José Vela Zanetti (May 27, 1913 – January 4, 1999) was a Spanish painter and muralist who worked in Spain, the Dominican Republic and the United States.

Early years

Vela Zanetti was born in Milagros ( Province of Burgos),

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

on May 27, 1913. He spent his childhood in León and later moved to

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, where he studied under

José Ramón Zaragoza José Ramón Zaragoza Fernández (16 March 1874, Cangas de Onís - 29 July 1949, Alpedrete) was a Spanish painter, primarily known for Genre art, genre scenes and female portraits. Biography He began his studies at the School of Arts and Craft ...

. In 1931, his first solo exhibition was held in León. He was awarded a scholarship to study in Italy in 1933. In 1936, during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

, Vela Zanetti’s father was executed for his socialist beliefs. At the end of the war, in 1939, Vela Zanetti went into exile in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

, as did artists Josep Gausachs and Eugenio Granell.

The Dominican Republic

Vela Zanetti was extremely successful in the Dominican Republic. He had his first solo exhibition in

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 (Distrito Nacional) , websi ...

a year after his arrival, and his career as a muralist flourished. Vela Zanetti was commissioned to paint more than 100 murals in the country, including works in the Justice Building, Central Bank and National Library (all in Santo Domingo). In addition to working as an artist, he became a professor at the National School of Fine Arts in Santo Domingo in 1945, and was named the school’s director in 1949.

New York

Vela Zanetti won a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

for Hispanic artists in 1951. He used the fellowship to travel to New York and decided to stay for several years. In 1953, he painted his most famous work ''Mankind's Struggle for a Lasting Peace'', a mural at the UN headquarters in New York. Painted in a somber palette of blues and browns, the work depicts the horrors of war and shows people working together to rebuild the world.

Return to Spain

In 1960 he returned to Milagros, Spain, living in the house where he was born. In his later years, the artist focused on easel paintings, particularly portraits, still lifes, landscapes and religious works. He died on January 4, 1999, in

Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of t ...

, Spain, at the age of 85.

References

*De los Santos, Danilo, ''Memoria de la pintura dominicana, Volumen 2'', Santo Domingo: Grupo León Jimenes, 2003. * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vela Zanetti, Jose 1913 births 1999 deaths People from the Province of Burgos 20th-century Spanish painters 20th-century Spanish male artists Spanish male painters Spanish muralists Spanish expatriates in the Dominican Republic Spanish expatriates in the United States