Colombian painter, draughtsman and sculptor Fernando Botero (born 1932) is probably the best-known Latin American artist working today. Fernando Botero: A Celebration is published to coincide with the biggest retrospective exhibition of the artist’s career, and to celebrate his eightieth birthday. Botero was directly involved in the organization of the exhibition, which gives a complete, theme-based overview of his oeuvre, and features 100 or so of the artist’s works from the last 65 years, most of which are from his own private collection. Largely self-taught, Botero had his first one-man show in Bogotá in 1951. His early influences--Italian fresco painting, the mural art of Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco and the painting of Rufino Tamayo and José Luis Cuevas--quickly receded as he began to develop a highly personal style, exploring themes ranging from everyday life in Colombia to historical figures, from the still life to the circus and bullfights. With their opulent forms, exuberant colors and vigorous composition full of tangible, life-affirming vitality, Botero’s paintings are so immediately recognizable that they have even birthed a style known as “Boterismo.” Fernando Botero: A Celebration is a superbly illustrated career overview of this popular and highly regarded artist.
In La Fabrica's new catalog for the Museum of Fine Arts, Bilbao'sFernando Botero exhibition, the artist's daughter, Lina Botero, writes, "The still life provides Botero with a chance to explore a theme in which style is more important than the subject-matter itself. As the artist has acknowledged, 'the simplest form in nature is the orange, yet it is also the most difficult to paint.' An orange by Van Gogh is different from one by Picasso or by Cézanne; Botero’s orange conveys the burden of his aesthetic convictions and his meditations on art, which shape his uniquely distinctive style. Botero’s work in [the still life] genre reflects his dictum that 'an artist’s style should be wholly recognizable even in the simplest figures.'" Featured image, "Oranges" (2008), is reproduced from Fernando Botero: A Celebration. continue to blog
"I don’t do magic realism. I deal in the improbable, but not the impossible." In La Fabrica's new exhibition catalog Fernando Botero: A Celebration, the editors write, "Botero’s interest in religious subjects is little more than an excuse for the pictorial exploration of the situations, forms, colors, and vestments associated with religion; the clergy in their artistic and poetical element, depicted with humor and gentle irony. His compositions, often unexpected or surprising, conjure up a magic world where the most unlikely things can happen." Featured image, The Promenade (2004), is reproduced from Fernando Botero: A Celebration. continue to blog
FORMAT: Pbk, 9.75 x 10.5 in. / 224 pgs / illustrated throughout. LIST PRICE: U.S. $50.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $67.5 GBP £44.00 ISBN: 9788415303947 PUBLISHER: La Fábrica/Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao AVAILABLE: 4/30/2013 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of print AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: WORLD Excl LA Spain
Published by La Fábrica/Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao.
Colombian painter, draughtsman and sculptor Fernando Botero (born 1932) is probably the best-known Latin American artist working today. Fernando Botero: A Celebration is published to coincide with the biggest retrospective exhibition of the artist’s career, and to celebrate his eightieth birthday. Botero was directly involved in the organization of the exhibition, which gives a complete, theme-based overview of his oeuvre, and features 100 or so of the artist’s works from the last 65 years, most of which are from his own private collection. Largely self-taught, Botero had his first one-man show in Bogotá in 1951. His early influences--Italian fresco painting, the mural art of Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco and the painting of Rufino Tamayo and José Luis Cuevas--quickly receded as he began to develop a highly personal style, exploring themes ranging from everyday life in Colombia to historical figures, from the still life to the circus and bullfights. With their opulent forms, exuberant colors and vigorous composition full of tangible, life-affirming vitality, Botero’s paintings are so immediately recognizable that they have even birthed a style known as “Boterismo.” Fernando Botero: A Celebration is a superbly illustrated career overview of this popular and highly regarded artist.
