Jan D'Esopo
New York, USA, 1934
Biography Details
Sculptor, painter and professor. She obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and Sculpture from Bennington College, Vermont and studied at the School of Fine Arts and Architecture from Yale University in Connecticut. She settled in Puerto Rico in 1961 and founded the Galería Inn in Old San Juan as a gallery, art studio, home and boutique hotel, and the Galería San Juan, one of them, primarily, for the promotion of young artists. For eight years D'Esopo taught watercolor at the Art Students League in San Juan. With her sister Teresa D’Esopo Spinner, well known portrait painter, she has organized a multitude of workshops with leading international artists at her San Juan Gallery. Her sculptures form part of public and private spaces in Puerto Rico.
Artist Statement
“I’m a painter architect”, comments Jan D’Esopo when referring to her artistic creation. Regarding her inspiration, she says: “I’m interested in making the details perfectly, leaving things as they are, allow the beauty that exists. There is so much beauty in this world, that I don’t have to invent anything”.
“The artist who fully understands which is the essence of their existence, must always guide their choices towards achieving growth in all aspects. I cannot conceive how there can be artists that spend their whole lives doing the same thing… painting the same themes and sculpting the same and clichéd figures. In the constant search of new techniques, new mediums and new themes, therein lies the magic and the enchantment of artistic creativity. That an artist comes to consider himself as “boring” is something miserable and a contradiction in terms. It causes me great happiness not knowing what I will be doing five years from now. That mystery is one of the leitmotiv which makes me wait with a candid impatience each and every one of the daybreaks of my life”.
Sources: Interview by Annie Arana for the newspaper El Mundo (1984) and Interview by Mario Alegre Barrios for the newspaper El Nuevo Día (1990)
Formation
Education
nd
- School of Fine Arts and Architecture, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States
1956
- Bachelor’s Degree of Painting and Sculpture. Bennington College, Vermont, United States
Professional Experience
- Professor. Liga de Estudiantes de Arte, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Co-founder and director. Galería San Juan, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Co-founder and director. The Gallery Inn, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Exhibitions
Solo Shows
2006
- Caras en Puerto Rico, Galería Senatorial de Arte Puertorriqueño, El Capitolio, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1990
- Caras en Puerto Rico, Executive Offices, Schering-Plough Corporation, New Jersey, United States
1985
- Puerta al Caribe, Casa Blanca, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1983
- Galería San Juan, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1943
- Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut, United States
Group Shows
2012
- Interconexiones: lecturas curatoriales de la colección del MAPR, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1985
- Puerta al Caribe, Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York, United States
Collections
- Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Bibliography
Catalogues
“Caras en Puerto Rico”, Corporación Schering-Plough, Nueva Jersey, Estados Unidos, 1990.
Interconexiones: lecturas curatoriales de la colección del MAPR, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2012.
Newspapers
“D’Esopo expone en San Juan”. El Nuevo Día (San Juan, PR), 16 de noviembre de 1983, p. 79.
Arana, Annie. “Jan D’Esopo expone obras recientes en Casa Blanca y NY”. El Mundo (San Juan, PR), 15 de noviembre de 1984, p. 8-B
“Puerta al Caribe”. El Mundo (San Juan, PR), 3 de marzo de 1985.
Alegre Barrios, Mario. “Jan D’Esopo exibe sus ‘Caras en Puerto Rico. El Nuevo Día (San Juan, PR), 17 de abril de 1990, p. 62.