Darío Suro
Encyclopedia
Dario Suro was a painter, critic and diplomat from the Dominican Republic
. He was the nephew of painter Enrique García Godoy, his first art teacher. Along with Yoryi Morel
and Jaime Colson
, he is considered one of the founders of the modernist school of Dominican painting. Early on he became popular as an "impressionistic" landscape artist, who often painted horses and rainy scenes of the Cibao region of his country. Suro had his first one-man exhibition in 1938 at the Ateneo Dominicano in Santo Domingo. Subsequently the same exhibition was shown at the San Cristobal Ateneo and in 1939, he was included in group exhibitions in New York City, at the Riverside Museum and the Dominican Republic Pavilion at the World's Fair of that year. In 1940 Suro was included in the Inter-American Exhibition of the Caribbean organized by the Organization of American States
. In that year he participated in a group show at the Ateneo Dominicano in Santo Domingo. In 1942 he had a solo exhibition at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes in Santo Domingo. The following year, 1943, he married Maruxa Franco Fernandez of Santiago and shortly after, they departed for Mexico where he was named Cultural Attaché at the Dominican Republic Embassy in that country. On the way they stayed in Havana for several weeks, where his bride's cousin, Tomas Hernandez Franco, was the Dominican Consul General to that city. Here he met with the young art critic José Gómez-Sicre
, whom he had encountered previously in Santo Domingo. Later they would renew their friendship in Washington, D.C., where Gómez-Sicre was the founder and director of the Art Museum of the Americas
, which was established in 1976 by the O.A.S. Permanent Council. While in Havana Suro also met and befriended important modern artists such as Fidelio Ponce, Carlos Enríquez
and Amelia Peláez
.
Finally arriving in Mexico after their fascinating Cuban "sejour", Suro confronted a very busy agenda. In addition to his duties as attaché, he enrolled at Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda"
, where he studied art for nearly four years with some of the most prestigious artists in contemporary Mexico, including Diego Rivera
, Agustín Lazo, Guerrero Galván and Manuel Rodríguez Lozano
. The young artist and diplomat soon befriended some of the most prominent people in Mexico City, then going through a remarkable golden cultural moment, including the great humanist, Alfonso Reyes
, the art historian and critic Justino Fernández, painters María Izquierdo
and Angelina Beloff
(the first wife of Diego Rivera), writer and critic Agustín Velázquez Chávez and the Soviet Ambassador Constantine Alexandrovich Oumansky, who would die under unusual circumstances in 1945. José Clemente Orozco
, Frida Kahlo
, Hector Javier, Lupe Marin and José Vasconcelos
, who would play a crucial role in the career of Dario Suro, are also among the many acquaintances cultivated at that time by the Suros. While in Mexico, in 1944, he received word that he had won the Second Prize (Silver Medal) at the Second National Fine Arts Biennial in Santo Domingo. Two years later he won First Prize (Gold Medal) at the Third National Fine Arts Biennial of the Dominican Republic.
The Mexican experience dramatically changed the art of Dario Suro. Walking away from a harmonious palette and the depiction of pleasant, often melancholy, genre scenes that made him so popular with his countrymen, he opted instead for something much more bold and jarring. Influenced by the Mexican nationalistic spirit that embraced all things ethnic, Suro adapted this tendency and created an equivalent Dominican vision heretofore unseen, a new kind of painting called "Negroide", which had its counterpart in Dominican literature of that time, namely in the poetry of his brother Rubén Suro ("Poemas De Una Sola Intencion"). Directly addressing multiracial issues (an obvious component of Dominican reality) through graphic images, was indeed a new approach in a nation where whitewashing was often the norm. Many Dominicans liked to think that their heritage derived exclusively from Spain, forgetting their important African legacy. Suro's take was confrontational and without apologies, creating imagery that made some of his countrymen uncomfortable. In 1946 he was included in a group show at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City and the following year he had a solo exhibition in the same august institution, an event that was widely covered in that city, bringing him recognition from some of the most important art critics - but perhaps leading to an eventual downfall vis-a-vis his own government. His name appeared on posters all over the city, as well as in the social columns accompanied by invitations from some of the most exclusive society circles. Everything seemed to be happening to Dario Suro in 1946: a solo exhibition in one of the most prestigious institutions of Mexico, the joy of being a father for the first time (his son Jaime was born the previous year) and a sudden fame accompanied with the feeling that Mexicans felt a certain kinship towards the young Dominican. All was about to change - his embassy job was suddenly terminated. Before he knew it, he was on a plane with his family going back home where he would be facing an uncertain future. Suro was told by unofficial sources that dictator Rafael Trujillo was not happy with the attention given to his cultural attaché by the Mexicans. This kind of situation was not uncommon in the regime of the megalomaniac autocrat: only he was allowed to shine!
Upon his return to Santo Domingo, Suro and his wife were warmly greeted by family and friends, while others, especially some who were close to Trujillo, kept a certain distance. But the fall from grace would be short lived. The legendary writer, philosopher and politician José Vasconcelos, who forged a friendship with the Suros in Mexico City, happened to arrive in Santo Domingo on an official visit and apparently raved to Trujillo about the recently repatriated diplomat and painter, whom he called "brilliant", strongly urging the Dominican leader to name Suro Director of Fine Arts of the nation. This happened in early 1947 and once again Dario Suro was not only accepted, but celebrated. In that year he had a solo exhibition at the National Palace of Fine Arts in Santo Domingo, which was immensely popular, incorporating most of the works that were shown in Mexico with a few recent Dominican additions. Maruxa Suro received phone calls from society ladies who were appalled by the new Suro. Overall, however, Dominicans were greatly impressed by a new dynamic vision of their nation forged in Mexico by a young Dominican. The successful exhibition was taken to Suro's home town, La Vega, where it was shown at the Biblioteca La Progresista, and received with warm enthusiasm. As Director of Fine Arts, Suro was once again in the spotlight, receiving distinguished guests, including Alicia Markova
and Anton Dolin
and groups like the celebrated "Coros y Danzas" from Spain. He was responsible for overseeing new exhibitions at the Palacio de Bellas Artes and setting up cultural programs. He also gave lectures covering a wide range of themes, like the one on his friend José Clemente Orozco, "La Muerte de Orozco", which he gave at the Instituto Dominico Americano in Santo Domingo. In 1948 he participated in the 4th National Biennial of Fine Arts.
