of Orozco. With the painting On the Coast (1952), he won the second prize at the IX Exhibition of Colombian Artists, organised at the National Library of Bogotá: with the 7,000 pesos in prize money, he departed for Europe. First leg, Spain. In Madrid, he enrolled at the Accademia San Fernando where he had the opportunity to work in close contact with the masterpieces on show at the Prado. His principal cultural referrals in this period were Goya, Vélasquez, Titian and Tintoretto. He rounded off his finances by painting copies of famous works for tourists. After a year's stay in Madrid, he departed for Paris and moved into a small apartment on the Place des Vosges. Deeply disillusioned by the French avant-garde, Botero spent all his time at the Louvre, studying the old Masters.
1953-1954
In Italy, he enrolled at the Accademia di San Marco of Florence. He made copies mostly of Giotto and Andrea del Castagno. He studied the fresco painting technique during the day, while at night he worked on oil paintings in his studio in via Panicale which had formerly belonged to Giovanni Fattori. His passion for the Italian Renaissance was further stimulated by the lessons of Roberto Longhi. He travelled extensively throughout the Tuscan countryside, visiting Arezzo to see the works of Piero della Francesca and then Siena. He also visited the other art centres of the peninsula including Venice and Ravenna.
1955-1956
Returning to Bogotá in March with the works of his Italian stay, he exhibited them two months later at the National Library. The exhibition met with bitter reactions from critics (then primarily sensitive to the artistic trends dominating the Parisian gallery circuit) who attacked him harshly. In December 1955 he got married. At the beginning of 1956, the couple was in Mexico City where their first son, Fernando, was born. It was with the works of this period that Botero discovered for the first time the possibility of expanding and dilating the volume of forms in his personal way.
1957
He held his first personal exhibition in the United States, in Washington, D.C. He visited New York museums and discovered abstract expressionism. In May, he returned to Bogotá and received second prize at the X Colombian Exhibition.
1958
His daughter, Lina, was born. At the age of twenty-six, Botero was appointed professor of painting at the Art Academy of Bogotá (activity that he maintained until 1960) and began to win affirmation as one of his country's most promising artists. He made several illustrations for La Siesta del Martes by Garcia Márquez which were published in "El Tiempo," the most important Colombian daily newspaper. He won first prize at the XI Colombian Exhibition with his work entitled, Bedroom of the Newlyweds (Tribute to Mantegna), a free interpretation of the famous frescos in the Palazzo Ducale of Mantua. His personal show organised in October of the same year was a fine success: almost all of his works were sold on the same day of inauguration.
1959
He presented the Apotheosis of Ramón Hoyos at the Colombian Exhibition. In this period his admiration of Velásquez was very strong: indeed, Botero painted more than ten versions of the "Niño de Vallecas," where a technique characterised by incisive and mono-chromatic brushstrokes shows the influence of abstract expressionism. He won a Guggenheim prize and participated, along with Enrique Grau, Alejandro Obregon and Eduardo Ramirez Villamizare, in the V Biennial Exhibition of San Paulo in representation of his country.
1960-1962
In Bogotá in 1960, his second son, Juan Carlos, was born. Botero was nominated to represent Colombia at the II Biennial Exhibition of Mexico, a decision which provoked violent opposition to which the artist and many of his friends energetically protested. For the third time, he abandoned his country and, with little money, moved to a loft in New York's Greenwich Village. The Gres Gallery which, until that time had helped and supported him, closed. Botero divorced. In 1961, the Museum of Modern Art of New York, by initiative of curator Dorothy C. Miller, purchased his Mona Lisa at the Age of Twelve, but his first New York show, held at The Contemporaries Gallery, was harshly criticised.
1963-1966
He moved to the East Side. In 1964, he married Cecilia Zambrano and a few months later won second prize at the 1 Intercol Exhibition for young artists at the Museum of Modern Art of Bogotá. He built a house on Long Island and rented a new studio on 14th Street in New York. Botero's plastic style began to emerge in many works of this period, characterised by soft, delicate colours. Keen on Ruebens' work, he painted many works inspired by this great Flemish master. In January, 1966, he held his first European important personal show in Baden-Baden, Germany. The show organised the same year at the Milwaukee Art Center was also a success and he received a very positive write-up in "Time Magazine."
1967-1970
Botero spent this period between Colombia, New York and Europe. He visited Italy and Germany where he was fascinated by the art of Dürer. Thus the "Dureroboteros" were born, a series of large charcoal drawings, paraphrasing the famous paintings by the great German artist. At the same time, he was attracted by Manet and Bonnard and created works in which he personally interpreted the stylistic characteristics of these protagonists of modern art. In March of 1969, he exhibited at the Center for Inter-American Relations of New York. In September, his first personal Paris show was hosted at the Galerie Claude Bernard. In 1970, his third son, Pedro, was born in New York. In March, an important itinerant exhibition opened in five museums of Germany, containing more than eighty works.
1971-1975
He rented an apartment on the Boulevard du Palais on the Ile de la Cité, dividing his time between Paris, Bogotá and his new New York studio on 5th Avenue. In February of 1972, he held his first exhibition at New York's Marlborough Gallery. He bought a house in Cajica, north of Bogotá, where henceforth he spent a month every year. In 1972, after thirteen years, he left New York and moved to Paris. He did his first sculptures. 1972 is the year of his first anthological show in Bogotá, with works done between 1948 and 1972. His son Pedro, four years old, died in an automobile accident in Spain in which Botero, too, was injured. Following this tragedy, many of his works were dedicated to the memory and image of his son. In 1975, he separated from Cecilia Zambrano.
