Obregón, Alejandro (1920–1992)

Alejandro Obregón (b. 4 June 1920; d. 11 April 1992), Colombian artist. Born in Barcelona, Spain, Obregón always considered himself self-taught although he studied art in England, the United States, and France. His career was difficult at its inception because of his inability to master pictorial techniques. In 1943 he had his first solo show and launched his career. He developed special symbols—like the falcon and colorful flowers—to depict the Colombian landscape and its inhabitants. His figures are painted in large and strong brush strokes.

In 1948–1949 Obregón served as director of the School of Fine Arts at the National University of Bogotá. In the following decades he participated in group shows: the Bienal Hispanoamericana (Madrid, 1958), receiving first prize; the Gulf Caribbean International Exhibition (Houston, 1959); the Salon of National Artists (Bogotá, 1962 and 1966); and the São Paulo Bienal (1967), where he received the grand prize. In 1981 a retrospective of his work was held at the Avianca Cultural Center in Barranquilla, Colombia, and in 1985 another large retrospective traveled from Bogotá to Paris and Madrid.

See alsoArt: The Twentieth Century .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Museum of Modern Art of Latin America (Art Museum of the Americas, Oas), Alejandro Obregón; Recent Paintings (1983).

Juan Gustavo Cobo Borda, Obregón (1985).

Additional Bibliography

Jaramillo, Carmen María. Alejandro Obregón: El mago del Carib. Bogotá: Asociación de Amigos del Museo Nacional de Colombia, 2001.

                                  BÉlgica RodrÍguez