Santos René Irizarry
Lares, PR, 1934 - San Juan, PR, 1997
Biography Details
Painter, graphic artist, and draftsman. Irizarry studied art at the Luchetti School of Art in Santurce, at the University of Puerto Rico under Carlos Marichal, and at the Campeche Studio and Gallery under Domingo García. In 1958 he received a scholarship from the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture to study at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas (Academia de San Carlos) in Mexico City. His painting, of a very personal and expressive nature, was considered controversial in the early sixties because of its portrayals of profound, mysterious, and sometimes grotesque subject-matter. His portraits of alcoholics, street people, drug addicts, and the sick are rich in allegorical, religious, social, and political significance, and reveal an artist of great expressive strength and sensibility. His drawings possess a quality reminiscent, perhaps, of the post-war drawings of German artist Charles Grosz.
Artist Statement
His work, very personal and expressive, was considered very controversial at the beginning of the sixties for its profound, mysterious and occasionally grotesque topics. His portraits of alcoholics, homeless, drug addicts and infirm are filled with allegoric, religious, social and political connotations that reveal an artist of great dramatic power and magnificent sensibility.
Source: Los Tesoros de la Pintura Puertorriqueña, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, 2000.
Formation
Education
1959
- Apprentice. Galería Campeche, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1958
- Academia San Carlos, Universidad Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico
nd
- University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Luchetti Middle School, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Exhibitions
Solo Shows
1965
- Galería Oller, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1964
- Galería Don Roberto, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1959
- Galería Campeche, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1956
- Galería Pintadera, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Ateneo Puertorriqueño, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Group Shows
2013
- Interconexiones: Lecturas Curatoriales de la Colección del MAPR, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2007
- Contexto puertorriqueño: del rococó colonial al arte global, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1987
- Puerto Rican Painting: Between Past and Present, The Squibb Gallery, Princeton, New Jersey, United States
1963
- Gráfica Puertorriqueña, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1962
- Dos siglos de pintura puertorriqueña, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1958
- El dibujo como medio de expresión, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Río Piedras, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Awards, Distinctions and Achievements
1958
- Scholarship. Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Collections
- Cooperativa de Seguros Múltiples de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Bibliography
Books
Hermandad de Artistas Gráficos de Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico Arte e Identidad. San Juan, P.R.: Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1998.
Los tesoros de la pintura puertorriqueña. Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico. San Juan, P.R. 2000.