Ricardo Viera
Ricardo Viera (December 15, 1945 – April 1, 2020) was a Cuban-born American visual artist, educator, museum director, art collector, and curator. He specializing in working in painting, drawing, and engraving. He was a professor of art at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania from 1974 until 2018; and also served as the director and chief curator of the Lehigh University Art Galleries (LUAG) museum.
Ricardo Viera
- Name
- Ricardo Viera
- Born
- December 15, 1945
- Birthplace
- Ciego de Avila, Cuba
- Died
- April 1, 2020
- Place of death
- Miami, Florida, U.S.
- Education
- School of the Museum of Fine Arts (BFA), Rhode Island School of Design (MFA), University of Colorado Boulder
- Occupation
- Visual artist, educator, museum director, curator, art collector
- Spouse
- Patricia Medeiros
- Full name
- Ricardo V. Viera.
- Nationality
- Cuba and United States.
- Known for
- Discovery of America: Islas and Untitled.
- Languages
- English and Cuban Spanish.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Ricardo Viera (December 15, 1945 – April 1, 2020) was a Cuban-born American visual artist, educator, museum director, art collector, and curator. He specializing in working in painting, drawing, and engraving. He was a professor of art at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania from 1974 until 2018; and also served as the director and chief curator of the Lehigh University Art Galleries (LUAG) museum.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Ricardo Viera. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q7322848 · wikipedia · Ricardo Viera
In this article
Biography
Biography
Ricardo Viera studied at School of the Museum of Fine Arts and Rhode Island School of Design. The recorded working language is English and Cuban Spanish. Employment is recorded with Lehigh University and Lehigh University Art Galleries. Positions recorded include museum director. Works named in the authority record are Discovery of America: Islas and Untitled. Work by Ricardo Viera is recorded in the collections of Vanderbilt Museum of Art, CINTAS Foundation, Cleveland Museum of Art, Lowe Art Museum and David C.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Ricardo Viera • Born — December 15, 1945 • Birthplace — Ciego de Avila, Cuba • Died — April 1, 2020 • Place of death — Miami, Florida, U.S. • Education — School of the Museum of Fine Arts (BFA), Rhode Island School of Design (MFA), University of Colorado Boulder • Occupation — Visual artist, educator, museum director, curator, art collector • Spouse — Patricia Medeiros
Early life and education
Early life and education
Ricardo Viera was born in December 15, 1945, in Ciego de Avila, Camagüey, Cuba. When he was 17 years old, Viera immigrated to the United States. He received a BFA degree in 1973 from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (now School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts) in Boston, Massachusetts; and a MFA degree in 1974 from the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island. Additionally he received a certificate of museum management from the museum at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Curatorships
Curatorships
In 1982, Viera worked as a curator consultant for six months for the Cuban Museum of Arts and Culture (formerly the Cuban Museum of the Americas, 1974–1999) in Miami. Between 1988–1989, he was the curator of the 24th Annual Contemporary American Art Exhibition. In 1989 he made the curatorships of the exhibitions William Rau. Photographer: The Lehigh Valley Railroad Photographs. In 1994 he worked also in American Voices: Cuban American Photography in the U.S., in FotoFest'94, Fifth Biennial International Festival of Photography, Houston, U.S. In 1998 he was the curator of Josef Bajus. Design Explorations Mixed Media, in DuBois Gallery, Lehigh University Art Galleries, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Solo exhibitions
Solo exhibitions
In 1979 he exhibited his works in Ricardo Viera., in the Sardoni Art Gallery, Wilkes College, Wilkes Bane, Pennsylvania, U.S. In 1985 he presented Island on my mind in the Museum of Contemporary Hispanic Art (MOCHA), New York City, U.S. In 1986 he made other personal exhibition: Ricardo Viera: Computer Graphics 1986, in the Kemerer Museum, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, U.S. And in 1987 he presented his works in Ricardo Viera: Computer Art, in the East Stroudsburg University Art Gallery, East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Group exhibitions
Group exhibitions
He was part of many collective exhibitions, among them we can quote in 1977 Re encuentro Cubano 1977, Museo Cubano de Arte y Cultura, Miami, Florida, U.S. Some of his works were selected to conform the V (1981) and VII (1986) Bienal de San Juan del Grabado Latinoamericano y del Caribe, San Juan, Puerto Rico. In 1982 he was one of the selected artists to conform Young Hispanics U.S., in the 27th Annual Contemporary Art. Ralph Wilson Gallery, Lehigh University Art Galleries, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, U.S. And in 1990 he was also included in the Urban Anthropology, in the Sculptors Gallery, New York City, U.S.
Identity
Identity
Ricardo Viera is recorded as curator, teacher, painter, printmaker and art collector. Recorded at birth as Ricardo V.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1945
Ricardo Viera was born in 1945 at Ciego de Ávila.
2020
Ricardo Viera died in 2020 at Miami.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Ciego de Ávila.
Birth place
Miami.
Death place
Activity and practice
Ricardo Viera is recorded as having studied at School of the Museum of Fine Arts and Rhode Island School of Design.
Death and legacy
Viera died at the age of 75 on April 1, 2020, in Miami, Florida, after cardiac arrest. His works can be found as part of important collections, such as Cintas Foundation, New York City; the Cleveland Museum, Cleveland, Ohio; the Lowe Art Museum at the University of Miami; the David C. Driskell Center at the University of Maryland; the Noyes Museum, New Jersey; and the Tel Aviv Museum, Israel.
Awards
He obtained many awards, such as the Cintas Foundation Fellowship, New York City 1974-1975. And in 1980, 1981 and 1984, he gained the Pennsylvania Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts.
Literature
Scholarly footprint
A count of publications is evidence of attention, not of standing, and is given here only as a measure.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Fraerman, Eli. Late Ricardo Viera remembered at 75. The Brown and White. April 16, 2020.
- 2.Melrose Press. Men of Achievement. 649. 1977. 978-0-900332-43-2.
- 3.Ricardo Viera, Bethlehem – Committee's Choice Award. The Morning Call. A9. July 24, 2019.
- 4.Article clipped from The Express-Times. The Express-Times. V10. 2018-11-23.
- 5.Smith, Selma. Printworld Directory of Contemporary Prints and Prices. Printworld. 615. 1985. 978-0-317-17632-2.
- 6.Ricardo Viera, 1945 - 2020. Art, Architecture and Design, Lehigh University. April 9, 2020.
- 7.Fine Arts Department, Lehigh University. Contemporary American Painting: 22nd Annual [exhibition] : Freedom in Art : Alumni Memorial Gallery, May 2 to June 7, 1976. 12. 1976.
- 8.Meadows, Gail (1989-04-23). "Cuban Museum: one year later". The Miami Herald. p. 495, 499. Retrieved 2025-05-03. via Newspapers.com
- 9.Ricardo Viera. University of Miami, Lowe Art Museum.
- 10.Memory of an Island. University of Miami, Lowe Art Museum.
- 11.Ricardo Viera, Untitled III. David C. Driskell Center, University of Maryland.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q7322848: Ricardo VieraWikimedia Foundation
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Prints
4,138 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Reynold WeidenaarEngraver
- Reynolds StoneEngraver
- Ric GarciaEngraver
- Ricard CanalsEngraver
- Richard BawdenEngraver
- Richard Bernard GodfreyEngraver
- Richard BrookshawEngraver
- Richard CollinEngraver
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Ricardo Viera?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.