At this time the Suro family would go through dramatic, painful changes. His son, Jaime, died suddenly shortly before his second birthday, a tragedy that would deeply mark the Suros for the rest of their lives. This sad moment became an obsessive recurring leitmotif in several of his paintings. Depicting the dead child becomes a kind of catharsis in those canvases; the native Baquini ritual of burying children becomes an important point of identity for the artist. In 1948, his son Federico was born and the following year his daughter Rosa. In 1950, Suro's life would once again change when he was sent to Spain as Cultural Attaché of the Dominican Republic. Arriving in Madrid, with his family, he was about to embark on an exciting and stimulating adventure. Suro befriended some of the most outstanding Spanish artists of that time, including Antonio Saura
, Antoni Tàpies
, Manolo Millares
, and forged a special friendship with the extraordinary painter Jose Caballero
("Pepe") and his wife Maria Fernanda. Caballero had been a close friend of Federico García Lorca
, Pablo Neruda
, Luis Buñuel
and others. In fact, he often created posters and designed sets for the plays of Lorca when they were first presented. Most important of all for Suro would be his contact with the great art of Spain, especially his favorites Velázquez
, El Greco
and Goya. Living in Europe also facilitated extensive travel to other nations, that included visiting great museums in Paris, London, Amsterdam, etc. He especially loved Italy where he devoured the work of the great Italians, including his idol Piero de la Francesca. Combining diplomacy and art, as in Mexico, Suro participated in group exhibitions in Madrid and Barcelona, as well as faraway places like San Francisco (Legion of Honor
) and Pittsburgh (Carnegie Institute
). He was invited to participate in the prestigious Salon de Los Once in 1951, along with ten other artists, a venue organized by the philosopher Eugeni d'Ors
. The same year he participated in the First Hispano-American Biennial that was presented both in Madrid and Barcelona, where he also had a solo exhibition at the Galeria Caralt that was enthusiastically received by the Catalans. He represented the Dominican Republic in several important congresses (including Congreso de la Cooperacion Intellectual Latino Americano—1952) while continuing his travels throughout the Iberian peninsula and several other European nations.
In terms of his artistic development, Spain made a crucial difference. This is where Suro painted his first abstract canvases, influenced by European trends that were in sharp contrast to the world of Rivera. But as in Mexico, his busy professional life came to an abrupt end. Once again his job was suddenly terminated, without any explanation. Suro then decided to return to the Dominican Republic via the long route traveling south by train with his family and finally boarding a ship in Cadiz; on the way they visited some of the great Spanish cities that are rich in cultural sites. Upon arrival in Santo Domingo the same scenario was repeated that they experienced upon their return from Mexico. The Suros heard gossip about the termination of his job, and a close friend who happened to be related to the wife of dictator Rafael Trujillo warned them, recommending that they leave Santo Domingo and go somewhere like New York City. Apparently there was talk about the former attaché being the only Dominican artist who had not done a portrait of "El Jefe". Yet if Suro had painted Trujillo in his non-conventional style he would have confronted serious problems. Leaving their country in that era was nothing simple. Both Dario and Maruxa were interrogated separately and treated like culprits but in a fairly short time they were on their way to New York in 1953. Their children would join them the following year.
Dario Suro's New York experience would be decidedly different from his Mexico City and Madrid years. With very limited English, the couple had a diffilcult time adjusting to the metropolis. His wife immediately found work as a seamstress in a factory on 40th Street, in the heart of the garment district. On the other hand Dario had a harder time. Visiting several establishments that hired artists to do fairly routine work, he soon realized that there was less of a demand for those in his field. Suro never forgot being turned down by a sympathetic manager who, nevertheless, handed him a note of recommendation that he wrote to another company that read: "You might want to hire this guy; he's nice and he seems to be on the level". He finally found a job on 23rd Street, in a factory where artists painted porcelains, screens and other objects. They were given models to work from, with a limited freedom of artistic expression. His coworkers were talented men from all over the world who were in the same predicament as Suro, earning minimal wages and often under a gruelling schedule. Nevertheless, Suro wasted no time in exploring the New York art scene. He immediately started contacting dealers and gallery owners like Rose Fried, Betty Parsons
, Leo Castelli
and others. As an art critic Suro was a pioneer, writing the first in-depth critical articles on both Mondrian and Stuart Davis in Spanish. He reintroduced the work of Joaquín Torres García
to the artists within the Rose Fried Gallery circle, where he was asked to write the text of an accompanying monograph for the breakthrough exhibition of Torres-Garcia that took place in 1960. Among the artists befriended by Dario Suro in New York were Fritz Glarner
, Ronnie Elliott, Jean Arp
, Stuart Davis
, Adolf Fleischmann
, Minna Citron
, Bud Hopkins, Burgoyne Diller
, Philip Guston
, Charmion von Wiegand
, John Grillo
, Jean Xceron
, Judith Rothschild, Lil Picard, Esteban Vicente
, Raymond Hendler
, John Hultberg and Lynne Drexler. In spite of his busy schedule, working in the factory and painting at home, he managed to write for many important international publications, including the Paris based Aujourd'hui and the Madrid based Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos, and he was a frequent contributor at El Caribe and other newspapers back home in the Dominican Republic.
