Marie Jose Mijares (1921-2004) - Untitiled

José Maria Mijares

"Untitled" circa 1950s
Oil paint on board
86 x 50 cm
Signed lower right

COA issued by the Mijares Foundation dated 05/10/2020

Provenance
Sarracino Gallery, Coral Gables, Florida, USA in 2017

José María Mijares (born in 1921 in Havana, Cuba - died in March 2004) was a Cuban contemporary visual artist. He started drawing in his adolescence and at the age of 16, he received a scholarship to the San Alejandro Academy of Fine Arts. His major influences were the artists of the 'School of Havana': Carlos Enríquez, René Portocarrero, Cundo Bermúdez, as well as his professors, notably the modernist painter Fidelio Ponce. He was also part of the influential group Los Diez Pintores Concretos (the 10 Concrete Painters), or as they are commonly called, Los Diez (the 10). Although the group had a relatively short existence, from 1959 to 1961, and only exhibited together a few times, they remain an important part of Cuban art history, especially in the years before Castro and leading up to the revolution. He left Cuba in 1968 and resigned as a teacher at the academy when Fidel Castro came to power. From Miami, he remained a prolific painter until his death in 2004, at the age of 82.