Rafael Ríos Rey (28 July 1911 – April 1980) was a Puerto Rican

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

ist. He is credited with being the first Puerto Rican muralist whose work received international recognition.

Early years

Ríos Rey was born in

Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce (, , , ) is both a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government. Ponce, Puerto Rico's most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, was founded on 12 August 1 ...

, on 28 July 1911 in a family of artists. His father was Octavio Ríos De Jesús (1886–1933) who was a

scenographer A scenographer or production designer, develops the appearance of a stage design, a TV or movie set, a gaming environment, a trade fair exhibition design or a museum experience exhibition design. The term originated in theater. A scenographer work ...

for Russian dancer

Anna Pavlova Anna Pavlovna Pavlova ( , rus, Анна Павловна Павлова ), born Anna Matveyevna Pavlova ( rus, Анна Матвеевна Павлова; – 23 January 1931), was a Russian prima ballerina of the late 19th and the early 20th ...

from 1918 to 1921. Ríos Rey studied art under

Miguel Pou Miguel Pou Becerra (24 August 1880 – 6 May 1968) was a Puerto Rican oil canvas painter, draftsman, and art professor. Together with José Campeche and Francisco Oller, he has been called "one of Puerto Rico's greatest masters." He was an ...

with such other disciples as

Olga Albizu Olga Albizu Rosaly (1924–2005) was an abstract expressionist painter from Ponce, Puerto Rico. Albizu Rosaly was the first woman dedicated to abstraction in Puerto Rico. Life Albizu was born and raised in Puerto Rico, where she studied pain ...

, Horacio Castaign, and Luis Quero Chiesa.

Career

In 1934 Rios Rey studied mural painting under the migrant Spanish mural artist Ismael D'Alzina. In 1936 Rios Rey traveled to New York City where he was exposed to the American muralist movement and the main expositors of Mexican muralism such as Rufino Tamayo,

José Clemente Orozco José Clemente Orozco (November 23, 1883 – September 7, 1949) was a Mexican caricaturist and painter, who specialized in political murals that established the Mexican Mural Renaissance together with murals by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Sique ...

and David Alfaro Sequeiros. He returned to Puerto Rico in 1937 where he established his painting studio. In 1950, Rios Rey traveled to Mexico where he studied

metal engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an in ...

with

Carlos Alvarado Lang Carlos Alvarado Lang (January 14, 1905 – September 3, 1961) was a Mexican printmaker and professor. He taught metal engraving and later served as the program director at Academy of San Carlos, from 1929 to 1949. Biography Carlos Alvarad ...

, scenography with Antonio López Mancera,

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

with Jorge Best Benganzo and

painting with José Chávez Morado.

Style and characteristics

Ríos Rey works the subject of the farm worker, the landscape of the island of Puerto Rico and the many industries and infrastructure building projects that embodied the life of the Puerto Rican people in the first half of the twentieth century. Ríos Rey is the one Puerto Rican muralist that produced the largest number of murals in Puerto Rico – over eighty. His murals can be seen today at the Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño, Cervecería India, Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, Little Rock School of Medicine,

Ponce YMCA Building The Ponce YMCA Building is a historic structure located in the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. It is located at 7843 Calle Nazaret, Urbanizacion Santa Maria. The structure was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on 4 June 20 ...

, and

Puerto Rico Iron Works Puerto Rico Iron Works (founded as ''Porto Rico Iron Works'') was a heavy industry iron foundry located in barrio La Playa in Ponce, Puerto Rico. The company was founded in 1918. The foundry "was Puerto Rico's most prolific steel bridge fabr ...

, in addition to many private residential locations. He also designed theatrical and

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

tic scenes in Puerto Rico and New York City. He painted numerous murals for hotels, banks, and public buildings. In addition he did art work for books. His works embodied the life of the poor jibaro countrymen on one end and the industrialization that took place in Puerto Rico in the 1950s at the other end.

Murals

Outstanding murals by Rios Rey are: * ''Tradiciones ponceñas.'' once Traditions(1953) at

Plaza del Caribe Plaza del Caribe is an enclosed shopping mall located in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It is owned by Empresas Fonalledas, and is the largest mall in southern Puerto Rico. The mall is located at the intersection of Puerto Rico Highway 2 and Highway 12. ...

, Ponce * ''La Fundición.'' he Foundry(1953) at Empresas Ferre. (Now housing Trinity College of Puerto Rico),

Barrio Playa Barrio Playa, also known as Playa de Ponce, Ponce Playa, or La Playa, is one of the thirty-one barrios that comprise the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Bucaná, Canas, Vayas, and Capitanejo, Playa is one of the municipality's ...

, Ponce. * ''El Hombre.'' an(1955) at the

, Ponce. There are also several Ríos Rey murals in the first floor of the Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño building (today, 2019, it is called Banco Santander), and at the "Mural de la Música" at the former Parque de Bombas on the southeast corner of Calle Cristina and Calle Mayor (now, 2019,

Instituto de Música Juan Morel Campos Instituto de Música Juan Morel Campos (English: Juan Morel Campos Music Institute), formerly known as Escuela Libre de Música de Ponce (English: Ponce Free School of Music), is a musical arts institution in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It is an institu ...

).Mariano Vidal Armstrong. ''Ponce, Notas para su Historia.'' Second edition. 1986. p.63.

Last years and death

Rios Rey died in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the jur ...

on 29 April 1980.

Honors and legacy

* University professor Néstor Murray Irizarry, wrote a biography of Rios Rey in 2001 titled ''Rafael Ríos Rey: ensayo de ensayo''. It was published on the 90th anniversary of the birth or Rafael Rios Rey (2001).

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rios Rey, Rafael 1911 births 1980 deaths Puerto Rican painters Painters from Ponce 20th-century male artists