Thanks to his oppressive job he met Herman Somberg, one of his coworkers who was a quintessential New Yorker and a talented artist who happened to be one of the closest friends of Franz Kline
. After a certain reluctance the latter finally agreed to meet Suro and the two became fast friends (later Suro reminisced about the encounter and ensuing friendship in an article written for Americas Magazine "Franz Kline - Freedom and Space" in 1969). He frequented the Cedar Tavern
which he later called "one of the great universities of my life" and the place where he drank seriously along with his growing number of acquaintances. Another special friend was Philip Guston
, who was fluent in Spanish. Suro would write to him in Spanish and Guston would answer back in English, sometimes addressing him as "Querido Amigo Dario". Many of the friends that he met early on through Rose Fried were part of the Neo-Plasticist world. Fritz Glarner
had been a close friend of Piet Mondrian
, a kindred spirit and the man who photographically documented the New York studio of the famous Dutch artist. Glarner was an important artist who often received commissions from Nelson Rockefeller
. He embellished public areas with his paintings throughout New York City, including the lobby of the Time Life building and the library of the United Nations. One of Dario Suro's most intriguing friends was the phenomenal German Dadaist poet, writer and drummer Richard Huelsenbeck
who was also a psychiatrist who went by the name Charles R. Hulbeck. As in Mexico and in Spain, Suro changed his style once again, expressing himself through geometric abstract images and eventually going on to works that were decidedly informal and expressionistic.
He participated in group shows at the Rose Fried Gallery, like the International Collage Exhibition in 1956. Barbara Guest
covering this show for Arts Magazine mistook Suro for a Spaniard but made the following observation "Suro has carried the Dada idea along, with a frank assemblage of numbers which would have delighted le grand maitre Picabia". Dario Suro also participated in many group shows, like "International Avant Garde Perspectives" at the Newport Art Association in 1959, and he finally had a solo exhibition at the Poindexter Gallery, in Manhattan, in 1962. The new paintings were both a reflection of his American experience, as well as his life-long obsession with Spain - several paintings were entitled "Tauromaquia", Suro's homage to Goya. Unfortunately, the exhibition coincided with a major newspaper strike and Suro did not receive a normal press coverage. John Gruen, in The Herald Tribune, among the few periodicals that covered the event wrote the following: "A Dominican artist who has shown extensively in Europe but not previously here offers oils and collages in intensely muted colors flavored with textual elements reminiscent of the Spanish concern with the "earth". They are strong, bold and terse". He received a congratulatory letter from his old friend Vela Zanetti, who visited the exhibition and was both impressed and surprised by the new paintings commenting to Suro that they were quite a departure from his past work. The art magazines had overall positive comments as well. Art News noted: "Dario Suro was born in the Dominican Republic in 1918 and has studied in Mexico (with Diego Rivera among others) and in Europe. He has been in New York since 1953. Although this is his first New York one-man show, he is hardly a newcomer- he has been seen in several big international exhibitions. He works in black, grey or white, sometimes in monochromes and tends to mix mediums like charcoal, watercolor and ink. He also works with collage or combines collage with paintings. In certain works it is as though the artist had not interfered or intervened in any way- the surface puckers or wrinkles, and seems like a natural instead of an artificial surface. One of the best works, "Day and Night - Homage to Kline", is clearly something produced by an artist. It looks as though he first made a painting, then tore it up into strips and made an entirely different work out of them. The strips, like large calligraphy, flash brilliantly, light on dark."
Dario Suro's life in New York was tough but stimulating and productive. In 1961 events in his homeland would once again change his situation. Dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo
was assassinated and Juan Bosch
, Suro's childhood friend, who was elected President of the Dominican Republic in 1962, named him Cultural Attaché at the Embassy in Washington as well as at the Organization of American States (OAS) in the same city. Suro would remain in these posts for practically the rest of his life. The capital of the US would not offer quite the same artistic stimulus as New York but his new job would be more comfortable and better-paying. Suro continued painting and exhibiting worldwide until the last years. His painting went through new phases, constantly changing his style, and in his last decade he revisited old themes, often combining them and coming up with something new in the process. He also continued writing, frequently contributing to Americas
Magazine, several Dominican publications like Ahora and Listin Diario, as well as international ones like Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos and Acento Cultural. He was promoted from Attaché to Counselor (1965) to Minister Counselor (1967) to Minister Plenipotentiary, Deputy Chief of Mission (1970) and finally Adjunct Ambassador, Alternate Representative (1980). In October 1996 he returned to the Dominican Republic with his wife, Maruxa. He was hoping to concentrate completely on his art, developing new ideas for paintings inspired by shadows; however, he died the following January. His funeral was attended by many friends, as well as Dominican dignitaries; three former Dominican presidents were present, including Salvador Jorge Blanco
, Donald Reid Cabral
and Juan Bosch
, who told the Suro family "Dario Suro was not only a great artist, he was a great Dominican".
Suro was the first artist to receive "El Premio Nacional de Artes Plasicas" of the Dominican Republic in 1993, which was presented to him by President Joaquín Balaguer
. The prestigious "Orden de Duarte, Sanchez y Mella" medal was presented posthumously to his widow by President Leonel Fernández
in 1999. A comprehensive retrospective, "Dario Suro 1917–1997 : Metamorfosis y Transmigracones", was organized at the Centro Cultural de Espana in Santo Domingo, curated by Ricardo Ramon Jarnes, Laura Gil and Marianne de Tolentino in 2001. The 4th Caribbean Biennial (2002), dedicated to Suro, was organized by Sara Herman, Director of the National Gallery of Modern Art of the Dominican Republic; Ricardo Ramon Jarnes and Laura Gil curated an accompanying retrospective exhibition. President Hipolito Mejia
and Vice President Milagro Ortiz Bosch opened this biennial. In 1981 Dario Suro assessed his approach to art in the following manner: "I have always been motivated by the existential condition of an object and not by the development of a style." More recently, Art historian and critic Alejandro Anreus, who often wrote about Dario Suro, offered a more complete summary of his multi-faceted career as follows. "Stylistically Suro transformed the social realism of the Mexican muralists into a neo-realist aesthetic charged with an existential view of tragedy. By the 1950s he had already painted in a kind of pre-Pop Art when he completed his numeric series, and in the 1960s his abstract expressionist phase was a highly original one where the stain, more than the gesture, was his proffered mark-making strategy, while his palette was evocative of 17th century Spanish painting. His erotic period (1970s) culminated in an obsessive calligraphic use of thin, transparent layers of paint, where lines constructed the female sexual forms as pulsating, fully empowered entities with a life of their own. His body of work before his death was a fierce expressionism, where both the human and landscape forms were torn and reconstructed."
