Osvaldo Reyes
Osvaldo Reyes | |
---|---|
Born | May 26, 1919 Santiago, Chile |
Died | December 23, 2007 Toronto, Canada | (aged 88)
Occupation | Artist |
Osvaldo Reyes Herrera[1] (May 26, 1919 – December 23, 2007) was a Chilean artist who lived in Chile, Mexico, and Canada.
Early life
The eldest child of a railway baggage porter and a seamstress, he had to help support the family financially to ensure that his seven siblings were able to finish their education, while he studied to be a teacher. He was born in
He married in secret so he could stay to care for his family, instead of starting his own household. The first of his family to get an education, he made sure his siblings got the same opportunity, and later taught art to underprivileged and special needs children.
Career
As an art educator
In Chile
In his first post as a teacher, in the southern city of
On returning to Santiago, he enrolled to study Fine Arts at the University of Chile, where he stood out as one of the most promising students, and for his activity as a student leader, as he became president of the student centre.
In 1945, Osvaldo, along with Fernando Marcos, Carmen Cereceda and other mural painters from the School of Fine Arts, formed the "Group of Mural Painters of the Ministry of Education",[2] their goal being to paint murals in the schools of Chile. One of the goals of this project was to involve children and give them the technical skills to go on to become artists.
Studying in Mexico
For his academic achievements, he received a scholarship to study painting in
The Mexican influence on Osvaldo Reyes’ painting would always be evident in its expressive vigour and luminosity, as well as in the lines and shapes that characterized his drawing.During his stay in Mexico, he worked for three months as an assistant to the Nobel Award winner Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral. In his return to Chile he painted the mural "La Ronda", which was inspired by the work of Gabriela Mistral of the same name.
Return to Chile
On returning from his scholarship, he became absorbed in academic work. He helped other painters to go to Mexico to study. He participated in the travelling mural exhibition “Las 40 Medidas” (“The 40 Measures”), inspired by Allende’s presidential program in 1970, which travelled around the country. The panels from this exhibition were destroyed by the dictatorship.
He was a professor and director of the Escuela Experimental Artistica until September, 1973. This institution is known for producing hundreds of Chilean artists in a wide variety of artistic disciplines.
In the mid 1960s Osvaldo was involved, along with his students and other collaborators, in the painting of the pro Allende political murals.[2]
The Escuela Experimental Artística was a unique establishment in Latin America, which offered grants to artistically talented children from all over the country and brought them to Santiago to receive primary, secondary and art education; it was an innovative public education project which was later copied in other countries. Hundreds of Chilean artists from all disciplines studied in this school.
Return to Mexico
Shortly after the military coup, Reyes was dismissed from his position by the Pinochet dictatorship. He was lucky; more than a thousand people were detained and disappeared, another thousand murdered, more than thirty thousand tortured and hundreds of thousands forced into exile in the 17 years of the Pinochet regime. In 1978 Reyes left with his wife, Carmen, and the two youngest of their five children for Mexico and worked at the San Carlos Academy of Art for ten years.
Migration to Canada
The family's separation tormented him, so when some of their older offspring later moved to Canada, Reyes and his wife followed in 1988. With this move, Osvaldo Reyes had to adapt to a new culture, a new language, and, above all, a greater distance from his native land. He succeeded in making his way in Canada, which also became home to his family. In his Toronto workshop, he painted and drew with discipline every day.
Exhibitions and reception
His work has been exhibited in Chile, Mexico, and Canada and in 2003, on the 30th anniversary of the military coup, Reyes presented a retrospective exhibition at the
The Mexican muralist
He died in Toronto, Canada after suffering a stroke.
References
- ^ "Osvaldo Reyes, Pintor Chileno-Canadiense / Chilean-Canadian Artist". osvaldoreyes.com. Retrieved 2015-08-22.
- ^ ISBN 9780955432217. Retrieved 2015-08-22.
- ^ "Las Noticias | Murió elogiado pintor chileno Osvaldo Reyes". emol.com. Retrieved 2015-08-22.
- ^ "Chilean brought his art here | Toronto Star". thestar.com. 27 December 2007. Retrieved 2015-08-22.
- ^ "Actividades y noticias, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo". mac.uchile.cl. Retrieved 2015-08-22.