Born - 1912 in San Luis, Santiago province, Cuba.
Biography -Jay Matamoros is certainly the oldest and greatest surviving popular or "primitive" painter in Cuba. He has painted since before 1937, when he entered the Free Painting and Sculpture Studio. He participated in his first collective exhibition in Havana, and received an honorary mention from the Department of Culture.
By 1946 Matamoros had established his own decoration and painting workshop. In 1963, after the revolution, he joined UNEAC, the Cuban Writers and Artists Union, and began to work on painting commissions at the Ministry of Justice. Since the 1960's Matamoros has exhibited all over the world, in Bulgaria, France, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, Sweden, and the Soviet Union. He exhibited in the first Havana Biennial, in 1984, as well as second and third biennials. In 1994 he was awarded the Felix Varela Order, by the Council of State of the Republic of Cuba.
In 2000, at the age of 88, Jay Matamoros received the Medal for the 270th Anniversary of the University of Havana and was honored with the National Visual Arts Prize. The occasion was marked with a solo retrospective exhibition at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, in Havana.
