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Escenas Fantasticas: José Garcia Montebravo (1953-2010)

October 9, 2014 to January 31, 2015

José Garcia Montebravo was one of Cuba's leading naif artists, with an international following. While he was self-taught as an artist, he was hardly naive in the English sense of the word. ‘Monte’ was a witty and sophisticated man with a sure, fluid line in pen or brush. In his relatively short career the Cienfuegos teacher turned artist created a rich self-contained world of myth and fantasy. Escenas Fantasticas presents paintings and works on paper dating from 1984 until shortly before his death in 2010.

Montebravo was born in Cienfuegos, Cuba on October 15, 1953, and lived there until his death in 2010. He was a university graduate, and for many years was a professor of geography at the Villa Clara Superior Pedagogical Institute. Though he had painted since he was a child, Montebravo only began to paint seriously in 1980. His first solo exhibition was in 1984. He exhibited in Europe and the United States as well as in Cuba both individually and collectively. He spent his career in the city of Cienfuegos, where he became a leading member of the art community and a mentor to many younger artists.

Montebravo’s work on paper and canvas was inspired by a vast curiosity. He had a keen knowledge of both natural history and art history and a particular interest in the Afro-Cuban religions such as Santeria and Palo Monte. Art historian Gerald Mouial devoted a chapter to Montebravo in his 2004 book, Magic Art in Cuba. As Mouial tells us, Montebravo identified with "El Monte" (“the Mount”), described by the late Cuban writer and anthropologist Lydia Cabrera as, "a sacred place where dead people, spirits, animals and plants live." "I carry that world inside me, the world of animals, plants and messengers of each person."

It was this mystical world that Montebravo portrayed in two long-running series of works on paper, entitled “Escenas Fantasticas” and “Espacios Transitados”. These “fantastic scenes” contain groups of figures – nudes, angels, virgins, and devils, juxtaposed with birds, animals, turtles, shells and botanical specimens. His most iconic works are his paintings of infantas (princesses). The women are dressed in great wedding-cake dresses in tribute to Velasquez’s “Las Meninas”. But in a slyly Afro-Cuban twist most have black faces and wear the distinctive colors, necklaces and other attributes of the orishas, the Santeria deities to whom they are dedicated. They are not the orishas themselves, Montebravo explained, they are “the daughters of the mount, El Monte”.

Montebravo has been featured in exhibits at Indigo Arts Gallery since 1999. In 2002 he visited our Philadelphia gallery for a solo show. In the course of a day at the gallery, working on the floor, as he always did, he painted a lovely “Infanta de Filadelfia”.

The following is a sample of the work in our Montebravo exhibit. Go to our Montebravo Gallery Page to see our full collection.

José Garcia Montebravo
SKU: JGM-1406

Mixed media on paper
(50 x 65cm sheet, 19.625" x 25.5"), Framed.
2004

$1500 (framed)

Festin
SKU: JGM-0816

José Garcia Montebravo (Cienfuegos, Cuba),
Acrylic, ink and colored pencil on paper
(19 1/2" x 25 1/2"), 2008  framed.

Collection of Jonathan Fisher,
Ex. Indigo Arts Gallery, 2009
Acquired from artist in 2008.

 

$1500 (framed)

Espacios Transitados VI - José Garcia Montebravo
SKU: JGM-0107

Acrylic, ink and colored pencil on paper
(19 1/2" x 25 1/2"), Framed.
2001

$1500 (framed)

Espacios Transitados XIV - José Garcia Montebravo
SKU: JGM-0804

Acrylic, ink and colored pencil on paper
(19 1/2" x 25 1/2"), 2002

$ 1450

Escenas Fantásticas (birds in the corn)
SKU: JGM-2301

(Cienfuegos, Cuba),
Acrylic and ink on Paper (14" x 18"), 1998
Provenance: private collection.

Condition excellent, existing frame is chipped.

$750

José Garcia Montebravo
SKU: JGM-0602

Ink on paper
(8 1/2" x 11 3/4"), 2006

$300

Gallo Malayo
SKU: JGM-0902

(Cienfuegos, Cuba),
Oil on canvas.  Framed.
(31 1/2" x 23 1/2"), 2009

Price on Request

José Garcia Montebravo
SKU: JGM-1401

Acrylic, ink and colored pencil on paper
(19 1/2" x 25 1/2"), 2005

$900

Product Status: 
Sold
José Garcia Montebravo
SKU: JGM-8

(Cienfuegos, Cuba),
Acrylic on Paper (14x18), 1998

$750 Framed

Product Status: 
Sold
José Garcia Montebravo
SKU: JGM-0310

(Cienfuegos, Cuba),
Acrylic on paper
(18 1/4" x 13 1/2"), 1998
Framed

 

