Ramón Unzueta (1962-2012) painted women who smoked, laid around, and were brokenhearted, seductive, happy or sad. But no matter how he portrayed his bohemian women, they all had their big, watery eyes in common, just like his favorite actress Bette Davis. Unzueta’s women never look defeated, they stare into your face ready to fight for a better life.
Ramón Unzueta was born in Havana, Cuba and attended the National School of Applied Arts. In 1992 he became a resident of Spain. Besides his portraits of women he is mainly known as an illustrator of children’s books and for his illustrations and cartoons in several magazines.
Bookcover ‘Caballo del Desierto’ by Olga Marta Pérez. Illustrated by Ramón Valdez
Bookcover ‘Los Aretes de la Luna’ by Zoé Valdés. Illustrated by Ramón Unzueta
Bookcover ‘Los Conejos son Azules’ by Isabel Pijeira. Illustrated by Ramón Unzueta
His style can best be described as surrealistic and magical. His works have been exhibited in galleries and museums in Europe and the United States, including the Flores Carbonell Collection.
‘Ms. Hanna’ by Sheldon Saint. Watercolor on paper.
‘Chile, I from Long Island’ by Sheldon Saint. Watercolor on paper.
‘Straw Bag’ by Sheldon Saint. Watercolor on paper.
Sheldon Saint is a master in depicting every-day Bahamian life. His quiet, intimate settings are recognizable to anyone in the Caribbean. His subjects seem immersed in what they are doing, unaware of their surroundings. “They look like they have arrested time for their own purpose”, says Saint. “You know that they are not part of an affluent class of people, so you may want to rescue them, or envy them.”
Born in 1971 in Freeport, Bahamas, Saint is a self-taught artist who has been painting professionally for the last 20 years. He paints in oil, watercolors, egg-tempera and conté.
‘Red Bucket II’ by Sheldon Saint. Watercolor on paper.
‘Conch Stand’ by Sheldon Saint. Watercolor on paper.
Simplicity, grace and dignity are the main themes of his work. “The colors I choose are not bold and often mimic the simple everyday life of my subjects”, says Saint. “My paintings remind us of the delicacy of our natural environment and how humankind co-mingles with it.”
Sheldon Saint has had several solo and group exhibitions in the Bahamas. His watercolors have been featured in magazines and in books. His work hangs in private collections in the Bahamas, the USA, the United Kingdom, Canada, China and Trinidad and Tobago.
‘Cassandra in Prayer’ – Michael Escoffery. Oil on paper.
‘ From my Garden’ by Michael Escoffery
Jamaican born and USA stationed Michael Escoffery was voted one of the ‘100 Most Influential Caribbean Americans’ in 2012 , but when it comes to his art he remains humble. “It’s not good for an artist to speak too much about his work”, says Escoffery. “Let the work speak for the artist.”
His parents introduced him to painting at a very young age, prompting Escoffery to say: “I have always been an artist, conceived by artists and born an artist”. He was formed in that typical Caribbean mixture of Africa and Europe, an influence that is still visible in his work, where he merges his cultural heritage with modern art.
‘Circle of Love’ by Michael Escoffery
Untitled by Michael Escoffery
‘Table for Two’ by Michael Escoffery
Michael Escoffery’s style is not easily defined. He combines abstract-realism with expressionism, cubism and iconography. He takes his inspiration from his heritage, the Caribbean people, and from the female form. “A work of art should reveal something new to the viewer each time it is seen”, says Escoffery.
His art has been exhibited in over 200 solo exhibitions and over 300 group shows worldwide. His work has been included in over 100 books worldwide. He is considered outspoken, controversial, but sensitive to his position and responsibilities as an artist. “To be an artist demands great courage.”
‘Bendidora di Amor’ (2005) – Jean Girigori. Acrylic on canvas.
Jean Girigori is one of the leading painters of the Caribbean. Her work is colorful, vibrant and joyous, her Expressionist-Naive style unique. She was born at sea, lived in the Dominican Republic during her childhood, and settled by way of Haiti on Curaçao, the country of origin of her grandparents.
Women and women’s rights play a central role in Jean Girigori’s paintings. Her big eyed subjects look accusing into the world, denouncing social injustice just as much as enjoying life. The thick lips of her women are her trademark. These lips used to be opened in her earlier paintings, but nowadays are almost always shut. In her interviews Jean Girigori always emphasizes the great contribution women make in their Caribbean community.
Jean Girigori has been exhibited around the Caribbean, in the United States and in the Netherlands.
‘Cargando la Suerte’ (2009) – Jean Girigori.