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
. He was the nephew of painter Enrique García Godoy, his first art teacher. Along with Yoryi Morel
Yoryi Morel
Yoryi Morel was a painter from the Dominican Republic. A native of Santiago de los Caballeros, he spent most of his career in Santiago Province. He held his first exhibition in Santo Domingo in 1932. Later he founded the School of Fine Arts in his native city...
and Jaime Colson
Jaime Colson
Jaime Colson was a modernist painter from the Dominican Republic. Born in San Felipe de Puerto Plata, he studied first in Spain, in Madrid and Barcelona, before moving to Paris and becoming accepted by the Cubists. He moved again, in 1934, to Mexico, where he taught for a time before returning...
, he is considered one of the founders of the modernist school of Dominican painting. Early on he became popular as an "impressionistic" landscape artist, who often painted horses and rainy scenes of the Cibao region of his country. Suro had his first one-man exhibition in 1938 at the Ateneo Dominicano in Santo Domingo. Subsequently the same exhibition was shown at the San Cristobal Ateneo and in 1939, he was included in group exhibitions in New York City, at the Riverside Museum and the Dominican Republic Pavilion at the World's Fair of that year. In 1940 Suro was included in the Inter-American Exhibition of the Caribbean organized by the Organization of American States
Organization of American States
The Organization of American States is a regional international organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States...
. In that year he participated in a group show at the Ateneo Dominicano in Santo Domingo. In 1942 he had a solo exhibition at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes in Santo Domingo. The following year, 1943, he married Maruxa Franco Fernandez of Santiago and shortly after, they departed for Mexico where he was named Cultural Attaché at the Dominican Republic Embassy in that country. On the way they stayed in Havana for several weeks, where his bride's cousin, Tomas Hernandez Franco, was the Dominican Consul General to that city. Here he met with the young art critic José Gómez-Sicre
Jose Gomez-Sicre
José Gómez-Sicre was a noted Cuban lawyer, art critic and author.-Education:...
, whom he had encountered previously in Santo Domingo. Later they would renew their friendship in Washington, D.C., where Gómez-Sicre was the founder and director of the Art Museum of the Americas
Art Museum of the Americas
AMA | Art Museum of the Americas is an art museum located in Washington, D.C., primarily devoted to exhibiting works of modern and contemporary art from Latin America and the Caribbean. The museum was formally established in 1976 by the Organization of American States...
, which was established in 1976 by the O.A.S. Permanent Council. While in Havana Suro also met and befriended important modern artists such as Fidelio Ponce, Carlos Enríquez
Carlos Enríquez
Carlos Enríquez was an Uruguayan - Argentine actor. He starred in the 1950 film Arroz con leche under director Carlos Schlieper.-External links:. ....
and Amelia Peláez
Amelia Peláez
Amelia Peláez del Casal was an important Cuban painter of the Avant-garde generation.-Biography:Amelia was born in 1896 in Yaguajay, in the former Cuban province of Las Villas...
.
Finally arriving in Mexico after their fascinating Cuban "sejour", Suro confronted a very busy agenda. In addition to his duties as attaché, he enrolled at Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda"
Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda"
La Esmeralda - National School of Painting, Sculpture and Printmaking is a Mexican art school located in Mexico City....
, where he studied art for nearly four years with some of the most prestigious artists in contemporary Mexico, including Diego Rivera
Diego Rivera
Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez was a prominent Mexican painter born in Guanajuato, Guanajuato, an active communist, and husband of Frida Kahlo . His large wall works in fresco helped establish the Mexican Mural Movement in...
, Agustín Lazo, Guerrero Galván and Manuel Rodríguez Lozano
Manuel Rodríguez Lozano
Manuel Rodríguez Lozano was a Mexican painter.- Biography :Rodríguez Lozano was born to Manuel Rodríguez and his wife Sara Lozano. He began a military education at the Heroico Colegio Militar, and started a diplomatic service career...
. The young artist and diplomat soon befriended some of the most prominent people in Mexico City, then going through a remarkable golden cultural moment, including the great humanist, Alfonso Reyes
Alfonso Reyes
Alfonso Reyes Ochoa was a Mexican writer, philosopher and diplomat.-Early life:Alfonso Reyes parents were Bernardo Reyes and Aurelia Ochoa...
, the art historian and critic Justino Fernández, painters María Izquierdo
María Izquierdo
María Izquierdo was a Mexican painter. She was born in San Juan de los Lagos in the state of Jalisco; her birth name was María Cenobia Izquierdo Gutiérrez. Her father died when she was five years old and she lived with grandparents afterward in small towns of Aguascalientes, Torreón, and Saltillo...
and Angelina Beloff
Angelina Beloff
Angelina Beloff was a Russian painter and sculptor, who worked predominantly in Mexico.- Biography :Beloff originally decided to study pediatrics, but then she matriculated to St. Petersburg Academy of Arts in 1904, where she studied until 1909...
(the first wife of Diego Rivera), writer and critic Agustín Velázquez Chávez and the Soviet Ambassador Constantine Alexandrovich Oumansky, who would die under unusual circumstances in 1945. José Clemente Orozco
José Clemente Orozco
José Clemente Orozco was a Mexican social realist painter, who specialized in bold murals that established the Mexican Mural Renaissance together with murals by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and others...
, Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo de Rivera was a Mexican painter, born in Coyoacán, and perhaps best known for her self-portraits....
, Hector Javier, Lupe Marin and José Vasconcelos
José Vasconcelos
José Vasconcelos Calderón was a Mexican writer, philosopher and politician. He is one of the most influential and controversial personalities in the development of modern Mexico. His philosophy of "indigenismo" affected all aspects of Mexican sociocultural, political, and economic...
