Osiris Delgado Mercado (1920-2017) was a Puerto Rican artist and

art historian Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

. He is primarily known for his contributions to the history of

Puerto Rican art Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States. Puerto Ricans (Spanish: ''puertorriqueños'' or ''boricuas'') are the people of Puerto Rico, the inhabitants, and citizens of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and their descendants. Puerto Rico is ...

, but he also taught in the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Puerto Rico. Delgado's artworks are held at various museums across the island, such as the Museo de Arte de Ponce, the

Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico The Museum of Art of Puerto Rico (Spanish: ''Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico'', abbreviated MAPR) is an art museum in Santurce, a barrio of San Juan, Puerto Rico, with 18 exhibition halls. The museum is located in a historic building, formerly occup ...

, the

Institute of Puerto Rican Culture The Institute of Puerto Rican Culture ( es, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña), or ICP, for short, is an institution of the Government of Puerto Rico responsible for the establishment of the cultural policies required in order to study, preser ...

, and the University of Puerto Rico Museum of History, Anthropology and Art.

Biography

Osiris Delgado was born in Humacao, Puerto Rico on April 1, 1920. He studied with José López de Victoria,

Ramón Frade Ramón Frade de León (March 12, 1875 – November 7, 1954) was a Puerto Rican visual artist and architect. His realist style of painting captured the life of the typical Puerto Rican in the twentieth century. Early years Frade (birth name: Ram ...

and Alejandro Sánchez Felipe at a young age. During the 1930s and 1940s he studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, the Porta Romana Royal Institute of Fine Arts in Florence and art academies in Paris and Madrid. He obtained a bachelor's degree at the University of Puerto Rico and then completed a PhD in 1954 at the Complutense University of Madrid. After his studies, Delgado returned to the island and taught at the University of Puerto Rico while becoming involved in cultural institutions, such as the

. He wrote several books on the history of art in Puerto Rico and frequently contributed essays to newspapers and magazines. His books on

Francisco Oller Francisco Oller (June 17, 1833 – May 17, 1917) was a Puerto Rican painter. Oller is the only Latin American painter to have played a role in the development of Impressionism. One of the most distinguished transatlantic painters of his da ...

José Campeche José Campeche y Jordán (December 23, 1751 – November 7, 1809), is the first known Puerto Rican visual artist and considered by art critics as one of the best rococo artists in the Americas. Campeche y Jordán loved to use colors that referenc ...

and the plastic arts in Puerto Rico are some of his most important contributions.

Citations

{{DEFAULTSORT:Delgado, Osiris 1920 births 2017 deaths American art historians Complutense University of Madrid alumni People from Humacao, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican artists University of Puerto Rico alumni