1976-1978
Following the important retrospective show at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo of Caracas, he was decorated with the order of "Andrés Bello" by the president of Venezuela. He again exhibited at the Galerie Bernard of Paris, but in these years Botero devoted himself almost exclusively to sculpture, producing twenty-five works on diverse themes: large torsos, animals and gigantic objects. In 1977, he received the Boyacá Cross from the government of Antioquia for services rendered to Colombia. In the same year, the hall devoted to his son Pedro opened at the Museo de Antioquia where the sixteen works donated by the artist to the institute were exhibited. In October, his sculptures were presented in Paris for the first time. The following year, he returned to painting and transferred his Paris studio to rue du Dragon, near the old Académie Julian.With his wife, Sophia Vari, he moved to Pietrasanta to live there for some months every year.
1979-1983
Important itinerant retrospective shows were devoted to him in museums of Belgium, Norway and Sweden; in the United States, his first American anthological show opened at the Hirshhorn Museum of Washington, D.C. In 1981, exhaustive exhibitions also opened in Japan, in Tokyo and Osaka. In 1983, the Metropolitan Museum purchased Dance in Colombia and Botero illustrated Crónica de una muerte anunciada by Garcia Márquez for the first issue of "Vanity Fair." The same year, he moved to Tuscany, Pietrasanta, famous for its marble quarries, where he works several months every year.
1984-1986
He donated several sculptures to the Museum of Antioquia in Medellín, which devoted him a special room, and eighteen paintings to the National Museum of Bogotá. In this period, he devoted himself almost exclusively to the theme of bullfighting. In April 1985, twenty-five paintings illustrating the different phases of the bullfight were presented for the first time at New York's Marlborough Gallery. In January, 1986, he exhibited in Caracas, Bremen and Frankfurt.
1987-1990
The important retrospective show organised at the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia of Madrid was followed by an itinerant exhibition entitled, Corrida, first presented at the Castello Sforzesco of Milan and then in Naples, Palermo, Coro (Venezuela) and Caracas. In 1990, an extensive anthological exhibition was organised at the Fondation Gianadda in Martigny, while his most recent sculptures were presented at the Marlborough Gallery of New York.
1991-1998
He exhibited at the Brusberg Galerie of Berlin, Forte di Belvedere of Florence, Marlborough Gallery of Tokyo and the Kunsthaus of Vienna. The Palazzo delle Esposizioni of Rome devoted him a large retrospective exhibition including works from 1949 until his most recent works. In 1992, he exhibited his enormous sculptures on the Champs-Elysées of Paris and his Corrida series at the Grand Palais. The following year, an itinerant show was held in Avignon and then at the Pushkin Museum of Moscow and the Hermitage of Saint Petersburg. In 1994, a large exhibition of his monumental sculptures was hosted in public venues of major European cities. During the same year, exhibitions of monumental sculptures were organised in Chicago and Madrid and an anthological exhibition was held in Buenos Aires. The following year, he exhibited a cycle of pastels at the Didier Imbert Gallery of Paris and in 1996, a show organised by the Marlborough Gallery of New York presented his most recent oil paintings. Between 1997 and 1998, important exhibitions were held at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Santiago, Chile and at the Museum of Modern Art of Lugano, in addition to shows at the Il Gabbiano Gallery in Rome, Thomas Gallery in Munich and the Mario Sequeira Gallery in Lisbon. Anthological exhibitions were held in San Paolo, Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo e Monterrey.
1999
Botero exhibits his monumental sculptures in Piazza della Signoria and Piazzale degli Uffizi, paintings and small sculptures in the Sala d'Arme of Palazzo Vecchio.
2000
Botero donates a vast art collection to two Colombian museums with nearly two- hundred of his own paintings, sculptures and drawings and a hundred works by contemporary artists from his own personal collection. This donation greatly enriched the museums.
2001
A great retrospective organized by the City of Mexico covering 50 years of Botero's work. Monumental sculptures are exhibited at the Marlborough Gallery in New York; in Stockholm at the Modern Museum. Botero also exhibited at the Arken Museum in Copenhagen.
2002
In Brittany, a summer exhibition of paintings and sculptures
2003
Retrospective at the Gemeente Museum, Aja. An exhibition of monumental sculptures placed along the Grand Canal in Venice and painting at the Ducal Palace. Another important exhibit at the Maillol Museum in Paris
2004
Exhibition at the Hopkins Custot Gallery in Paris with marble sculptures and charcoal drawings. Botero donates fifty works of art to the National Museum of Bogotá. Monumental sculptures are exhibited in Singapore.
2005
In Rome at Palazzo Venezia, the Contini Gallery of Art in Venice organizes "Fernando Botero, the last 15 years"
Fernando Botero actually lives and works between Paris, Montecarlo, Pietrasanta and New York.
2006
Kunsthalle Würth a Schwäbisch Hall, major retrospective in Germany
Exhibition to the Athen's Picture Gallery.
2007
Traveling exhibition organized by Art Services International of Alexandria, Virginia,
First exhibition at the Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec.
Exhibition with a selection of works of the last 10 years at Palazzo Reale, Milan.
|
Con ognuno dei miei artisti ho un rapporto bellissimo, un feeling fatto di complicità, ho il piacere di respirare con loro le stesse emozioni...
