User:Syalkin/Agustín Fernández

Early Life and Education

Augustín Fernández was born and raised in Havana,

From a young age, he expressed an interest in art, taking his first drawing and painting lessons at the ages of eleven and twelve. In 1940, he entered the Belen Jesuit Preparatory School and in 1944-1950 he began additional studies at La Escuela Elemental de Artes Aplicadas Anexa [The Elementary School of Applied Arts] affiliated with the San Alejandro National Academy of Fine Arts.

In 1946, upon graduating from high school, he entered the San Alejandro National Academy of Fine Arts, the prominent art school on the island with notable alum including Amelia Pelaez, Wifredo Lam, and Rene Portocarrero. Among his instructors at the school were Leopoldo Romañach and Ramón Loy, who also enjoyed artistic success, and the influence of their teachings as well as the overall academic technique he learned at the school were ingrained in Fernandez as an artist. This would grow to be particularly evident in his regard for himself as first and foremost a formal painter and as art historian Juan A. Martinez describes, his “lifelong dedication to craftsmanship, mastery of drawing, and tightly organized compositions.”

In 1948 and 1949, Fernandez spent two consecutive summers in New York City studying at the Art Students League under the direction of George Grosz and Yasuo Kuniyoshi. He worked closely with Kuniyoshi, who had a considerable influence on Fernandez’s conception of drawing, as he discouraged his heavy reliance on drawing directly from nature (Cite?). When he returned to Cuba in the fall of 1949, he entered the University of Havana to study Philosophy and Languages. Shortly thereafter, however, he abandoned his studies at the university, finding himself completely absorbed by painting.

Awards

Fernandez was the recipient of numerous honors throughout his extensive career. Notable awards include: selection to participate in the VIII Salón Nacional de Pintura y Escultura, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana (1956); the Bienal do Museu de Arte Moderna de Sao Paulo, (1957-Honorable Mention, 1959); Havana's National School of Architects Integration of Fine Arts prize (1957); Salon Comparaison, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris (1961, 1964, 1965); the Salon de Mai, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris and Tokyo (twelve times between 1960 and 1993); the Bienal de San Juan del Grabado Latinoamericano, El Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña in San Juan, Puerto Rico (First, 1970; Third, 1974-Honorable Mention); Cintas Foundation Fellowship in 1978.

Principal Collections

Fernandez's work can be found in the permanent collections of the following institutions:

Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, U.S.A. The Art Museum, Florida International University, Miami, Florida. Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York. Cabinet des Estampes. Bibliothèque National, Paris, France. Chase Manhattan Bank, New York. Cintas Foundation, New York. Círculo de Bellas Artes, Maracaibo, Venezuela. Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, Michigan. Godwin-Ternbach Museum, Queens College, New York Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Fl. Miami-Dade Public Library, Miami, Florida. Museo de Arte Moderno “La Tertulia, “Cali, Colombia. Museo de Arte Ponce, Ponce, Puerto Rico. Museo del Barrio, New York. Museo Cubano de Arte y Cultura, Miami, Florida. Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba. Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Museum of Modern Art, New York. Museum of Modern Art of Latin America, Washington, D.C. New York Public Library, New York. Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey. Pan American Campus, Edinburgh, Santa Fe Art Museum, New Mexico. The Patrick Lannan Foundation, Palm Beach, Florida. Saint Thomas University Library, Houston, Texas. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, U.K. Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts. Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut.

External links

• [1] Agustín Fernández Foundation