, who would play a crucial role in the career of Dario Suro, are also among the many acquaintances cultivated at that time by the Suros. While in Mexico, in 1944, he received word that he had won the Second Prize (Silver Medal) at the Second National Fine Arts Biennial in Santo Domingo. Two years later he won First Prize (Gold Medal) at the Third National Fine Arts Biennial of the Dominican Republic.
The Mexican experience dramatically changed the art of Dario Suro. Walking away from a harmonious palette and the depiction of pleasant, often melancholy, genre scenes that made him so popular with his countrymen, he opted instead for something much more bold and jarring. Influenced by the Mexican nationalistic spirit that embraced all things ethnic, Suro adapted this tendency and created an equivalent Dominican vision heretofore unseen, a new kind of painting called "Negroide", which had its counterpart in Dominican literature of that time, namely in the poetry of his brother Rubén Suro ("Poemas De Una Sola Intencion"). Directly addressing multiracial issues (an obvious component of Dominican reality) through graphic images, was indeed a new approach in a nation where whitewashing was often the norm. Many Dominicans liked to think that their heritage derived exclusively from Spain, forgetting their important African legacy. Suro's take was confrontational and without apologies, creating imagery that made some of his countrymen uncomfortable. In 1946 he was included in a group show at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City and the following year he had a solo exhibition in the same august institution, an event that was widely covered in that city, bringing him recognition from some of the most important art critics - but perhaps leading to an eventual downfall vis-a-vis his own government. His name appeared on posters all over the city, as well as in the social columns accompanied by invitations from some of the most exclusive society circles. Everything seemed to be happening to Dario Suro in 1946: a solo exhibition in one of the most prestigious institutions of Mexico, the joy of being a father for the first time (his son Jaime was born the previous year) and a sudden fame accompanied with the feeling that Mexicans felt a certain kinship towards the young Dominican. All was about to change - his embassy job was suddenly terminated. Before he knew it, he was on a plane with his family going back home where he would be facing an uncertain future. Suro was told by unofficial sources that dictator Rafael Trujillo was not happy with the attention given to his cultural attaché by the Mexicans. This kind of situation was not uncommon in the regime of the megalomaniac autocrat: only he was allowed to shine!
Upon his return to Santo Domingo, Suro and his wife were warmly greeted by family and friends, while others, especially some who were close to Trujillo, kept a certain distance. But the fall from grace would be short lived. The legendary writer, philosopher and politician José Vasconcelos, who forged a friendship with the Suros in Mexico City, happened to arrive in Santo Domingo on an official visit and apparently raved to Trujillo about the recently repatriated diplomat and painter, whom he called "brilliant", strongly urging the Dominican leader to name Suro Director of Fine Arts of the nation. This happened in early 1947 and once again Dario Suro was not only accepted, but celebrated. In that year he had a solo exhibition at the National Palace of Fine Arts in Santo Domingo, which was immensely popular, incorporating most of the works that were shown in Mexico with a few recent Dominican additions. Maruxa Suro received phone calls from society ladies who were appalled by the new Suro. Overall, however, Dominicans were greatly impressed by a new dynamic vision of their nation forged in Mexico by a young Dominican. The successful exhibition was taken to Suro's home town, La Vega, where it was shown at the Biblioteca La Progresista, and received with warm enthusiasm. As Director of Fine Arts, Suro was once again in the spotlight, receiving distinguished guests, including Alicia Markova
Alicia Markova
Dame Alicia Markova, DBE, DMus, was an English ballerina and a choreographer, director and teacher of classical ballet. Most noted for her career with Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes and touring internationally, she was widely considered to be one of the greatest classical ballet dancers of the...
and Anton Dolin
Anton Dolin
Sir Anton Dolin was an English ballet dancer and choreographer.Dolin was born in Slinfold in Sussex as Sydney Francis Patrick Chippendall Healey-Kay but was generally known as Patrick Kay. He joined Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in 1921, was a principal there from 1924, and was a principal...
and groups like the celebrated "Coros y Danzas" from Spain. He was responsible for overseeing new exhibitions at the Palacio de Bellas Artes and setting up cultural programs. He also gave lectures covering a wide range of themes, like the one on his friend José Clemente Orozco, "La Muerte de Orozco", which he gave at the Instituto Dominico Americano in Santo Domingo. In 1948 he participated in the 4th National Biennial of Fine Arts.
At this time the Suro family would go through dramatic, painful changes. His son, Jaime, died suddenly shortly before his second birthday, a tragedy that would deeply mark the Suros for the rest of their lives. This sad moment became an obsessive recurring leitmotif in several of his paintings. Depicting the dead child becomes a kind of catharsis in those canvases; the native Baquini ritual of burying children becomes an important point of identity for the artist. In 1948, his son Federico was born and the following year his daughter Rosa. In 1950, Suro's life would once again change when he was sent to Spain as Cultural Attaché of the Dominican Republic. Arriving in Madrid, with his family, he was about to embark on an exciting and stimulating adventure. Suro befriended some of the most outstanding Spanish artists of that time, including Antonio Saura
Antonio Saura
Antonio Saura was a Spanish artist and writer, one of the major post-war painters to emerge in Spain in the fifties whose work has marked several generations of artists and whose critical voice is often remembered.-Biography:He began painting and writing in 1947 in Madrid while suffering from...
, Antoni Tàpies
Antoni Tàpies
Antoni Tàpies i Puig, 1st Marquess of Tàpies is a Catalan painter. He is one of the most famous European artists of his generation. After studying law for 3 years, he devoted himself from 1943 onwards only to his painting...
, Manolo Millares
Manolo Millares
Manolo Millares was a Spanish painter. Self-taught as an artist, Millares was introduced to Surrealism in 1948. In 1953, he moved to Madrid and became an abstract painter. In 1957, Millares along with Antonio Saura and Pablo Serrano founded the avant-garde group El Paso in Madrid...
