Collection

Painter, draftsman, educator, and art critic. Bonilla began his life as an artist under the direction of Ramón Frade. He later studied in Boston at the Childe Walker School of Fine Arts and the Ernst Thurn Summer School, under the painter Hans Hofmann. In 1935, with a scholarship from the government of Puerto Rico, he traveled to Europe, where he studied at the Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid, in Paris under André Lhote and Othon Friez, and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence; he also took advantage of his stay to travel widely throughout Europe. In 1950, he returned to Puerto Rico and became the co-founder of Estudio 17. Among his contributions to the visual arts in Puerto Rico are his work as a teacher at the University of Puerto Rico (1956-1975) and his work as an art critic for island newspapers (1976-1986). His work took various stylistic turns, and in the seventies he was influenced by avant-garde currents such as Op Art and Kinetic Art, which he pursued alongside his representational painting. His work reflects a particular interest in the human figure and considerable talent in the use of color.