Oscar Colón Delgado
Hatillo, PR, 1889 - San Juan, PR, 1968
Biography Details
Painter. The lack of art teachers or academies on the island in the 1930’s, added to the scarcity of financial resources, forced Colón Delgado to be self-taught. He said that his school was nature and books, and he had to struggle to become a painter amid the poverty and insensibility of the time. In 1910, at the age of 18, he founded his own art school in Utuado, and he continued to found art schools in other towns throughout his life. He believed that art should be an affirmation of beauty and that his purpose was to educate the general population. For that reason he disdained and criticized the modernist and avant-garde currents of his time, which he claimed were “escape hatches for those who cannot make personal or enduring art.” Colón’s style was realistic, and he portrayed the island’s landscapes, its public and political figures, and Puerto Rican “types.”
Artist Statement
“I’ve stated and maintain that art’s goal is beauty that without beauty there can’t be art; that art is feelings and emotions. That I don’t believe in Modern Art nor Ancient Art. That art is ageless. I do believe in good art and bad art. The good, Giotto’s, which blossomed in distant ages, the bad, those who think that painting a profile with two eyes is a thing of geniuses.”
Oscar Colón Delgado
Hatillo, Puerto Rico
February 1956
Formation
Education
1909
- Self-taught. Arecibo, Puerto Rico
Professional Experience
1920
- Founder of Art School. Arecibo, Puerto Rico
Exhibitions
Solo Shows
1989
- Centenario de Don Oscar Colon Delgado,
- Cooperativa de Hatillo, Hatillo, Puerto Rico
1967
- Retrospectiva, Museo de Arte de Ponce, Ponce, Puerto Rico
1965
- Ateneo Puertorriqueño, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1953
- Galería Nacional de Bellas Artes, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
1946, 1950, 1958, 1966
- Universidad de Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1919
- Arecibo City Hall, Puerto Rico
Group Shows
2007
- Contexto puertorriqueño: del rococó colonial al arte global, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1988
- De Oller a los Cuarenta: La pintura en Puerto Rico: 1898-1948, Museo de Historia, Antropología y Arte, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1962
- Dos siglos de pintura puertorriqueña, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1957
- Exposición de Pintura Contemporánea, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1933
- III Exposición de Arte Puertorriqueño, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Awards, Distinctions and Achievements
1913
- Diploma of Honor. Ateneo Puertorriqueño, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1927
- Medal of Honor. Municipality of Arecibo, Arecibo, Puerto Rico
1933
- Bronze Medal. Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1938
- First Prize for Poster. Carnaval Ponce de León, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Collections
- Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Museo de Arte de Ponce, Ponce, Puerto Rico
- Museo de Historia, Antropología y Arte, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Bibliography
Books
Hermandad de Artistas Gráficos de Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico- Arte e identidad. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1998.
Catalogues
Contexto puertorriqueño: del rococó colonial al arte global, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2007
Newspapers
Pérez Rivera, Tatiana. “Mirada al siglo XX”. El Nuevo Día (San Juan, PR) 1 de mayo de 2008.
Torres Martinó, Juan A. “Un Compromiso con el Arte y con la Patria”. El Nuevo Día (San Juan, PR) 22 de febrero de 1989, pp.77.
Magazines
Datos biográficos de algunos pintores puertorriqueños modernos". Boletín de la Academia de Artes y Ciencias de Puerto Rico, Núm. 2, abril-junio, 1969, pp. 207-226.