Ramón Frade de León (March 12, 1875 – November 7, 1954) was a Puerto Rican

visual artist The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts al ...

and architect. His realist style of painting captured the life of the typical Puerto Rican in the twentieth century.

Early years

Frade (birth name: Ramón Frade de León ) was born in the town of

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 Sa ...

on May 12, 1875. His father died when he was just a child and his mother gave him up for adoption. He was adopted by Nemesio Laforja and his wife who were Spanish nationals. The Laforja family moved back to Spain and in 1885, immigrated and settled down in

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the capital of the Dominican Republic. During his youth he traveled to Europe and studied art in Italy. He was also a pupil of the Dominican artist

Luis Desangles Luis Desangles Lubiles (8 February 1861, Santo Domingo – 13 April 1940, Santiago de Cuba) was a Dominican Republic, Dominican painter, sculptor, and educator born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Instructor to many of the great native arti ...

. The subjects of his first paintings were the Roman ruins in Italy. From (1896 to 1902), Frade traveled to 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 ...

and

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

where he painted scenes of the main colonial cities.

Visual artist

Frade painted portrayals of the life of the Puerto Rican campesinos (country people). What is considered as his masterwork, "El Pan Nuestro de Cada Día" (Our Daily Bread) (1905), represents a "jíbaro" farmer carrying plantains. In his painting he shows what is an old barefooted man who is poor but proud, serious, dignified, clean. This jíbaro is supposed to represent Puerto Rico at the beginning of the century. Other works by Frade include: "La Planchadora" (The Ironing Lady) (1948), "El Niño Campesino" (the country child), Ensenada, "La Poza", "Reverie", and "La Inmaculada" (The Immaculate) and many others.A Guide to the Island of Boriquén, Federal Writers Project, 1940
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Architect

In 1907, Frade returned to his hometown Cayey and, unable to make a living from his paintings, decided to make use of his land-surveyor's degree which he had earned from the

University of Sevilla The University of Seville (''Universidad de Sevilla'') is a university in Seville, Spain. Founded under the name of ''Colegio Santa María de Jesús'' in 1505, it has a present student body of over 69.200, and is one of the top-ranked universi ...

through a mail correspondence course. During the early part of the 20th century there was a great demand for additional housing, infrastructures and tobacco warehouses in the towns of

Caguas Caguas (, ) is a city and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the Central Mountain Range of Puerto Rico, south of San Juan and Trujillo Alto, west of Gurabo and San Lorenzo, and east of Aguas Buenas, Cidra, and Cayey. Caguas was founded ...

, Comerío and Cayey. Inspired by the possibilities which the construction sector represented, Frade in 1909, decided to take a correspondence course in architecture in the American School of Correspondence in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. He earned his diploma on July 26, 1913, however he began to let it be known that he was an architect as early as 1912. Among Frade's works as an architect were the new design of Cayey's municipal cemetery, a plaza dedicated to

Eugenio María de Hostos Eugenio María de Hostos (January 11, 1839 – August 11, 1903), known as "''El Gran Ciudadano de las Américas''" ("The Great Citizen of the Americas"), was a Puerto Rican educator, philosopher, intellectual, lawyer, sociologist, novelist, an ...

, the buildings of two tobacco companies and various buildings in the commercial section of the town.

Legacy

On November 7, 1954, Ramón Frade died in his hometown at the age of 79 years. His widow donated his art works to the Cayey campus of the

University of Puerto Rico The University of Puerto Rico ( es, Universidad de Puerto Rico, UPR) is the main public university system in the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a government-owned corporation with 11 campuses and approximately 58,000 students and 5,3 ...

. Cayey has honored his memory by naming a school and a public plaza after him. The

Río Piedras Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

campus of the University of Puerto Rico has a gallery with an exhibit of Frade's art works.Galeria Universitaria

Notes

References