, and forged a special friendship with the extraordinary painter Jose Caballero
Jose Caballero
Jose D. Caballero was the founder of a Filipino Martial Art called De Campo Uno-Dos-Tres Orihinal, also commonly known as De Campo 1-2-3, and is considered the Juego Todo champion of his era.-Early life:...
("Pepe") and his wife Maria Fernanda. Caballero had been a close friend of Federico García Lorca
Federico García Lorca
Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...
, Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet, diplomat and politician Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He chose his pen name after Czech poet Jan Neruda....
, Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel Portolés was a Spanish-born filmmaker — later a naturalized citizen of Mexico — who worked in Spain, Mexico, France and the US..-Early years:...
and others. In fact, he often created posters and designed sets for the plays of Lorca when they were first presented. Most important of all for Suro would be his contact with the great art of Spain, especially his favorites Velázquez
Diego Velázquez
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was a Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period, important as a portrait artist...
, El Greco
El Greco
El Greco was a painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El Greco" was a nickname, a reference to his ethnic Greek origin, and the artist normally signed his paintings with his full birth name in Greek letters, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος .El Greco was born on Crete, which was at...
and Goya. Living in Europe also facilitated extensive travel to other nations, that included visiting great museums in Paris, London, Amsterdam, etc. He especially loved Italy where he devoured the work of the great Italians, including his idol Piero de la Francesca. Combining diplomacy and art, as in Mexico, Suro participated in group exhibitions in Madrid and Barcelona, as well as faraway places like San Francisco (Legion of Honor
California Palace of the Legion of Honor
The California Palace of the Legion of Honor is a fine art museum in San Francisco, California...
) and Pittsburgh (Carnegie Institute
Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh
Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh are four museums that are operated by the Carnegie Institute headquartered in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
). He was invited to participate in the prestigious Salon de Los Once in 1951, along with ten other artists, a venue organized by the philosopher Eugeni d'Ors
Eugeni d'Ors
Eugeni d’Ors i Rovira was a Catalan Spanish writer, essayist, journalist, philosopher and art critic...
. The same year he participated in the First Hispano-American Biennial that was presented both in Madrid and Barcelona, where he also had a solo exhibition at the Galeria Caralt that was enthusiastically received by the Catalans. He represented the Dominican Republic in several important congresses (including Congreso de la Cooperacion Intellectual Latino Americano—1952) while continuing his travels throughout the Iberian peninsula and several other European nations.
In terms of his artistic development, Spain made a crucial difference. This is where Suro painted his first abstract canvases, influenced by European trends that were in sharp contrast to the world of Rivera. But as in Mexico, his busy professional life came to an abrupt end. Once again his job was suddenly terminated, without any explanation. Suro then decided to return to the Dominican Republic via the long route traveling south by train with his family and finally boarding a ship in Cadiz; on the way they visited some of the great Spanish cities that are rich in cultural sites. Upon arrival in Santo Domingo the same scenario was repeated that they experienced upon their return from Mexico. The Suros heard gossip about the termination of his job, and a close friend who happened to be related to the wife of dictator Rafael Trujillo warned them, recommending that they leave Santo Domingo and go somewhere like New York City. Apparently there was talk about the former attaché being the only Dominican artist who had not done a portrait of "El Jefe". Yet if Suro had painted Trujillo in his non-conventional style he would have confronted serious problems. Leaving their country in that era was nothing simple. Both Dario and Maruxa were interrogated separately and treated like culprits but in a fairly short time they were on their way to New York in 1953. Their children would join them the following year.
Dario Suro's New York experience would be decidedly different from his Mexico City and Madrid years. With very limited English, the couple had a diffilcult time adjusting to the metropolis. His wife immediately found work as a seamstress in a factory on 40th Street, in the heart of the garment district. On the other hand Dario had a harder time. Visiting several establishments that hired artists to do fairly routine work, he soon realized that there was less of a demand for those in his field. Suro never forgot being turned down by a sympathetic manager who, nevertheless, handed him a note of recommendation that he wrote to another company that read: "You might want to hire this guy; he's nice and he seems to be on the level". He finally found a job on 23rd Street, in a factory where artists painted porcelains, screens and other objects. They were given models to work from, with a limited freedom of artistic expression. His coworkers were talented men from all over the world who were in the same predicament as Suro, earning minimal wages and often under a gruelling schedule. Nevertheless, Suro wasted no time in exploring the New York art scene. He immediately started contacting dealers and gallery owners like Rose Fried, Betty Parsons
Betty Parsons
Betty Parsons, born Betty Bierne Pierson, was an American artist and art dealer known for her early promotion of Abstract Expressionism. She was known as "the den mother of Abstract Expressionism"...
, Leo Castelli
Leo Castelli
Leo Castelli was an American art dealer. He was best known to the public as an art dealer whose gallery showcased cutting edge Contemporary art for five decades...
and others. As an art critic Suro was a pioneer, writing the first in-depth critical articles on both Mondrian and Stuart Davis in Spanish. He reintroduced the work of Joaquín Torres García
Joaquín Torres García
Joaquín Torres García , was a Uruguayan plastic artist and art theorist, also known as the founder of Constructive Universalism...
to the artists within the Rose Fried Gallery circle, where he was asked to write the text of an accompanying monograph for the breakthrough exhibition of Torres-Garcia that took place in 1960. Among the artists befriended by Dario Suro in New York were Fritz Glarner
Fritz Glarner
Fritz Glarner was a Swiss painter.-References:*This article was initially translated from the German Wikipedia....
, Ronnie Elliott, Jean Arp
Jean Arp
Jean Arp / Hans Arp was a German-French, or Alsatian, sculptor, painter, poet and abstract artist in other media such as torn and pasted paper....
, Stuart Davis
Stuart Davis
Stuart Davis or Davies may refer to:* Stuart Davis * Stuart Davis , or his album, Stuart Davis * Stuart Davis , Australian rugby league footballer* Stuart Davies, Welsh rugby union fotballer...
, Adolf Fleischmann
Adolf Fleischmann
Adolf Richard Fleischmann was a German abstract painter.His late work evolved into constructivism; he is considered a precursor of Op Art.-Life:...
