Gilberto Hernández Ortega (21 December 1923 – 23 October 1979) was an artist from the
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...
. He is considered a leading
painter
Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...
of his generation.
Early life and education
He was born in
Baní
Baní is a capital town of the Peravia Province, Dominican Republic. It is the commercial and manufacturing center in the southern region of Valdesia. The town is located 65 km south of the capital city Santo Domingo.
Baní is the headquart ...
,
Peravia Province, in 1923 but was raised in
Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...
. He was great-grandson of
Pierre André Frier, a Frenchman.
Ortega first studied art under
Celeste Woss y Gil at her private academy. Undecided about his career, he studied
engineering
Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...
for more than two years before committing to pursuing painting. He enrolled in the
National School of Fine Arts, where he studied under Woss y Gil once again, as well as
Josep Gausachs and
George Hausdorf. Ortega was particularly influenced by Gausachs, maintaining a close relationship with the older artist until Gausachs's death in 1959. In addition to Gausachs, he worked closely with
Jaime Colson and
Clara Ledesma. Other sources of inspiration included
Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
n artists
Wifredo Lam
Wifredo Óscar de la Concepción Lam y Castilla (; December 8, 1902 – September 11, 1982), better known as Wifredo Lam, was a Cuban artist who sought to portray and revive the enduring Afro-Cubans, Afro-Cuban spirit and culture. Inspired by ...
and
Mario Carreño Morales
Mario Carreño y Morales, better known as Mario Carreño (May 24, 1913 – December 20, 1999) was a Cuban-Chilean painter.
Biography
Morales was born on May 24, 1913 in Havana, Cuba. He studied painting at the Academia de San Alejandro, Havana ...
.
Career
In 1946, Ortega had his first solo exhibition, exhibiting 63 paintings and drawings. He also exhibited abroad, with his first international solo exhibition being held in
Caracas
Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...
,
Venezuela
Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
, in 1951. Other international shows included exhibitions in the United States, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Israel and Taiwan. In addition, he was awarded prizes in national Biennial art events in 1952, 1958 and 1974.
He also taught art for many years. Ortega became a professor at the National School of Fine Arts in 1946 and was named vice director in 1954. In 1966, he opened a private art school in Santo Domingo. During his many years of teaching, Ortega had a significant influence on major Dominican artists, including
Ada Balcácer,
Iván Tovar,
Ramón Oviedo and
Elsa Núñez.
While primarily a
Surrealist
Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...
, he also experimented with
Expressionism
Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
and
Abstraction
Abstraction is a process where general rules and concepts are derived from the use and classifying of specific examples, literal (reality, real or Abstract and concrete, concrete) signifiers, first principles, or other methods.
"An abstraction" ...
. Most of Ortega's paintings are
figurative, depicting distorted human forms. Although dark colors such as blues, violets, grays, greens, browns and black predominate, his
palette is often enlivened with vibrant yellows, oranges and reds.
Death
Ortega died in Santo Domingo in 1979.
See also
*
List of Dominican painters
References
* De los Santos, Danilo, ''Memoria de la pintura dominicana, Volumen 3'', Santo Domingo: Grupo León Jimenes, 2004.
* De los Santos, Danilo, ''Memoria de la pintura dominicana, Volumen 4'', Santo Domingo: Grupo León Jimenes, 2004.
* Staff (undated).
"Gilberto Hernández Ortega 1924–1978"(in
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas
**Spanish cuisine
**Spanish history
**Spanish culture
...
).
Museo Bellapart
The Museo Bellapart is a free private art museum in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic specifically in located at the corner of Av. John F. Kennedy founded in 1999 and is situated inside of a car dealership. It was initially founded by Juan Jos� ...
. Retrieved August 24, 2013.
* Urena Rib, Fernando
La Magia Oculta del Tropico: Gilberto Hernandez Ortega Latin American Art Museum. Retrieved May 18, 2013
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hernandez Ortega, Gilberto
1923 births
1979 deaths
Academic staff of the National School of Fine Art
Dominican Republic male artists
Dominican Republic people of French descent
20th-century Dominican Republic artists
20th-century Dominican Republic painters
Male painters
20th-century male artists
Dominican Republic art educators
Founders of educational institutions
People from Baní
Artists from Santo Domingo
Surrealist artists