
By The Star Staff
Admirers of the late Puerto Rican painter and printmaker Carlos Raquel Rivera, one of the most important artists of the 1950s generation, still have until Thursday to see a rare exhibition of his unknown works at the Art Gallery of the University of Puerto Rico in Carolina.
Titled “Carlos Raquel Rivera: 100 Years in Family,” the exhibition is a display of the private collection kept by Rivera’s daughter, Rosa Milagros Rivera Rodríguez. Rivera excelled in painting, drawing, engraving -- mainly linocut, woodcut and silkscreen -- mural painting and illustration, all of which are showcased in the exhibit. His work, known for its satirical component, is a powerful expression of his political ideals through social criticism.
He became a key figure in the Generation of the 1950s, a group of artists who returned to Puerto Rico after having been educated in Paris, Florence, Madrid and New York. Besides Rivera, leading members of the 1950s Generation of Artists were Lorenzo Homar, Rafael Tufiño, Augusto Marín, Félix Rodríguez Báez, Julio Rosado del Valle and José Antonio Torres Martinó.
The exhibition consists of “unpublished works in the possession of his daughter” but the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture (ICP by its initials in Spanish) let the university borrow eight of Rivera’s works, noted Héctor Maldonado, the art gallery’s director.
Sponsored by the ICP, the exhibition is part of an effort to present the artist’s work to new generations. The Art Gallery is open all day, but officials keep the gallery doors closed most of the time, requiring visitors to dial a phone number to obtain access. Because of budget cuts, Maldonado said he has only four students available to watch the exhibit while visitors are there. The art gallery must be closed if the students are not there.
More than 20 years ago, about 200 pieces of the artist’s work were stolen from a warehouse in Carolina. His grandson, Vladimir Peña, who works at the university and is deeply involved in the art world, shared the family’s fruitless efforts to recover the stolen works due to the lack of an inventory of the stolen pieces of art.
“The police told us they could not do anything,” Peña said, highlighting the challenges faced in preserving the artist’s legacy.
While the STAR found the artist’s works being sold on the internet, such as a print of his oil painting “El Ciego,” Peña said he did not know about the sale of the artist’s work online or if the sale was legal. Maldonado said the artworks are insured while in the gallery, which has surveillance cameras.
Despite Rivera’s distinguished career and the respect his work commands in art circles, Peña lamented the scant publicity UPR has given to the exhibition. Such a lack of recognition for the artist’s significant contributions is cause for concern, he said. Maldonado, however, gave assurances that the exhibition has been a successful one, with a significant number of teachers taking their students to see it.
In an essay on Rivera’s career, critic and historian Teresa Tió speaks of his work at the División de Educación de la Comunidad (DIVEDCO) from 1956 to 1963 as a book illustrator, designer and poster artist. In the 1950s in particular, Rivera became known for an extensive body of socially and politically critical work.
Rivera was born in Yauco in 1923 and he died in San Juan in 1999. In 1944, he was drafted by the United States Army to serve in the Second World War. In 1946, after the war, he returned to Puerto Rico where he began formal studies in art at Academia de Edna Coll (Edna Coll Academy) on the G.I. Bill. He also studied at the Art Students League in New York. The X Bienal de San Juan del Grabado Latinoamericano y del Caribe (X Latin American and Caribbean Print Biennial of San Juan) from April 20 to Oct. 20, 1993 was held in his honor.
The closing ceremony of the exhibit is at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
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