Fernando Botero Essay

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Fernando Botero Angulo, a Colombian figurative artist was born second of three in 1932 in Medellin, Colombia. A major role was taken by an uncle of his after his father’s passing. He was influenced by Baroque style of colonial churches and the well to do life of the city, in spite of being inaccessible to art as displayed in museums and other artistic venues. His uncle enrolled him in matador school for two years while under his care. Some of his early drawings there will be taken from the experience of bull fighting. Botero displayed his giftedness at the early age of sixteen when he wrote an article on Picasso; it displayed his advent garde in modern art of that time. He won second prize at the young age of twenty, one year after having his first exhibition of his work in the Leo Matiz Gallery. Like many before him, Botero went to Europe to study the Master’s before him. At the Academy of San Francisco in Spain he produced work in the style of Velasquez and Goya. He also learned the Fresco techniques of the Italians in Florence, Italy. Muralsim in Mexico was another great influence that would shape the direction of his work in the future. There he also studied Rivera and Orozco. Botero was a painter and a sculptor whose work was undeniably unique; by some his style was called Boterosim. He portrays the natural in general, current events and personas, everyday life, men, women and still life animals in a round larger-than-life proportions and dimensions which surfaced in 1964. He preferred a smooth look in his paintings, eliminating the appearance of brushstrokes and texture as in one of his many paintings, Presidential Family. His art was also complemented with cunning humor, irony and fierce criticism. His work typically includes individual and family portraits, nudes, still life, bull fighting and equestrian figures. Most of his artistic work depicts his

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