José Antonio Torres Martinó (1916 – 22 April 2011) was a Puerto Rican painter, artist, journalist and writer. Martinó founded or expanded many of

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

's major media, artistic and journalism organizations. He was known for

abstract painting Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a Composition (visual arts), composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. ''Abstract art'', ''non-figurative art'', ''non- ...

s, some of which are on display in the collection of the Museum of Art of Puerto Rico.

Early years

Torres was born in

Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce ( , , ) is a city and a Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The most populated city outside the San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Juan metropolitan area, Ponce was founded on August 12, 1692Some publ ...

, in 1916. The teenaged Torres moved to New York City in 1934, to study at the

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has an additional campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The institute was founded in 18 ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. Financial problems forced him to leave Pratt before completing his degree, and he returned to Puerto Rico.

Journalist

Torres began working as a radio journalist upon his return to Puerto Rico from New York. He co-founded Puerto Rico's first magazine focusing on radio journalism when he was 22 years old. In 2011, Margarita Fernandez Zavala, a professor of art at the

University of Puerto Rico The University of Puerto Rico (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Universidad de Puerto Rico;'' often shortened to UPR) is the main List of state and territorial universities in the United States, public university system in the Commonwealth (U.S. i ...

, called Torres "one of the pioneers of radio and television on the island", where he became a well known voice for radio and television audiences from the 1940s to the 1980s. His broadcast work extended to producing cultural programming. In addition to his work in radio and television, Torres became a regular arts and culture columnist for ''

El Nuevo Día ''El Nuevo Día'' (English: ''The New Day'') is the newspaper with the largest circulation in Puerto Rico. It is considered mainstream and the territory's newspaper of record. It was founded in 1909 in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and today it is a subsi ...

'', a Puerto Rican daily newspaper. Torres co-founded the Press and Television Guild of Puerto Rico in 1951, and later served as its president.

Painter and educator

Torres continued to paint while working full time on radio, transitioning to painting as a full-time career by the time he was 30. In 1946, he was able to return to his studies, attending the Brooklyn Museum Art School in New York in 1946, then the

Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze The Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze () is an instructional art academy in Florence, in Tuscany, in central Italy. It was founded by Cosimo I de' Medici in 1563, under the influence of Giorgio Vasari. Michelangelo, Benvenuto Cellini and ...

, in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, Italy, in 1948. Once back on his home island, Torres' body of work body focused on

s, many of which were inspired by the southern coast of Puerto Rico near the city of Ponce. Torres shared his love of art through education and collaboration. In addition to his reach as a journalist, he was a founding member of the Center for Puerto Rican Art, along with Felix Rodriguez Baez, Rafael Tufiño, Lorenzo Homar and others. He also co-founded the Escuela de Artes Plásticas y Diseño de Puerto Rico, and the Hermandad de Artistas Gráficos de Puerto Rico, with Myrna Báez in 1981. Torres spearheaded the creation of a

graphic arts A category of fine art, graphic art covers a broad range of visual artistic expression, typically two-dimensional graphics, i.e. produced on a flat surface,University of Puerto Rico The University of Puerto Rico (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Universidad de Puerto Rico;'' often shortened to UPR) is the main List of state and territorial universities in the United States, public university system in the Commonwealth (U.S. i ...

School of Architecture, where he then held workshops for a number of years. Torres extended his reach by becoming a lifelong student and authority on Puerto Rican art. His work included publications, including ''Puerto Rico: Art and Identity''.

Death and honors

Jose Torres Martinó died in

Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico Santurce (, meaning Saint George from Basque language, Basque ''Santurtzi'') is the largest and most populated Barrios of San Juan, Puerto Rico, barrio of the Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality of San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Juan, the cap ...

, on 22 April 2011, at the age of 94. He is honored at Ponce's Park of the Illustrious Ponce Citizens.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Torres Martinó, José 1916 births 2011 deaths Painters from Ponce Journalists from Ponce Puerto Rican painters Puerto Rican radio journalists Puerto Rican columnists