‘Niña Hormiga’ (2011) – Jean Girigori. Acrylic on Canvas
Wichie Torres is a prolific painter who uses vibrant, intense colors and a short brush stroke. He is known as a Costumbrista for his depiction of the people, the landscapes and the culture of Puerto Rico.
Don Quijote is one of his favorite themes. Throughout the years he has painted Quijotes in all colors and flavors. The paintings emphasize Quijote’s mustache and beard, just like the book by Miguel de Cervantes did.
Quijote Desafiante by Wichie Torres
Quijote by Wichie Torres
Some of Wichie Torres’ paintings can be seen at the Museo de Arte de Ponce; The Museum of Contemporary Art in San Juan; The Museum of History, Anthropology and Art at the University of Puerto Rico’s; and at the Puerto Rico Museum of Art.
‘El Cuartista’ (1960) by Augusto Marín (1921-21011).
‘Siempre la Limosna’ (1963) by Augusto Marín (1921-21011).
‘Pareja de Burros’ (1971) by Augusto Marín (1921-21011).
Augusto Marín (1921-2011) was a painter, draftsman, print maker, muralist, sculptor, stained-glass artist, and teacher. He covered expressionism, cubism and social-realism in his paintings. He is best described as a versatile contemporary artist.
Marín participated in the ‘Artistic Generation of the 1950s‘, a populist visual arts movement whose goal was to create images that affirmed the Puertorican identity.
His murals can be seen around Puerto Rico, for example at the Department of Housing building and the Fine Arts Center. His work can also be admired in several museums, including the Centro de Bellas Artes in Puerto Rico; the Museum of Contemporary Art in Puerto Rico; and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Franciso Oller (1833-1917) painted fruit like no one before him. The tone, composition or even the subjects of his still lives were nothing like the the bodegones of his time. No delicacy, no austerity, no pantry items, sometimes not even a slab, in fact to the Europeans buying the paintings very little was recognizable.
By Jorge Cuartas
Oller used his whole canvas to showcase local, exotic fruit to the maximum. His coconuts look like enormous, dangerous nuts; his soursops and pineapples look like they are alive and almost ready to pop off the canvas. There may have been nothing recognizable in the painting, but they sure captured the buyer’s fancies.
The importance of Fancisco Oller’s still lives are twofold. First of all it shows us how buyers of paintings at the end of the Spanish era viewed the Americas: it was still an exotic and unknown territory. But more important is that with his fruit impressions Oller captured the reality of Puerto Rican life and its tropical aspects. His realism set the standard for many painters who soon followed his style.
Paintings used in this article:
‘Higueras’ (ca 1912), Francisco Oller, oil on wood panel.
‘Naturaleza Muerta con Cocos‘ (ca 1893, Francisco Oller, oil on canvas.
‘Bodegón con Guanábanas’ (ca 1891), Francisco Oller, oil on linen
‘Bodegón con Piñas’ (ca 1912-1914), Francisco Oller.
‘Plátanos Amarillos’ (ca 1893), Francisco Oller, oil on wood panel.
Nowadays he is generally regarded as one of the Caribbean’s first great painters. But in his time, Trinidad born Michel-Jean Cazabon (1813-1888) was appreciated more in Europe than in his country.
by Jorge Cuartas
Michel-Jean Cazabon came from a rather wealthy family of free colored immigrants from Martinique, who owned a sugar plantation. At the age of 24 he was sent to Paris to study medicine, where he decided to concentrate on painting.
Cazabon started painting under Paul Delaroche, a leading painter of that time in Paris. He soon became popular as a society painter of Trinidad scenery; and of portraits of planters and merchants of Port of Spain. It is due to his paintings that we have a fair view of Trinidad’s way of life in the 19th century.
His works include images of the Caroni river, the Port of Spain docks, sea views and other landscapes. He preferred using watercolors combining stunning pallets that remain fresh and bright to this day. Some of this most important works are part of the following collections:
‘Views of Trinidad’ (18 lithographs, 1851)
‘The Harris Collection’ (44 paintings, 1848-1854)
‘Album of Trinidad’ (18 lithographs, 1857)
In England and France his work was much admired and he won several awards and medals at exhibitions. His first exhibition was at the Salon du Louvre in 1839, followed by expositions every year from 1843 to 1847. Back at home his art was much less appreciated. Disillusioned with life he became a drunken eccentric.
After his death in 1888, Cazabon’s style gained more recognition in the region and his influence grew. Today he is considered to be one of the first great painters of the Caribbean. His work is appreciated for the rich details and for the use of light and shadow.
His scenes of a clean, natural and unspoiled Trinidad show a country as it was before the heavy industrialization of the twentieth century.To many Trinidadians the scenes are familiar, creating a tremendous sense of nostalgia.
Caribbean Painters 