Antonio Maldonado
Manatí, PR, 1920 - San Juan, PR, 2006
Manatí, PR, 1920 - San Juan, PR, 2006
Painter, draftsman, watercolorist, and printmaker. Maldonado is one of the most prominent member of the “Fifties Generation” of Puerto Rican artists. He began studying drawing and painting under Magdalena López de Victoria, then in San Juan joined Juan Rosado’s sign-painting studio and later studied painting under Cristóbal Ruiz, Alejandro Sánchez Felipe, and Gretchen Wood. At the sign-painting shop, he became friends with Rafael Tufiño, a friendship that lasted until the end of Maldonado’s life. From 1947 to 1950 he studied drawing, oil painting, and mural technique at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas (Academia de San Carlos) in Mexico City. In 1950 he co-founded the Center for Puerto Rican Art, and in 1957 he joined the Graphic Arts Workshop at DIVEDCO, which he headed from 1963 until his retirement in 1987. He founded the Achiote Studio with Luis Alonso and Francisco Luciano, and was actively involved in the creation of the San Sebastián Street Festival in Old San Juan in the seventies. His work is representational, depicting various aspects of Puerto Rican popular culture with images filled with intensity and drama. He was always passionate about the island’s countryside, which he captured frequently in his watercolors.
“Since his beginnings painting, Antonio Maldonado has standout for his firm commitment to Puerto Rican culture manifested through multiple techniques, including silkscreen, engraving, oil paintings and scenography. Antonio Maldonado’s works portray the humble Puerto Rican, hardworking and knowledgeable, in love with his land.”
Source: Espacio Abierto, El Nuevo Día newspaper, June 4, 2000, p. 3.
1947-1950
Sf.
1963-1987
1957-1987
1944-1946
1936
1994
1982
1971
1941
1962
2013
2007
1992
1987
1985
1977
1973
1963
1962
1956
1971
1986-1988
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.