Saturday, September 16, 2023

Artist of the day, September 16, 2023: Hommage to Fernando Botero, a Colombian figurative artist and sculptor (#1907)

 Fernando Botero Angulo (1932 – 09-2023) is a figurative artist and sculptor from Medellín, Colombia. His signature style, also known as "Boterismo", depicts people and figures in large, exaggerated volume, which can represent political criticism or humor, depending on the piece.

Fernando Botero attended a matador school for several years in his youth, and then left the bull ring behind to pursue an artistic career. Botero's paintings were first exhibited in 1948, when he was 16 years old, and he had his first one-man show two years later in Bogota.

Botero's work in these early years was inspired by pre-Colombian and Spanish colonial art and the political murals of Mexican artist Diego Rivera. Also influential were the works of his artistic idols at the time, Francisco de Goya and Diego Velázquez. By the early 1950s, Botero had begun studying painting in Madrid, where he made his living copying paintings hanging in the Prado and selling the copies to tourists.

Throughout the 1950s, Botero experimented with proportion and size, and he began developing his trademark style—round, bloated humans and animals—after he moved to New York City in 1960. The inflated proportions of his figures, including those in Presidential Family (1967), suggest an element of political satire, and are depicted using flat, bright color and prominently outlined forms—a nod to Latin-American folk art. And while his work includes still-lifes and landscapes, Botero has typically concentrated on his emblematic situational portraiture.

After reaching an international audience with his art, in 1973, Botero moved to Paris, where he began creating sculptures. These works extended the foundational themes of his painting, as he again focused on his bloated subjects. As his sculpture developed, by the 1990s, outdoor exhibitions of huge bronze figures were staged around the world to great success.

© 2023. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Fernando Botero or assignee. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only

Botero
The Big Hand, 1976
 Dog, 1981
Mujer, 1981
Seated Woman, 1981
Woman on a chair, 1985
Woman with cigarette , 1986
Cat, 1987
 Cat, 1987
Woman with mirror, 1987
Bird, 1988
La pensée, 1988
The Lovers, 1989
La baigneuse, 1990
Horse, 1992
Male Torso with Leaf , 1992
Man on Horse, 1992
Reclining woman, 1996
Woman on a horse, 1998
Mother and child, 1999
Dressed Woman, 2001
Adam and Eve, 2003
Raptor d'Europa, 2007
Maternidad, 2010
Uomo a Cavallo (Man on a Horse) 2010
Uomo a Cavallo (Man on a Horse) 2010
 Ballerina 2011
Dancers, 2012
Donna seduta con mela 2012
Cavallo (Horse) 2013
Rapto d'Europa, 2014
Roman Warrior, n.d.

 

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