• Dos Caras

    “Dos Caras*”

    Date 1947
    Dimensions 19 3/4" x 25 3/4"
    Category Painting
    Medium Oil in canvas
    Genre Contemporary
    Period 20th Century
    Collection Museo de Historia, Antropología y Arte, Universidad de Puerto Rico
    Acknowledgement *Translate: Two Faces

Narciso Dobal

San Juan, PR, 1916-1970

Biography Details

Painter. Dobal first studied with Spaniard Alejandro Sánchez Felipe and later, in 1935, at the Academia de San Fernando in Madrid, with a scholarship from El Mundo newspaper. He returned to Puerto Rico in 1938. He and painter Julio Tomás Martínez are considered the most innovative artists of their time, Dobal because he distanced himself completely from the representational style of painting cultivated by other Puerto Rican painters and instead created works reflecting the formal characteristics of such European schools of the twenties as Cubism and Surrealism. He did continue to portray Puerto Rican subjects, however, in strongly drawn compositions with pure, warm colors. His figures are depicted in stylized, geometrical forms, almost in the manner of Abstraction. His production was limited, since he abandoned painting to devote himself to his career as a medical technician.

Artist Statement

" His work shows the influence of Cubism in the management of the planimetric Space and Composition and European trends of figurative realism of the twenties in the allegorical and realistic approach fantasy themed "


Flavia Marichal Lugo y Norma Rosso Tridas, "Biografías", p. 75

Formation

Education

1935-1936

  • Art studies. Academia de San Fernando, Madrid, Spain

n.d.

  • Art Studies. With the artist Alejandro Sánchez Felipe, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Professional Experience

1953

  • Book ilustrator of Nociones de psiquiatría, neurología e higiene mental. Departamento de Instrucción Pública, San Juan, Puerto Rico

n.d.

  • Owner. Banco de Sangre Metropolitano, San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • Medical Technologist. Escuela de Medicina Tropical, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Exhibitions

Solo Shows

1940

  • Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Río Piedras, San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • Ateneo Puertorriqueño, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Group Shows

2007

  • Contexto puertorriqueño: del rococó colonial al arte global, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico

2001

  • Los tesoros de la pintura puertorriqueña, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico

1992

  • Quinientos años de arte en Puerto Rico, Museo de Las Américas, San Juan, Puerto Rico

1988

  • De Oller a los Cuarenta: La Pintura en Puerto Rico 1898-1948, Museo de Historia, Antropología y Arte, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Río Piedras, San Juan, Puerto Rico

1958

  • Artistas Puertorriqueños, Ateneo Puertorriqueño, San Juan, Puerto Rico

1955

  • III Bienal de Arte Hispanoamericano de Barcelona, Palacio de la Ciudadela, Barcelona, Spain

1948

  • I Bienal Interamericana de pintura y grabado, Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, Mexico City., Mexico

Awards, Distinctions and Achievements

1935

  • Grant studies Periódico El Mundo, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Collections

  • Museo de Historia, Antropología y Arte, Universidad de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • Cooperativa de Seguros Múltiples de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Bibliography

Catalogues

“Autocontemplación”, Museo de Historia, Antropología y Arte, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Río Piedras, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2006.

 

“Contexto puertorriqueño: del rococó colonial al arte global”, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2007.

 

“Los tesoros de la pintura puertorriqueña, exhibición inaugural del Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico/ Treasures of Puerto Rican Painting, Inaugural Exhibit”, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2001.

 

Books

Hermandad de Artistas Gráficos de Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico Arte e Identidad. San Juan: Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, 2004, pp. 72-73 y 425.

 

Newspapers

Marrero, Carmen. “Cuadros De Boricuas Van a III Bienal”. El Imparcial (San Juan, PR), 7 de agosto de 1955, pp. 12 y 41.

 

Rodríguez, Jorge. “La paleta surrealista de Dobal”. Escenario (San Juan, PR), 3 de abril de 2002.