Rafael RodrÃguez Padilla (January 23, 1890 – January 24, 1929) was a
Guatemala
Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...
n painter,
printmaker
Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed technique ...
and
sculptor
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
. In 1920 he was cofounder and became the first director of the Guatemalan ''Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes'' (National Academy of Fine Arts), which merged into the
.
RodrÃguez studied sculpture under the
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 ...
n
Santiago González (1850–1909) in Guatemala. Afterwards he went to
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
, where he finished his studies under
Luis Muriel y López. After his return to Guatemala, he painted his famous
self-portrait
Self-portraits are Portrait painting, portraits artists make of themselves. Although self-portraits have been made since the earliest times, the practice of self-portraiture only gaining momentum in the Early Renaissance in the mid-15th century ...
. He committed suicide in 1929.
[''Rafael RodrÃguez Padilla''](_blank)
(Spanish), Literatura Guatemalteca.
Painting
In Spain he became acquainted with the work of the impressionist JoaquÃn Sorolla, which would influence most of his pictorial production. Although impressionism was already a style that had ceased to be in force in Europe, RodrÃguez Padilla professed a deep admiration for the Spanish artist, whose mark can be perceived in all his pictorial production. He returned to Guatemala in 1916.
His painting underwent many changes, all applied with mastery. His first period, before his trip to Spain, was characterized by painting in dark tones. Later, as a great colorist, he knew how to imprint his works with shades and atmospheres of extraordinary luminosity, especially in the portraits of different personalities of the time. Among his most characteristic works are "Desnudo en escorzo", "Desnudo del reflejo", "Portrait of Jaime Sabartés", "Portrait of Dr. Manuel Morales", "Portrait of Juana Padilla" (Central American painting award), "Portrait of Eduardo de La Riva", "Portrait of Adalberto Saravia".
Selected works
* self-portrait, 1915
*
Lorenzo Montúfar y Rivera monument in the ''Avenida La Reforma'', 1923
*
Francisco Vela monument
*
José Milla y Vidaurre
José Milla y Vidaurre (August 4, 1822 in Guatemala City, First Mexican Empire — Guatemala City, Guatemala September 30, 1882) was a notable Guatemalan writer of the 19th century. He was also known by the name Pepe Milla and the pseudonym Salomà ...
monument
*
Louis Pasteur
Louis Pasteur (, ; 27 December 1822 – 28 September 1895) was a French chemist, pharmacist, and microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, Fermentation, microbial fermentation, and pasteurization, the la ...
monument
*
Mausoleum
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type o ...
of the ''Castillo'' family, (together with
Cristóbal Azori),
Guatemala City General Cemetery
The Guatemala City General Cemetery was built in 1880, during general Justo Rufino Barrios presidency. Ruined by 1917 Guatemala earthquake, 1917–18 earthquakes, it never recovered its old splendor; originally it was exclusive for the elites and ...
*
art nude
The nude, as a form of visual art that focuses on the unclothed human figure, is an enduring tradition in Western art. It was a preoccupation of Ancient Greek art, and after a semi-dormant period in the Middle Ages returned to a central position ...
* portrait of
Jaime Sabartés
Jaume Sabartés i Gual (, , born in Barcelona, 10 June 1881 - died in Paris, 12 February 1968), was a Catalan Spanish artist, poet and writer. He was a close friend of Pablo Picasso and later became his secretary/administrator.
Early life
Sabar ...
, 1923
* portrait of
Santiago González
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodriguez Padilla, Rafael
Guatemalan artists
1890 births
1929 suicides
Artists who died by suicide
Suicides in Guatemala
1929 deaths
Guatemalan expatriates in Spain