Fernando Botero

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Fernando Botero

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Fernando Botero 1932-, Colombian figurative painter and sculptor, b. Medellín, one of the most celebrated contemporary Latin American artists. He attended his native city's university (grad. 1950) and art academies in San Ferdinando, Spain (1952-53), and Florence, Italy (1953-55). Botero lived in Mexico (1956-57) and New York City (1960-73) before moving (1973) to Paris, where he usually resides. In an age that idolizes slenderness, Botero has made an art of corpulence. Strongly influenced by the colorful folk art of his homeland and by such painters as Velázquez , Goya , and Diego Rivera , he attempts to "create sensuousness through form" in his canvases of rounded, massively rotund figures painted in bright decorative hues and in his sculptures (notably monumental bronzes) of similarly voluminous people and animals. Often cheerfully whimsical and sometimes satirical in approach, his work typically includes individual and family portraits, nudes, equestrian figures, bullfighting scenes, and still lifes. Beginning in the late 1990s, as drug-fueled guerrilla warfare raged in Colombia, his work became much darker (though unchanged in style) as he created paintings and drawings of the period's kidnappings, massacres, torture, and death. He has continued exploring these themes in paintings that depict the abuse of detainees at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.

Bibliography: See biography by M. Hanstein (2003); E. J. Sullivan, Botero Sculpture (1986); W. Spies, Fernando Botero: Paintings and Drawings (1992); A. and J. C. Lambert, Botero Sculptures (1998); A. M. Escallon, Botero: New Works on Canvas (2000); P. Gribaudo, Botero Women (2003).

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Botero, Fernando

The Oxford Dictionary of Art | 2004 | | © The Oxford Dictionary of Art 2004, originally published by Oxford University Press 2004. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Botero, Fernando (b Medellín, 19 Apr. 1932). Colombian painter and sculptor. His early paintings were influenced by various styles, including Abstract Expressionism, but in the late 1950s he evolved a highly distinctive manner in which figures look like grossly inflated dolls; some of his paintings are sardonic comments on modern life, others are parodies of the Old Masters. Since the early 1970s he has lived mainly in New York and he has acquired an international reputation accompanied by huge prices for his work in the saleroom. He has made sculpture in a similar vein to his paintings, including several public monuments in bronze, notably Broadgate Venus (1990, Exchange Square, London).

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Related articles from newspapers, magazines, and more

Painting life to the full.(Main cover: Fernando Botero)(Cover Story)
Magazine article from: Latino Leaders; 2/1/2003; ; 700+ words ; Fernando Botero artist The great public recognizes the...us in the paintings and sculptures of Fernando Botero. So spoke noted Peruvian writer Mario...apartment. Readers familiar with the life of Fernando Botero may express surprise at our selection... Read more
Voluptuosos Boteros en Washington. (escultura de Fernando Botero, Museo de Arte de las Américas, Washington, D.C.)(TT: Voluptuous Boteros in Washington) (TA: Fernando Botero's sculpture, Museum of Art of the Americas, Washington, D.C.)
Magazine article from: Américas (Spanish Edition); 11/1/1996; ; 700+ words ; ...de bronce del artista colombiano Fernando Botero a lo largo del lado norte de la...prodigiosas y características figuras de Botero, que miden de 2 a 4 metros de altura...voluptuosas y extravagantes esculturas, Botero en Washington ha atraído a multitudes... Read more
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Magazine article from: USA Today (Magazine); 8/1/2008; 533 words ; FERNANDO BOTERO born in 1932 is a sculptor, painter...Baroque World of Feropa, bronze (1999). Fernando Botero includes a selection of recent sculptures...in grey marble. The Baroque World of Fernando Botero, organized by Art Services International... Read more
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Magazine article from: Proceso; 4/24/2005; ; 639 words ; ...Pintor, dibujante y escultor, Fernando Botero es el artista colombiano más conocido...Europa: estudió en la Academia San Fernando de Madrid, luego se trasladó a...la Academia de San Marcos. Hoy Botero considera su estadía florentina... Read more
Botero on the Avenue. (Fernando Botero) (Park Avenue, Manhattan, New York) (Column)
Magazine article from: Art in America; 11/1/1993; ; 700+ words ; ...Park Avenue's median strip, 14 monumental bronzes by Fernando Botero bring a hint of Latin sensuality to New York's modernist...During rush hour or after dinner, the 14 bronzes by Fernando Botero installed on Park Avenue between 54th and 61st streets... Read more
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Magazine article from: Proceso; 6/24/2001; ; 693 words ; ...de su clausura, la exposición Fernando Botero: 50 años de vida artística, ya...afluencia es significativa porque Botero (Medellín, Colombia, 1932) no...afectividad del público. Debido a que Botero basa su poética en la apropiación... Read more
An iconography of torture: exhibited recently in New York, Fernando Botero's Abu Ghraib series of paintings and drawings graphically depicts Iraqi prisoners undergoing abuse at the hands of their U.S. captors.
Magazine article from: Art in America; 1/1/2007; ; 700+ words ; Colombian artist Fernando Botero is best known for his highly...their emotional urgency. As Botero has explained, these paintings...article by Seymour Hersh. Botero has taken few liberties with...the hands of burly guards. Botero completed the works over...titled The Baroque World of ... Read more
La rabia de Botero.(Fernando Botero, pintor)(exposición sobre supuesto maltrato contra fundamentalistas islámicos prisioneros de guerra en Irak)(Entrevista)
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Fernando Botero, pintor de gordos.(TT: Fernando Botero, painter of obese people.)(Artículo Breve)
Magazine article from: Contenido; 8/1/2001; ; 700+ words ; ...cosos: a los 14 años de edad, Fernando Botero --un artista colombiano (de Medellín...escuela de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, en Madrid. El joven pintor vagabundeó...años. En sus siguientes trabajos, Botero retrató prostitutas, militares... Read more
"Soy el pintor vivo con más exposiciones en el mundo": Botero.(Fernando Botero, pintor)(TT: "I am the living painter with the greatest number of ongoing exhibits": Botero.)(TA: painter Fernando Botero)(Entrevista)
Magazine article from: Proceso; 3/18/2001; ; 700+ words ; ...siglo de artista, en San Ildefonso Fernando Botero define su arte como popular y...México con motivo de la exposición Fernando Botero. 50 años de vida artística...más de un día. Arte parroquial Botero se jacta de haber mantenido sus... Read more
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Fernando Botero. (Image by Roel Wijnants, CC)

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