(Social) Realism: Nicaragua

Pablo Beteta
Pablo Beteta confiesa que ha vivido para el arte pictórico y su profesión de abogado. Hoy que han transcurrido unos 34 años, Beteta hace una retrospectiva de su quehacer en la pintura moderna, abrazando con pasión el realismo, y el balance que hace es prácticamente positivo. Ha pintado más de 2 mil cuadros, lo que la valido el reconocimiento de intelectuales como Carlos Martínez Rivas y de los artistas más sobresalientes de Nicaragua. Beteta lega a la sociedad nicaragüense un ejemplo de constancia, trabajo ininterrumpido y talento, hecho a pulso cada día. El maná no le cayó del cielo ni la vida le deparó una inteligencia sobrenatural. El talento no es más que la niñez bien formulada.

http://www.grupoese.com.ni/2001/bn/12/06/op2MN1206.htm
http://www.teachingforchange.org/store/masaya
http://www.bcn.gob.ni/cultura/pinacoteca/paginas/pintura9.html












Leonel Cerrato (1947)
Leonel Cerrato nació en 1947 en la comunidad La Almaciguera, Estelí, desde los años 60 estudio en la escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes en Managua bajo las enseñanzas del maestro Rodrigo Peñalba, en el periodo de 1965-70, posteriormente se fue dedicando a la pintura de paisajes nicaragüenses costumbristas. Participó en numerosas exposiciones colectivas y la realización de diferentes murales a nivel nacional e internacional, con amplio reconocimiento para su obra.

http://www.funarte.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=115:valoracion-de-leonel-cerrato&catid=6:boletin-informativo&Itemid=14
http://www.geoimaging.tugraz.at/viktor.kaufmann/Augartenkino.html
http://www.stanford.edu/group/arts/nicaragua/discovery_eng/nicaragua/index.html
http://www3.varesenews.it/blog/labottegadelpittore/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/3d-cerrato1993-festa-sul-lago-del-nicaragua-particolare.jpg
http://www.stanford.edu/group/arts/nicaragua/discovery_eng/art/processdetail.html






























Daniel Pulido
http://www.stanford.edu/group/arts/nicaragua/murals/political/index.html














Further reading:
The Murals of Revolutionary Nicaragua 1979-1992 (Paperback)
by D Kunzle (Author)
In the years following Nicaragua's 1979 Sandinista Revolution, more than three hundred murals were created by Nicaraguan and international artist brigades. David Kunzle was profoundly moved by the aesthetic and political power of these murals, and when he saw that they were being destroyed after the Sandinistas were voted out in 1990, he resolved to document them. This visually exciting, emotionally compelling book is the result of his efforts. Today many of Nicaragua's murals have been obliterated, and Kunzle's book may be the only record of these works. Approximately eighty percent of the murals are reproduced here, many with extensive commentary. Artistic styles from the primitivist to the highly sophisticated are represented, showing themes of literacy, health, family, and always the Revolution. Kunzle outlines the historical conditions in Nicaragua - including U.S. interference - that gave rise to the Revolution and to the murals. He chronicles the politically vindictive destruction of many of the best murals and the rise and fall of Managua's Mural School. Kunzle also refers to other Nicaraguan public media such as billboards and graffiti, the great mural precedent in Mexico, and the more recent attempts at socialist art in Cuba and Chile. Nicaraguan murals became blackboards of the people, a forum for self-image, self-education, and popular autobiography. Kunzle pleads for the restoration of the surviving murals and for the revival of the mural movement, for it is, he says, 'art that belongs to and benefits us all'.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Murals-Revolutionary-Nicaragua-1979-1992/dp/0520081927/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275009001&sr=8-2



World (Social) Realist Art (Index of Countries)
This blog page is part of an ongoing project by artist and part-time lecturer Caoimhghin Ó Croidheáin (http://gaelart.net/) to explore Realist / Social Realist art from around the world. The term Realism is used in its broadest sense to include 19th century Realism and Naturalism as well as 20th century Impressionism (which after all was following in the path of Courbet and Millet). Social Realism covers art that seeks to examine the living and working conditions of ordinary people (examples include German Expressionism, American Ashcan School and the Mexican Muralists).

Click here for (Social) Realist Art Definitions, World (Social) Realism and Global Solidarity, Art and Politics, Social Realism in history and Country Index.

Suggestions for appropriate artists from around the world welcome to caoimhghin@yahoo.com.