Mario Carreño Morales

Mario Carreño Morales studied at Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes San Alejandro and École nationale supérieure des arts appliqués et des métiers d'art. The recorded working language is Spanish. Residence is recorded at Havana. Work by Mario Carreño Morales is recorded in the collections of San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Modern Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Musée National d'Art Moderne and Memoria Chilena. Distinctions recorded are National Prize of Art of Chile.

• Name — Mario Carreño • Birth Name — Mario Carreño y Morales • Born — 24 May 1913 • Birthplace — Havana, Cuba • Died — 20 December 1999 • Education — Academia de San Alejandro; Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando; École des Arts appliqués; Académie Julian • Known for — Painting • Movement — Orígenes movement • Style — Nativist-baroque, Cubism, Geometric abstraction, Surrealism • Notable Works — Cortadores de Caña, Danza Afro-Cubana, Fuego en el Batey, La Siesta, El Azulejo, Equinocio, Los Olvidados, Mar y Luna, Atardecer de Nostalgia, La Caída de los Grandes Mitos

Morales was born on May 24, 1913 in Havana, Cuba. He studied painting at the Academia de San Alejandro, Havana from 1925 until 1926. In 1934, he studied at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid, Spain. In 1937 he was a student at the Ecole des Arts appliqués, Paris, France and that same year, at the Académie Julian, Paris, France. Among his teachers and contemporaries were Pablo Picasso and Jaime Colson who provided him formal and stylistic guidance which he brought with him upon his return to Cuba. Circa 1935, he painted a mural in Havana with David Alfaro Siqueiros, which was later destroyed. He was an original member of the Origenes (nativist-baroque) movement. In 1944 he was one of several painters displayed in the New York Museum of Modern Art's-- Exhibition of Modern Cuban Painters. Works such as "Cortadores de Caña", "Danza Afro-Cubana", and "Fuego en el Batey" characterize the nativist-baroque style of this period, while at the same time, paintings such as "La Siesta" and "El Azulejo", evince classical and cubist inspiration. In the 1950s his style evolved towards geometric abstraction with works such as "Equinocio", and in the 1960s towards a poetic style, which could be described as surreal-metaphysical. This latter period is represented by works such as "Los Olvidados", "Mar y Luna", "Atardecer de Nostalgia" and "La Caida de Los Grandes Mitos". Besides a prolific output he also taught painting at numerous institutions such as the New School for Social Research in New York City, the Escuela de San Alejandro in Havana, Cuba, and the Universidad Catolica of Santiago, Chile.

• 1930 – "Mario Carreño", Salón de Merás y Rico, Havana, Cuba • 1947 – "Carreño: Recent Paintings", Perls Galleries, New York City • 1978 – "Mario Carreño. Pinturas", Museo de Bellas Artes de Caracas, Caracas, Venezuela • 2000 – "Exposición en Homenaje a Mario Carreño", Galería de Arte Patricia Ready, Santiago, Chile

• 1932 – "Exposición Única de Pintores y Escultores Cubanos", Lyceum, Havana, Cuba • 1943 – "The Latin American Collection", Museum of Modern Art, New York City • 1944 – " Exhibition of Modern Cuban Painters, March 17, 1944, Museum of Modern Art, MoMA, New York City • 1951 – I São Paulo Art Biennial, São Paulo, Brazil • 1952 – XXVI Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy • 1953 – II São Paulo Art Biennial, São Paulo, Brazil

Many of his pieces are in the permanent collections of: • Carrol Reece Museum, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee • Metropolitan Museum and Art Center, Coral Gables, Florida • Colección D.O.P. by DOP Foundation, Paris • Museo de Bellas Artes, Santiago, Chile, • Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de La Habana, Havana, Cuba • Museum of Modern Art, New York City • International Business Machine, New York City • Comesana Family, Havana, Cuba • Muscarelle Museum of Art, Williamsburg, Virginia • Art Museum of the Americas, Washington, D.C.