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José Garcia Montebravo: Cuban Self-Taught Painter

October 6, 2006 to November 3, 2006

PHILADELPHIA - Marking its 20th year of exhibiting international folk and contemporary art in Philadelphia, Indigo Arts Gallery offers two shows featuring the arts of Latin America: José Garcia Montebravo: Cuban Self-taught Painter and Prints from Oaxaca: Masters of the Mexican Tradition.

The first exhibit focuses on the visionary work of self-taught Cuban artist José Garcia Montebravo. The second includes aquatints, lithographs, serigraphs, woodcuts and linoprints by artists from Oaxaca, Mexico, including Modesto Bernardo, Enrique Flores, Abelardo Lopez, Eddie Martinez, Leovigildo Martinez, Lorena Montes, Felipe Morales, Fernando Olivera, and the late master, Rodolfo Morales.

Indigo Arts is a community partner for the two fall shows at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Tesoros/Treasures/Tesouros: The Arts of Latin America, 1492-1820, and Mexico and Modern Printmaking: A Revolution in the Graphic Arts, 1920-1950.

José Garcia Montebravo was born in Cienfuegos, Cuba on October 15, 1953. A self-taught artist, Montebravo received a college degree in geography and taught in secondary schools for 19 years before begining to paint seriously in 1980. He had his first solo exhibition in 1984. He still lives in the town of Cienfuegos, where he is a leading member of the art community.

Montebravo is best known for his powerful images of Afro-Cuban infantas or princesses. In a witty play on the court portraits of Velasquez as well as the Latin American“santo” icon tradition, Montebravo’s infantas are unmistakably Afro-Cuban women who carry the attributes of the Santeria deities or orishas to which they are devoted. His “Infanta con Pez” holds a fish and wears blue in reference to the orisha of the sea, Yemanja, or the “Infanta con hacha”, dressed in red wields a stone club, in honor of Shango/Santa Barbara. His paintings depict birds, animals and the lush Cuban plant life with a strength which suggests an allegorical or religious symbolism. Concurrent with his infanta portraits, Montebravo has worked on two extensive series of mixed media works on paper he calls “Escenas Fantasticas” (Fantastic Scenes) and more recently a series of “Espacios Transitados” (Transitional Spaces).
In an article on Montebravo in the Folk Art Messenger (Winter/Spring 2001), art historian Joan C. Pearlman (New School University, NY) wrote, “His most recent works move into fantasies where people and animals are blended with circus and folkloric elements. He includes motifs from nature in the form of lizards, fresh water tortoises, roosters, the moon and other Afro-Cuban symbols to draw the viewer into his mesmerizing realm..”
Montebravo has exhibited extensively, with many solo shows and more than 200 group shows, in Europe and the United States as well as in Cuba. He came to New York in 2000 and 2002 for solo shows at the Cuban Art Space. Montebravo’s work has been featured in five previous group shows of Cuban art at Indigo Arts since 1999. Indigo Arts co-owner Tony Fisher had the privilege of visiting Montebravo in his Cienfuegos, Cuba studio on three occasions, and in July 2002 the artist visited Philadelphia for a reception and solo show at Indigo Arts Gallery.
Due to the current United States’ policy toward Cuba Mr. Montebravo has not been allowed to visit this country again nor, since November 2003, have Indigo Arts’ owners been permitted to travel to Cuba to visit him or any of their other artists there.

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)

Guindar el Sable
SKU: JGM-1405

José Garcia Montebravo (Cienfuegos, Cuba),
Mixed media on paper
(50 x 65cm sheet, 19.625" x 25.5"), Framed.
2006

$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.

$850

Manipulasion IV
SKU: JGM-2401

(Cienfuegos, Cuba),
Hand-colored etching on paper
24cm x 34cm (9 1/2” x 13 1/2”) on 11” x 14.5”sheet, 2008
Framed

$750 (framed)

José Garcia Montebravo
SKU: JGM-0707

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

$600

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

Espacios Transitados VI
SKU: JGM-0107

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

$1500 (framed)

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

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

$750 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
José Garcia Montebravo
SKU: JGM-133

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

$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-83

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

$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
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
Imagene en Amarillo
SKU: JGM-0016

(Cienfuegos, Cuba),
Acrylic on Canvas (14" x 12 1/2"), 2000
ex. Private collection, Indigo Arts Gallery

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
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
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 - 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