José Ramón Villa Soberón (born September 2, 1950,

Santiago de Cuba Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana. The municipality extends over , and contains t ...

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 ...

) is a Cuban artist, particularly known for his public sculptures around

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. He is a professor at the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana. His sculptures, paintings, engravings, drawings and designs are held by the

Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de La Habana The National Museum of Fine Arts of Havana (Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de La Habana) in Havana, Cuba is a museum of fine arts that exhibits Cuban art collections from the colonial times up to contemporary generations. History It was founded o ...

, and in 1996 he was one of the selected artist in the second ''Trienal Americana de Escultura'' in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

His artwork has been part of many collective exhibitions. In 1969 he was included in the collective exhibitions of painting and esculpture ''Exposición Escuela Nacional de Arte'' in the Centro de Arte Internacional, Havana, Cuba. In 1971, he participated in the Salón Nacional para Artistas Jóvenes.

Awards

His awards include the Third Prize in the ''Salón de Profesores e Instructores de Artes Plásticas'', Escuela Nacional de Arte (1973); Mention in Sculpture in the ''VII Salón Nacional Juvenil de Artes Plásticas'', Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (1978); and First Prize in the ''II Trienal Americana de Escultura'',

(1996).

Public sculpture

The artist is noted for his public sculptures around Havana. These include statues of

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...

(2003, sitting on a barstool in the

Floridita Floridita () or El Floridita is a historic fish restaurant and cocktail bar in the older part of Havana (''Old Havana, La Habana Vieja''), Cuba. It lies at the end of ''Bishop Street (Havana), Calle Obispo'' (Bishop Street), across Monserrate St ...

bar and restaurant),

Che Guevara Ernesto "Che" Guevara (14th May 1928 – 9 October 1967) was an Argentines, Argentine Communist revolution, Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and Military theory, military theorist. A majo ...

(1982, Palacio Central de Pioneros Ernesto Che Guevara, Parque Lenin), and

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...

(2000, John Lennon Park, Vedado, Havana). In 2001 his statue of José María López Lledín, a local vagabond dubbed the "Gentleman from Paris" (El Caballero de Paris), was placed outside Basilica Menor de San Francisco de Asis, and is stroked by visitors for good luck. His 1986 '' Monumento a Martí'' (José Villa y Rómulo Fernández) is in the Plaza de Quito, ,

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, Spain. In 1992 he made ''Escultura ambiental'', in the Campus de la Universidad de Valencia, Spain. In that year he also made the one Escultura ambiental, in the Exteriores del Museo de Bellas Artes, Santiago de Chile,

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

External links

José Villa Soberón, Cuban sculptor

References

Cuban contemporary artists Living people 1950 births Academic staff of the Instituto Superior de Arte {{Cuba-sculptor-stub