Alberto Valdés (painter)
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Alberto Valdés (1918–1998) was a Mexican-American artist known for his experimental approach, mastery of abstraction, and a profound dedication to the act of painting.


Life


Early life and education

Valdés was born in
El Paso, Texas El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...
, to Lydia Valdés and Alberto R. Valdés Sr., a composer and conductor of the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra. His parents had immigrated to the United States to escape the Mexican Revolution. He and his younger brother Armand were raised in the
Boyle Heights Boyle may refer to: Places United States * Boyle, Kansas, an unincorporated community * Boyle, Mississippi, a town *Boyle County, Kentucky *Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, a neighborhood Elsewhere * Boyle (crater), a lunar crater * 11967 Boyle, ...
neighborhood in
East Los Angeles East Los Angeles (), or East L.A., is an unincorporated community and census designated place (CDP) situated within Los Angeles County, California, United States. According to the United States Census Bureau, East Los Angeles is designated as ...
, home to a diverse mix of Mexican and Italian families. Displaying a natural talent for art from an early age, Valdés graduated from Lincoln High School in 1936 and was awarded a scholarship to attend Harper's School of Art in Los Angeles. The award letter praised him, “His work is outstanding.... You should be proud of Mr. Valdés, for we have great faith in his ability.” In his twenties, he worked as a commercial artist, producing magazine ads, billboard designs, and orange-crate labels.


Military Service

From 1941 to 1945, Valdés served as a communication chief in the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
during World War II in the
European theater The European theatre of World War II was one of the two main Theater (warfare), theatres of combat during World War II, taking place from September 1939 to May 1945. The Allies of World War II, Allied powers (including the United Kingdom, the ...
. He was awarded the Good Conduct Medal,
American Campaign Medal The American Campaign Medal was a military award of the United States Armed Forces which was first created on November 6, 1942, by issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The medal was intended to recognize those military members who had per ...
and the
European African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...
.


Post-War Career

After returning from the war, Valdés was hired as an art designer at
MGM Studios Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American film and television production and distribution company headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. Metro ...
, where he worked on movie set designs until his retirement in the early 1960s.


Artistic Practice

Beginning in the 1960s, Valdés focused exclusively on his personal art. He worked only sporadically to support himself, choosing not to pursue a commercial or public artistic career. A passionate and self-driven artist, he shifted from oil to acrylic paints to reduce drying time and support his prolific output. Often working in series, he painted multiple works simultaneously, moving freely between styles and genres.   Valdés pursued an independent artistic path outside of the established networks of Californian and
Chicano art The Chicano Art Movement represents groundbreaking movements by Mexican-American artists to establish a unique artistic identity in the United States. Much of the art and the artists creating Chicano Art were heavily influenced by Chicano Movement ...
. He saw no need for external validation and declined to exhibit or sell his work during his lifetime.


Influences

A self-taught artist, Valdés built an extensive personal library of art books and magazines, feeding his interest in global art movements. Deeply inspired by
pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...
and modern Mexican art, he felt a cultural and intellectual kinship with artists such as
Rufino Tamayo Rufino del Carmen Arellanes Tamayo (August 25, 1899 – June 24, 1991) was a Mexican painter of Zapotec peoples, Zapotec heritage, born in Oaxaca City, Oaxaca de Juárez, Mexico.Sullivan, 170-171Ades, 357 Tamayo was active in the mid-20th cen ...
and Ricardo Martinez. He also admired European masters including
Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (also Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi da Caravaggio; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), known mononymously as Caravaggio, was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the fina ...
,
Joan Miró Joan Miró i Ferrà ( , ; ; 20 April 1893 – 25 December 1983) was a Catalan Spanish painter, sculptor and Ceramic art, ceramist. A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona ...
,
Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...
and
Paul Klee Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented wi ...
.


"Mi arte es mi vida"

Valdés described a spiritual connection to painting and often said, ''“Mi arte es mi vida”'' (My art is my life). He died in his home in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, on May 10, 1998, leaving behind hundreds of paintings and drawings.


