Antonio ("Toño") Martorell Cardona (born 18 April 1939) is a Puerto Rican painter, graphic artist and writer. He regularly exhibits in Puerto Rico and the United States and participates in arts events around the world. He spends his time between his workshops in Ponce,

Hato Rey Hato Rey is a former barrio located in the northwest part of the dissolved municipality of Río Piedras. It now stretches over three barrios, of the municipality of San Juan, Puerto Rico: Urban landscape Its name means "king's cattle farm" (' ...

, and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, his presentations worldwide and his academic work in

Cayey, Puerto Rico Cayey (), officially Cayey de Muesas, is a mountain town and municipality in central Puerto Rico located on the Sierra de Cayey within the Central Mountain range, north of Salinas and Guayama; south of Cidra and Caguas; east of Aibonito and ...

Early years

Martorell Cardona was born on 18 April 1939, in

Santurce, Puerto Rico Santurce (, from the Basque ''Santurtzi'' which means Saint George) is a barrio or district in the municipality of San Juan. Its population in 2020 was 69,469. It is also the biggest and most populated of all the barrios in the capital city wit ...

. He is the son of Antonio Martorell II and Luisa Cardona. His father left the family when Martorell was ten years old. He is the first of three children. He first started showing interest in arts as a small child with drawings.

Schooling

He studied diplomacy at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, and then in 1961 went to study

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

with Julio Martín Caro in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

.''Antonio Martorell (1939- ): Honoris Causa UT 1997.''
Universidad del Turabo. December 2011. Retrieved 26 July 2012. In the 1960s, he worked in Ponce, collaborating with Sor Isolina Ferre in the creation of community art workshops. He also worked at the workshop of

Lorenzo Homar Lorenzo Homar Gelabert (September 10, 1913 – February 16, 2004) was a Puerto Rican printmaker, painter, and calligrapher whose artwork stretches to three main workshops: (CPA), DIVEDCO (), and the of the (ICP). Homar was also the designer of ...

at the

Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña 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 ...

between 1962 and 1965. He currently is the Resident Artist of the

University of Puerto Rico at Cayey The University of Puerto Rico in Cayey (UPR-Cayey) is a public university in Cayey, Puerto Rico. It is part of the University of Puerto Rico System. It was initially founded as a regional school in 1967 and became a college in 1969. It was awar ...

Career

Martorell's incursion into the arts came by the way of theater on 25 April 2001. He participated in the scenography of "Celebración Verdiana " for the opera by

Plácido Domingo José Plácido Domingo Embil (born 21 January 1941) is a Spanish opera singer, conductor, and arts administrator. He has recorded over a hundred complete operas and is well known for his versatility, regularly performing in Italian, French ...

Painting

The eyes of Carmen Rosa by Antonio Martorell

Martorell currently has a workshop in

and another one on Calle Salmon (old Calle Comercio) in barrio Playa, Ponce, at a building that dates to 1815 and which he has occupied since 2007.''Vivo el tributo a Toño Martorell.''
La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. Year 30. Issue 1493. 1 July 2012. Page 26. Retrieved 26 July 2012. Of his breezy workshop at Playa de Ponce and his spiritual connection there he has said "more than Ponceño, I am a Playero...My north now is the South and its wide horizons." Martorell was the winner of the Bienal de Arte de San Juan, and has illustrated books of several authors including Alma Rosa Flor, Heraclio Cepeda,

Nicholasa Mohr Nicholasa Mohr (born November 1, 1938) is one of the best known Nuyorican writers, born in the United States to Puerto Rican parents. In 1973, she became the first Nuyorican woman in the 20th century to have her literary works published by the maj ...

, and Pura Belpré. He also illustrated the ''ABC de Puerto Rico'' published by Troutman Press.

Writing

In the 1980s, Martorell dedicated himself to writing, producing various books. As a writer, Martorell has written books such as ''La piel de la memoria'' (translated as ''Memory's Tattoo'' by Andrew Hurley), and ''El libro dibujado'' (The Drawn Book). He currently writes a column for ''Escenario'', a section of Puerto Rican newspaper

El Vocero ''El Vocero de Puerto Rico'' is a Puerto Rican free newspaper that is published in San Juan. Published since 1974, ''El Vocero'' was at first the third of the four largest Puerto Rico newspapers, trailing '' El Mundo'' and '' El Nuevo Día'' and ...

Awards

On 21 March 2023, Martorell was awarded the National Medal of Arts by the president of the United States, Joe Biden.

Personal life

In December 2006, Martorell's workshop in

, was subjected to arson with the loss of many works of art.

Works

The most extensive publication on Martorell's work is Antonio Díaz-Royo's biography ''Martorell: la aventura de la creación'' (The Adventure of Creation). His paintings are found at the

, Museo de la Universidad de Puerto Rico,

Museo de Arte de Ponce Museo de Arte de Ponce (MAP) is an art museum located on Avenida Las Américas in Ponce, Puerto Rico.Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico Tourism Company. Ven al Sur, page 20. San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2003. It houses a collection of European ...

, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, Galería Nacional de San Salvador, Museo de Arte Moderno de México,

Museo del Barrio El Museo del Barrio, often known simply as El Museo (the museum), is a museum at 1230 Fifth Avenue in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is located near the northern end of Fifth Avenue's Museum Mile, immediately north of the Museum of the City ...

Whitney Museum The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–194 ...

and Hotel Melia in Ponce, Puerto Rico. Matorell's works have been reviewed by numerous critics. One, Nelson Rivera Rosario, analyzed three works by Martorell: Catálogo de objetos atalogue of Objects(1974); White Christmas (1980); and Simplicity Patterns (1981). In his interpretation, Rivera Rosario believes the three works represent Martorell's attempt to provide the Puerto Rican viewer with "the means to see and evaluate their colonial status” so that, hopefully, they might lead to “eventual decolonization.”''En Torno a Tres Trabajos de Antonio Matorell, Artista Puertorriqueño.''
Nelson Rivera Rosario. Documents of 20th-century Latin American and Latino Art. (ICAA Record ID: 805303) International Center for the Arts of the Americas. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, USA. 2018. Accessed 21 March 2018. (Originally published in the journal "Plástica", in San Juan, Puerto Rico by Liga de Arte de San Juan. Vol. 13. No. 1, Year 7, 1985. pp.5-9)

Publications

*''La piel de la memoria.'' uerto Rico Ediciones Envergadura, 1991. *''El libro dibujado: el dibujo librado.'' Cayey .R. New York: Ediciones Envergadura, 1995. *''Memory’s Tattoo.'' Translation of ''La piel de la memoria'' from the Spanish by Andrew Hurley; foreword by

Luis Rafael Sánchez Dr. Luis Rafael Sánchez, a.k.a. "Wico" Sánchez (November 17, 1936) is a Puerto Rican essayist, novelist, and short-story author who is widely considered one of the island's most outstanding contemporary playwrights. Possibly his best known play ...

. San Juan, P.R.: Editorial Plaza Mayor, 2005. .

References

External links

Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña Home Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martorell, Antonio 1939 births Living people Puerto Rican painters Puerto Rican writers People from Santurce, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican people of Catalan descent Painters from Ponce