José López de Victoria
Mayagüez, PR, ca. 1869 - 1930
Biography Details
Painter. It has not been possible to determine whether López de Victoria had any formal training as a painter. Nevertheless, his renown as a portraitist in the first third of the 20th century is evident in his works. He also cultivated landscape and still-life genres. He created an original series of monochromatic landscapes in which he showed his technical mastery of the different color intensities to represent shapes. His prestige as a portraitist earned him in 1925 the commission by the United States Government of portraits of George Washington and Calvin Coolidge for the Capitol. His portraits of sober colors and dark backgrounds show his great skill as a good interpreter of physiognomies.
Artist Statement
Lopez de Victoria, artist who managed to live almost exclusively from painting. To achieve it he worked in almost all areas on the island, from Yauco in the southern limit as far as San Juan in the North, establishing a fairly intuitive revision of the Puerto Rican landscape genre and portraits of important personalities from national history at the turn of the century. Some elements from his production - such as the monochromes of some landscapes – end up as modern unintentionally, because they were motivated by the economic hardships to which he was subjected at various stages in his life.
Source: Bravo, Laura; Jackson-Martín, Rafael. Mayagüez: Un siglo de artistas, 80 grados, (9 de marzo de 2012)
Formation
Professional Experience
1925
- Commissioned to paint portraits of George Washington and Calvin Coolidge by the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., United States
Exhibitions
Group Shows
2012
- Mayagüez: Un siglo de artistas, Museo de las Américas, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2007
- Contexto puertorriqueño: Del rococó colonial al arte global, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Awards, Distinctions and Achievements
1913
- Award. Ateneo Puertorriqueño, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Collections
- Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Ateneo Puertorriqueño, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- La Fortaleza, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Bibliography
Books
Hermandad de Artistas Gráficos de Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico Arte e Identidad. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1998.
Los tesoros de la pintura puertorriqueña. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, 2000.
Delgado, Osiris. “Artes Plásticas, Historia de la cultura puertorriqueña”. La Gran Enciclopedia de Puerto Rico, Tomo VIII. Madrid: Ediciones R, 1976.
Catalogues
“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, 1989.
Newspapers
“Pintor premiado”. Puerto Rico Ilustrado (San Juan, PR), Año IV, No. 187, 27 de septiembre de 1913.