Posthumous Group Exhibitions

2011-2012''
''"Art Along the Hyphen: The Mexican American Generation"''
Autry National Center The Autry Museum of the American West (Autry National Center) is a museum in Los Angeles, California, dedicated to exploring an inclusive history of the American West. Founded in 1988, the museum presents a wide range of exhibitions and pub ...
, Los Angeles. Eighteen paintings by Valdés were included in this group exhibition, organized by the
UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center The UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center (CSRC) was founded in 1969 as a hub for multidisciplinary research at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). It is one of four ethnic studies centers established at UCLA that year. The center fo ...
and curated by
Chon Noriega Chon A. Noriega is an American art historian, media scholar, and curator. Noriega is professor of cinema and media studies at UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. He was also the director of the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center (CSRC) ...
and Terezita Romo. The show was part of the
Getty Foundation The Getty Foundation, based in Los Angeles, California, at the Getty Center, awards grants for "the understanding and preservation of the visual arts".Getty FoundationAbout the Foundation. Retrieved September 18, 2008. In the past, it funded the ...
's ''"
Pacific Standard Time The Pacific Time Zone (PT) is a time zone encompassing parts of western Canada, the western United States, and western Mexico. Places in this zone observe standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC−08:00). ...
: Art in Los Angeles, 1945-1980"'' initiative. Catalogue
''L.A. Xicano''
2014-2017 '
Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art
,''
Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...
, Washington, DC, Oct 2013 – Mar 2014. Curated by E. Carmen Ramos. The exhibition presented works by 72 leading modern and contemporary artists and went on tour. Catalogue
Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art
'' by Carmen Ramos with an introduction by Tomás Ybarra-Frausto. Tour stops included: *2014
Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum The Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum'' (''"Frost Art Museum") is an art museum located in the Modesto A. Maidique campus of Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, Florida. Founded in 1977 as The Art Museum at Florida Internat ...
at
Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Westchester, Florida, United States. Founded in 1965 by the Florida Legislature, the school opened to students in 1972. FIU is the third-largest univ ...
Miami, FL * 2015
Crocker Art Museum The Crocker Art Museum is the oldest art museum in the Western United States, located in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1885, the museum holds one of the premier collections of Californian art. The collection includes American works dating f ...
Sacramento, CA * 2015
Utah Museum of Fine Arts The Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) is a state and university art museum located in downtown Salt Lake City on the University of Utah campus. Housed in the Marcia and John Price Museum Building near Rice-Eccles Stadium, the museum holds a permane ...
Salt Lake City, UT * 2016
Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts The Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts (AMFA), formerly known as the Arkansas Arts Center, is an art museum located in MacArthur Park, Little Rock, Arkansas. The museum's most recent expansion and renovation was designed by architecture and urban des ...
Little Rock, AZ * 2016
Delaware Art Museum The Delaware Art Museum is an art museum located on the Kentmere Parkway in Wilmington, Delaware, which holds a collection of more than 12,000 objects. The museum was founded in 1912 as the Wilmington Society of the Fine Arts in honor of the arti ...
Wilmington, DE * 2016
Allentown Art Museum The Allentown Art Museum of the Lehigh Valley is an art museum located in Allentown, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1934 by a group organized by Walter Emerson Baum, a Pennsylvania impressionist painter. The museum maintains a collection of ov ...
Allentown, PA * 2017 Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg, FL * 2017
Hunter Museum of American Art The Hunter Museum of American Art is an art museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The museum's collections include works representing the Hudson River School, 19th century genre painting, American Impressionism, the Ashcan School, early modernism, r ...
Chattanooga, TN


Literature

* UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Press
''L.A. Xicano''
edited by Chon A. Noriega, Terezita Romo, and Pilar Tompkins Rivas, 2011 * D Giles Ltd.
''Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art''
By Carmen Ramos, Tomas Ybarra-Frausto (Introduction by), 2014


Public collections

* The Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC *
Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art The Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art (NEHMA) is an accredited academic art museum focused on modern and contemporary art, located at Utah State University in Logan, Utah, Logan, Utah. NEHMA was founded in 1982 with the ceramic collection of phil ...
, Logan, UT


References


Further reading / external links

*Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM)
Alberto Valdés
*UCLA Chicano Studies Research Cente
List of Chicana/o ArtistsBlue Rain Gallery, Alberto ValdésProgram note for Alberto Valdés exhibition
*
Field of moving colors
', a poem about Alberto Valdés' painting by Tino Villanueva, published in ''Poetry,'' March 2016 {{DEFAULTSORT:Valdes, Alberto American artists of Mexican descent 1918 births 1998 deaths United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army soldiers People from El Paso, Texas People from Silver Lake, Los Angeles Artists from Los Angeles American male painters 20th-century American male artists People from East Los Angeles, California 20th-century Mexican painters Artists from El Paso, Texas American abstract artists 20th-century Mexican male artists 20th-century American painters Self-taught artists Mexican-American culture in California 20th-century American artists American military personnel of World War II Chicano art People from Boyle Heights, Los Angeles