Oscar Rodríguez Naranjo (1907–2006) was a painter from Socorro, Santander Department,

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

. His works include mainly

oil painting Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

s and

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

s. Rodríguez Naranjo studied at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes in

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

. Owing to the talent he displayed he was able to obtain scholarships for the

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number a ...

and the

Académie de la Grande Chaumière The Académie de la Grande Chaumière is an art school in the Montparnasse district of Paris, France. History The school was founded in 1904 by the Catalan painter Claudio Castelucho on the rue de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, near the Acadé ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. He came back from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and settled in

Bucaramanga Bucaramanga () is the capital and largest city of the department of Santander, Colombia. Bucaramanga has the fifth-largest economy by GDP in Colombia, has the lowest unemployment rate and has the ninth-largest population in the country, with 68 ...

. Rodríguez Naranjo taught at the art school while he made a number of paintings that would build up his reputation in Colombia. In 1941 he became the Director of the Academia de Bellas Artes in Bucaramanga. The main themes of his paintings were

portrait A portrait is a portrait painting, painting, portrait photography, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, Personality type ...

s, including religious figures,

nude Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. The loss of body hair was one of the physical characteristics that marked the biological evolution of modern humans from their hominin ancestors. Adaptations related to h ...

s and

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...

s. Rodríguez Naranjo was one of the most outstanding and representative artists of the Colombian Santander region.

Sculptures

Some of Rodríguez Naranjo's most notable sculptures are: *

José Antonio Galán José Antonio Galán (c. 1749 in Charalá, Santander (New Kingdom of Granada) – February 2, 1782 in Santafé de Bogotá (Id.)) was a Neogranadine historical figure of the 18th century. He was the leader of the Comuneros insurrection in 1781, wh ...

statue, located in the main park in Socorro *

María Antonia Santos Plata María Antonia Santos Plata (10 April 1782–28 June 1819), was a Neogranadine peasant, rebel leader and heroine. She galvanized, organized, and led the rebel guerrillas in the Province of El Socorro against the invading Spanish troops dur ...

, one of the great figures of the Colombian Independence Struggle, sculpture, located in the main park in

San Gil San Gil is a town municipality in the Department of Santander in northeastern Colombia, located roughly 300 km (192 mi) from Bogotá and 95 km from the department's capital, Bucaramanga. As of 2020, San Gil had a population of rou ...

Exhibitions and Public Collections

These are some of his most important collections:''Forma y Color Colombia'' Magazine, Editor: Eduardo Bastidas Peña, Editorial Ártico Bogotá 1995 *1929: Casa del Estudiante, Bogotá *1931: I Salón de Artistas Colombianos, Bogotá *1933: Centro de Historia de Santander, Bucaramanga *1938: Académie Julian Yearly Exhibition, Paris, France *1943: Muestra Annual, Academia de Bellas Artes, Colegio Santander, Bucaramanga *1945: Muestra de la Academia de Bellas Artes, Bucaramanga *1951: Museo de Antioquia, Medellín *1959: Exposición de Artistas Santandereanos, Bucaramanga *1963: Banco de la República, Bucaramanga. *1975: Paisaje, Museo de Arte Moderno (MAM), Bogotá *1981: Antología 365 años de Pintura en Santander, Corporación Cultural Luis Perú De la Croix, Bucaramanga. *1981: Retrospectiva, Retratos, Cámara de Comercio, Bucaramanga *1983: Artistas del Socorro, Casa de la Cultura, El Socorro, Santander. *1987: Paisaje en Santander, Banco de la República, Bucaramanga. *1994: Forma y Color Colombia, Hotel La Fontana, Bogotá. *2006: Forma y Color Colombia, Galería Actualidad, Bucaramanga

Bibliography

* Dario Ortiz, ''Oscar Rodríguez Naranjo, the painter of beauty'' (1996)

References

External links

Oscar Rodríguez Naranjo, pintor

Colarte - Oscar Rodríguez Naranjo sculpture
1907 births Colombian sculptors 2006 deaths Alumni of the Académie de la Grande Chaumière Académie Julian alumni 20th-century sculptors 20th-century Colombian painters 20th-century Colombian male artists People from Santander Department Colombian male painters {{Colombia-sculptor-stub