, Minna Citron
Minna Citron
Minna Wright Citron was an American painter and printmaker. Her early prints focus on the role of women, sometimes in a satirical manner, in a style known as urban realism....
, Bud Hopkins, Burgoyne Diller
Burgoyne Diller
Burgoyne A. Diller was an American abstract painter. Many of his best-known works are characterized by orthogonal geometric forms that reflect his strong interest in the De Stijl movement and the work of Piet Mondrian in particular...
, Philip Guston
Philip Guston
Philip Guston was a notable painter and printmaker in the New York School, which included many of the Abstract expressionists, such as Jackson Pollock and Willem De Kooning...
, Charmion von Wiegand
Charmion Von Wiegand
Charmion von Wiegand was an American journalist, abstract painter, and art critic. She was the daughter of Inez Royce and Karl Henry von Wiegand, the German-born journalist....
, John Grillo
John Grillo
John Grillo is a British actor and playwright who has appeared in many film and television productions....
, Jean Xceron
Jean Xceron
Jean Xceron was an American abstract painter of Greek origin. He immigrated to the United States in 1904 and studied at the Corcoran School of Art. He worked at the Guggenheim Museum and is described as a "pioneer of non-objective painting" by the Smithsonian Archives of American Art...
, Judith Rothschild, Lil Picard, Esteban Vicente
Esteban Vicente
Esteban Vicente Pérez , was an American painter born in Turégano, Spain. He was one of the first generation of New York School abstract expressionists.-Early life:...
, Raymond Hendler
Raymond Hendler
Raymond Hendler was a Philadelphia born action painter whose mature work began in the ferment of postwar Paris. Supported by the G.I. Bill, he studied at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, exhibited at the Musee D’Art Moderne and was one of the founding members of Galerie Huit...
, John Hultberg and Lynne Drexler. In spite of his busy schedule, working in the factory and painting at home, he managed to write for many important international publications, including the Paris based Aujourd'hui and the Madrid based Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos, and he was a frequent contributor at El Caribe and other newspapers back home in the Dominican Republic.
Thanks to his oppressive job he met Herman Somberg, one of his coworkers who was a quintessential New Yorker and a talented artist who happened to be one of the closest friends of Franz Kline
Franz Kline
Franz Jozef Kline was an American painter mainly associated with the Abstract Expressionist movement centered around New York in the 1940s and 1950s. He was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and attended Girard College, an academy in Philadelphia for fatherless boys...
. After a certain reluctance the latter finally agreed to meet Suro and the two became fast friends (later Suro reminisced about the encounter and ensuing friendship in an article written for Americas Magazine "Franz Kline - Freedom and Space" in 1969). He frequented the Cedar Tavern
Cedar Tavern
The Cedar Tavern was a bar and restaurant in New York City last at 82 University Place between 11th and 12th Streets. It was famous as a former hangout of many prominent Abstract Expressionist painters and beat writers...
which he later called "one of the great universities of my life" and the place where he drank seriously along with his growing number of acquaintances. Another special friend was Philip Guston
Philip Guston
Philip Guston was a notable painter and printmaker in the New York School, which included many of the Abstract expressionists, such as Jackson Pollock and Willem De Kooning...
, who was fluent in Spanish. Suro would write to him in Spanish and Guston would answer back in English, sometimes addressing him as "Querido Amigo Dario". Many of the friends that he met early on through Rose Fried were part of the Neo-Plasticist world. Fritz Glarner
Fritz Glarner
Fritz Glarner was a Swiss painter.-References:*This article was initially translated from the German Wikipedia....
had been a close friend of Piet Mondrian
Piet Mondrian
Pieter Cornelis "Piet" Mondriaan, after 1906 Mondrian , was a Dutch painter.He was an important contributor to the De Stijl art movement and group, which was founded by Theo van Doesburg. He evolved a non-representational form which he termed Neo-Plasticism...
, a kindred spirit and the man who photographically documented the New York studio of the famous Dutch artist. Glarner was an important artist who often received commissions from Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was the 41st Vice President of the United States , serving under President Gerald Ford, and the 49th Governor of New York , as well as serving the Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower administrations in a variety of positions...
. He embellished public areas with his paintings throughout New York City, including the lobby of the Time Life building and the library of the United Nations. One of Dario Suro's most intriguing friends was the phenomenal German Dadaist poet, writer and drummer Richard Huelsenbeck
Richard Huelsenbeck
Richard Huelsenbeck was a poet, writer and drummer born in Frankenau, Hessen-Nassau.Carl Wilhelm Richard Hülsenbeck was a medical student on the eve of World War I. He was invalided out of the army and emigrated to Zürich, Switzerland in February 1916, where he fell in with the Cabaret Voltaire...
who was also a psychiatrist who went by the name Charles R. Hulbeck. As in Mexico and in Spain, Suro changed his style once again, expressing himself through geometric abstract images and eventually going on to works that were decidedly informal and expressionistic.
He participated in group shows at the Rose Fried Gallery, like the International Collage Exhibition in 1956. Barbara Guest
Barbara Guest
Barbara Guest née Barbara Ann Pinson was an American poet and prose stylist. Guest first gained recognition as a member of the first generation New York School of poetry....
