Pastor Argudín Pedroso

Pastor Argudín Pedroso (1880 – 1968), also known as Pastor Argudín Y Pedroso,[1][2] was an Afro–Cuban portrait and genre painter, and teacher.[3][4] He was internationally exhibited and was awarded the Order of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes by the Republic of Cuba, for his artistic merit.

Pastor Argudín Pedroso
Born
Pastor Argudín y Pedroso

April 9, 1880
Havana, Captaincy General of Cuba, Spanish Empire (now Cuba)
Died1968
Other namesPastor Argudín Y Pedroso, Pastor Argudin Y Pedroso, Pastor Argudin
EducationAcademia Nacional de Bellas Artes San Alejandro,
Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
Occupation(s)Painter, teacher
AwardsOrder of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes

Biography edit

 
Interior of La Merced Church, Havana

Pastor Argudín Pedroso was born on April 9, 1880 in Havana, Captaincy General of Cuba, Spanish Empire (now Cuba).[5] Some citations state his birth year is 1889.[6] His Black parents had been enslaved in Havana; his father Argudín Lombillo was enslaved by the Casa de Lombillo in Habana Vieja, and his mother Maria de Jesus Pedroso had been enslaved by the Casa de Pedroso.[2][6] Argudín Pedroso attended one of Salvador José Zapata's elementary schools in Havana.[2] At a young age he studied art under Spanish painter and decorative artist, Francisco Piera.[2] He was promoted for his natural skills, and worked on painting the ceiling of the La Merced Church.[2]

He attended college at the Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes San Alejandro in Havana.[7] He studied at the Academy under Leopoldo Romañach, Armando Menocal, Luis Mendoza Sandrino, and Miguel Melero Rodriguez.[2] This was followed by a 1912 scholarship to study in Madrid, Spain at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, where he conferred a bachelor's degree.[7] In Spain, he studied under José Moreno Carbonero, Miguel Blay, Cecilio Plá, and Gonzalo Bilbao.[2]

Argudín Pedroso lived and worked in France, Italy, and the United States during the 1920s and 1930s. He continued his studies at Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma in Rome; followed by study at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris under Émile-René Ménard.[2] Argudín Pedroso was a guest of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, and lived at his house in Brooklyn, New York for almost one year in the 1930s.[8]

Argudín Pedroso is said to have painted some 300 portraits by 1937,[2] many of which were notable people. Some of his portrait subjects included Rafael María de Labra,[2] Cayetano Quesada (Cuban consul in New York City),[9] Arturo Alfonso Schomburg,[9] John La Farge,[9] Rev. John LaFarge Jr.,[9] and Abraham Lincoln,[10][11] among others. Argudin exhibited at the Société des Artistes Indépendants in Paris, starting around 1924;[12][13] and he was part of the noted group exhibition, "1933 Exhibition of the Work of Negro Artists", hosted by the Harmon Foundation at the Art Centre in New York City.[8]

Exhibitions edit

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Riggs, Thomas (1997). St. James Guide to Black Artists. St. James Press. p. 603. ISBN 978-1-55862-220-3.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Schomburg, Arthur A. (1934-10-20). "Pastor Argudin Y Pedroso, Most Eminent Spanish Painter, A Negro, Says Schomburg". The New York Age. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-02-15 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ The Legacy of Arthur A. Schomburg: A Celebration of the Past, a Vision for the Future. New York Public Library. 1986. p. 89.
  4. ^ Veigas, José, ed. (2002). Memoria: Cuban Art of the 20th Century. California/International Arts Foundation. ISBN 978-0-917571-11-4.
  5. ^ Peña, Esteban Valderrama y; Rodríguez, Benigno Vázquez (1952). La peinture et la sculpture à Cuba (in Spanish). Editorial Lex. p. 321.
  6. ^ a b "Pastor Argudín Y Pedroso". Bulletin of Research in the Humanities. Vol. 84. Readex Books. 1981. p. 189.
  7. ^ a b Fuente, Alejandro de la (2018-04-26). Afro-Latin American Studies: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press. p. 374. ISBN 978-1-107-17762-8.
  8. ^ a b c Sinnette, Elinor Des Verney (1989). Arthur Alfonso Schomburg, Black Bibliophile & Collector: A Biography. Wayne State University Press. p. 177. ISBN 978-0-8143-2157-7.
  9. ^ a b c d e "Noted Cuban Painter's Work Exhibited By The Harmon Foundation, Inc". The New York Age. 1935-02-23. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-02-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ Courtney, W. B. (August 1949). "The Face Everyone Knows". Negro Digest. 7: 47–49. OCLC 671590707.
  11. ^ "Cuba Subject of Talk to Athena Group". Burlington Daily News. 1949-02-08. p. 5. Retrieved 2024-02-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Argudin, Pastor". Benezit Dictionary of Artists. Oxford University Press. October 31, 2011. doi:10.1093/benz/9780199773787.article.b00006825. Retrieved 2024-02-15.
  13. ^ a b "Argudin Pedroso, Pastor". Transatlantic Encounters: Latin American Artists in Interwar Paris. Retrieved 2024-02-17.
  14. ^ Exhibition of Work by Negro Artists. New York City, New York: Harmon Foundation. 1933 – via The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
  15. ^ "Argudin y Pedroso, Pastor. (b. Havana, Cuba, 1889)". African American Visual Artists Database (AAVAD). Archived from the original on March 17, 2021.
  16. ^ "Negro Artists Productions in Art Exhibit Here". Kenosha News. 1938-07-07. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-02-16 – via Newspapers.com.