$750 Framed

Product Status: 
Sold
José Garcia Montebravo
SKU: JGM-0706

(Cienfuegos, Cuba),
Linocut on paper
(15" x 20"), #35/54, 2006
Framed

$750 framed

Product Status: 
ON HOLD
José Garcia Montebravo
SKU: JGM-0716

Ink on paper
(18" x 14"), 1994

$750 framed

Product Status: 
Sold
José Garcia Montebravo
SKU: JGM0717

Ink on paper
(18" x 14"), 1994

$750 framed

Product Status: 
Sold
José Garcia Montebravo
SKU: JGM-133

Ink, acrylic on paper
(9 1/2" x 15"), Framed.
2000

$550 Framed

Product Status: 
Sold
Escena Fantastica (VIII)
SKU: JGM-0020

Escenas Fantasticas VIII 
José Garcia Montebravo (Cienfuegos, Cuba),
Acrylic and ink on Paper (9 1/2" x 15"), 2000
Framed

$550 Framed

Product Status: 
Sold
Escena Fantastica (X)
SKU: JGM-0113

Ink, acrylic on paper
(15" x 20"), 2000

$500

Product Status: 
Sold
José Garcia Montebravo
SKU: JGM-0707

Linocut on paper
(14" x 20"), #P/A, 2006

$450

Product Status: 
ON HOLD
José Garcia Montebravo
SKU: JGM-83

Ink, acrylic and colored pencil on paper
(8 1/2" x 11 3/4"), 2006

$400 framed

Product Status: 
Sold
José Garcia Montebravo
SKU: JGM-82

Ink & colored pencil on paper
(6 1/4" x 10"), 2006

$400 framed

Product Status: 
Sold
José Garcia Montebravo
SKU: JGM-104

Acrylic, ink and colored pencil on paper
(8" x 11"), 2008

$400 framed

Product Status: 
Sold
Bucanero X
SKU: JGM0803

José Garcia Montebravo (Cienfuegos, Cuba, 1953-2010),
Ink, acrylic, colored pencil & collage on paper
(8 1/4 " x 10 1/4"), 2007

$300

Product Status: 
Sold
José Garcia Montebravo
SKU: JGM-0708

Linocut on paper
(8" x 6 3/4"), #17/20, 2007

$250

Product Status: 
Sold
José Garcia Montebravo
SKU: JGM0802

Ink, acrylic, colored pencil & mixed media on paper
(8 1/4 " x 10 1/4"), 2007

$250

Product Status: 
Sold
Cachita con Pichones
SKU: JGM-0322

Cachita con Pichones 
José Garcia Montebravo (Cienfuegos, Cuba),
Acrylic on Canvas (27 x 20 1/2), Framed.
2003

Price on Request

Product Status: 
Sold
El Pajaro Azul
SKU: JGM-0320

José Garcia Montebravo (Cienfuegos, Cuba),
Acrylic on Canvas (23 x 17), 2003
Ex. private collection.

Price on Request

Product Status: 
Sold
El Ashé Esta en Cuba serie "Infantas del Monte"
SKU: JGM-1408

(Cienfuegos, Cuba),
Acrylic on canvas
(39 1/4" x 32", 100cm x 81cm), 2004.
Note:  Canvas is stretched but not framed.  Conservation and restoration work done by Gerald Hoepfner.

Price on request

Product Status: 
Sold
Escena Fantastica en Rojo
SKU: JGM-0813

(Cienfuegos, Cuba),
Oil on Canvas
(18" x 23 3/4"/46cm x 70cm), 2008

Price on request

Product Status: 
Sold
José Garcia Montebravo - Infanta con Flores del Monte

(Cienfuegos, Cuba),
Oil on canvas
(31 1/2" x 23 1/2"), 2008

(framed)

Price on Request
Product Status: 
Sold
José Garcia Montebravo

(Cienfuegos, Cuba),
Acrylic on canvas
(31 1/2" x 23 1/2"), 2009

Price on Request
Product Status: 
Sold
José Garcia Montebravo
SKU: 
JGM-1403)

José Garcia Montebravo (Cienfuegos, Cuba),
Acrylic, ink and colored pencil on paper
(19 1/2" x 25 1/2"), 2005
Framed

 

Sold
Product Status: 
Sold
José Garcia Montebravo
SKU: 
JGM0814

(Cienfuegos, Cuba),
Oil on canvas, with custom framing.
((21" x 17"), 2008

Price on Request
Product Status: 
Sold
José Garcia Montebravo

(Cienfuegos, Cuba),
Acrylic on canvas
((38" x 31"), 2007

Price on Request
Product Status: 
Sold