Gabriel Bracho (born 25 May 1915 in

Los Puertos de Altagracia Los Puertos de Altagracia is the capital of the Miranda Municipality , which is located in the eastern coast of Lake Maracaibo in Zulia, Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República B ...

Zulia Zulia State ( es, Estado Zulia, ; Wayuu: ''Mma’ipakat Suuria'') is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is Maracaibo. As of the 2011 census, it has a population of 3,704,404, the largest population among Venezuela's states. It ...

, died 6 March 1995 in

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

) was a Venezuelan artist. He and César Rengifo were major exponents of the

social realism Social realism is the term used for work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers and filmmakers that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structure ...

artistic movement in Venezuela.Gabriel Bracho - Un Pintor de la Realidad by David Alfaro Siquerios (1973 Pub Ed Ernesto Armitano) His work is permeated by social, political and historical themes. From 1936 to 1939 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Caracas and he continued his studies at the Escuela de Artes Aplicadas in Chile until 1942. In 1943 he began a tour of various countries including the USA, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay and Italy which culminated in him living and working in Paris. Initially influenced by the impressionists, expressionists and cubists he embraced the nationalistic and revolutionary trends of the Mexican muralists. He returned to Venezuela in 1950 and exhibited in the Caracas Museum of Fine Arts. In 1951 he exhibited at the museum of fine arts in Caracas and in 1953 he completed work on his first major mural ''Venezuela'' (now destroyed). He traveled to Mexico where he met and compared notes with his friends

Diego Rivera Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, known as Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957), was a prominent Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the ...

and David Alfaro Siqueiros amongst others, and in 1957 he exhibited his work at the palace of fine art in Mexico City. In 1958, he returned to Venezuela and with others founded the Taller de Arte Realista group. In 1960 he completed the mural ''Cuba'' located in La Casa de las Américas in Habana. In 1976 he won the first prize at the Exposición de Pintura Realista Comprometida in Bulgaria and in 1986 was awarded the Armando Reveron prize. In 1994 he held a major exhibition in the Venezuelan national gallery and in the same year was awarded the prestigious

National Prize of Plastic Arts of Venezuela National Prize of Plastic Arts of Venezuela is an annual award given to various artists from that country, specifically the field of drawing, printmaking and drawing pictorial. It is one of the National Culture Awards. The reward is delivered con ...

. He died in Caracas on 6 March 1995. His main works include ''Nochebuena de los Negros'', ''Tierra'', ''Stalingrado'', ''Petróleo'', ''Horoshima'', ''El Abanderado'', ''Manifestación'' and the murals ''Venezuela'' (1952–1953), ''Lino de Clemente'' (1966–1967), ''Diversiones'', ''Venezuela'' (1971–1972), and ''Boyacá'' (1983) located in the presidential palace Miraflores. His home in Los Puertos de Altagracia is now a museum dedicated to his memory and work.

References

Citations

Other Sources

* ''El Realismo Social en la Pintura 1940-1950'' by Simon Noriega (Pub Universidad de los Andes Consejo de Publicaciones Mérida Venezuela) * ''Alfredo Boulton and his Contemporaries: Critical Dialogues in Venezuelan Art,1912-1974'' by Ariel Jimenez, Hugo Achugar, Roldan Estera-Grillet and Elias Iturrieta, (2008, Ed Ariel Jimenez, Pub The Museum of Modern Art New York)
Gabriel Bracho
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bracho, Gabriel 1915 births 1995 deaths Venezuelan artists