covering this show for Arts Magazine mistook Suro for a Spaniard but made the following observation "Suro has carried the Dada idea along, with a frank assemblage of numbers which would have delighted le grand maitre Picabia". Dario Suro also participated in many group shows, like "International Avant Garde Perspectives" at the Newport Art Association in 1959, and he finally had a solo exhibition at the Poindexter Gallery, in Manhattan, in 1962. The new paintings were both a reflection of his American experience, as well as his life-long obsession with Spain - several paintings were entitled "Tauromaquia", Suro's homage to Goya. Unfortunately, the exhibition coincided with a major newspaper strike and Suro did not receive a normal press coverage. John Gruen, in The Herald Tribune, among the few periodicals that covered the event wrote the following: "A Dominican artist who has shown extensively in Europe but not previously here offers oils and collages in intensely muted colors flavored with textual elements reminiscent of the Spanish concern with the "earth". They are strong, bold and terse". He received a congratulatory letter from his old friend Vela Zanetti, who visited the exhibition and was both impressed and surprised by the new paintings commenting to Suro that they were quite a departure from his past work. The art magazines had overall positive comments as well. Art News noted: "Dario Suro was born in the Dominican Republic in 1918 and has studied in Mexico (with Diego Rivera among others) and in Europe. He has been in New York since 1953. Although this is his first New York one-man show, he is hardly a newcomer- he has been seen in several big international exhibitions. He works in black, grey or white, sometimes in monochromes and tends to mix mediums like charcoal, watercolor and ink. He also works with collage or combines collage with paintings. In certain works it is as though the artist had not interfered or intervened in any way- the surface puckers or wrinkles, and seems like a natural instead of an artificial surface. One of the best works, "Day and Night - Homage to Kline", is clearly something produced by an artist. It looks as though he first made a painting, then tore it up into strips and made an entirely different work out of them. The strips, like large calligraphy, flash brilliantly, light on dark."
Dario Suro's life in New York was tough but stimulating and productive. In 1961 events in his homeland would once again change his situation. Dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo
Rafael Leónidas Trujillo
Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina , nicknamed El Jefe , ruled the Dominican Republic from 1930 until his assassination in 1961. He officially served as president from 1930 to 1938 and again from 1942 to 1952, otherwise ruling as an unelected military strongman...
was assassinated and Juan Bosch
Juan Bosch
Juan Emilio Bosch Gaviño was a politician, historian, short story writer, essayist, educator, and the first cleanly elected president of the Dominican Republic for a brief time in 1963. Previously, he had been the leader of the Dominican opposition in exile to the dictatorial regime of Rafael...
, Suro's childhood friend, who was elected President of the Dominican Republic in 1962, named him Cultural Attaché at the Embassy in Washington as well as at the Organization of American States (OAS) in the same city. Suro would remain in these posts for practically the rest of his life. The capital of the US would not offer quite the same artistic stimulus as New York but his new job would be more comfortable and better-paying. Suro continued painting and exhibiting worldwide until the last years. His painting went through new phases, constantly changing his style, and in his last decade he revisited old themes, often combining them and coming up with something new in the process. He also continued writing, frequently contributing to Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
Magazine, several Dominican publications like Ahora and Listin Diario, as well as international ones like Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos and Acento Cultural. He was promoted from Attaché to Counselor (1965) to Minister Counselor (1967) to Minister Plenipotentiary, Deputy Chief of Mission (1970) and finally Adjunct Ambassador, Alternate Representative (1980). In October 1996 he returned to the Dominican Republic with his wife, Maruxa. He was hoping to concentrate completely on his art, developing new ideas for paintings inspired by shadows; however, he died the following January. His funeral was attended by many friends, as well as Dominican dignitaries; three former Dominican presidents were present, including Salvador Jorge Blanco
Salvador Jorge Blanco
José Salvador Omar Jorge Blanco was a politician, lawyer and a writer. He was the 48th President of the Dominican Republic, from 1982 –1986. He was a Senator running for the PRD party...
, Donald Reid Cabral
Donald Reid Cabral
Joseph Donald Reid Cabral was a former leader of the Dominican Republic. He chaired the "triumvirate" from December 29, 1963.- Biography :...
and Juan Bosch
Juan Bosch
Juan Emilio Bosch Gaviño was a politician, historian, short story writer, essayist, educator, and the first cleanly elected president of the Dominican Republic for a brief time in 1963. Previously, he had been the leader of the Dominican opposition in exile to the dictatorial regime of Rafael...
, who told the Suro family "Dario Suro was not only a great artist, he was a great Dominican".
Suro was the first artist to receive "El Premio Nacional de Artes Plasicas" of the Dominican Republic in 1993, which was presented to him by President Joaquín Balaguer
Joaquín Balaguer
Joaquín Antonio Balaguer Ricardo was the President of the Dominican Republic from 1960 to 1962, from 1966 to 1978, and again from 1986 to 1996.-Early life and introduction to politics:...
. The prestigious "Orden de Duarte, Sanchez y Mella" medal was presented posthumously to his widow by President Leonel Fernández
Leonel Fernández
Leonel Antonio Fernández Reyna is a Dominican lawyer, academic, and the current President of the Dominican Republic since 2004. He held the same office from 1996 to 2000...
in 1999. A comprehensive retrospective, "Dario Suro 1917–1997 : Metamorfosis y Transmigracones", was organized at the Centro Cultural de Espana in Santo Domingo, curated by Ricardo Ramon Jarnes, Laura Gil and Marianne de Tolentino in 2001. The 4th Caribbean Biennial (2002), dedicated to Suro, was organized by Sara Herman, Director of the National Gallery of Modern Art of the Dominican Republic; Ricardo Ramon Jarnes and Laura Gil curated an accompanying retrospective exhibition. President Hipolito Mejia
Hipólito Mejía
Rafael Hipólito Mejía Domínguez is a Dominican politician and former President of the Dominican Republic...
and Vice President Milagro Ortiz Bosch opened this biennial. In 1981 Dario Suro assessed his approach to art in the following manner: "I have always been motivated by the existential condition of an object and not by the development of a style." More recently, Art historian and critic Alejandro Anreus, who often wrote about Dario Suro, offered a more complete summary of his multi-faceted career as follows. "Stylistically Suro transformed the social realism of the Mexican muralists into a neo-realist aesthetic charged with an existential view of tragedy. By the 1950s he had already painted in a kind of pre-Pop Art when he completed his numeric series, and in the 1960s his abstract expressionist phase was a highly original one where the stain, more than the gesture, was his proffered mark-making strategy, while his palette was evocative of 17th century Spanish painting. His erotic period (1970s) culminated in an obsessive calligraphic use of thin, transparent layers of paint, where lines constructed the female sexual forms as pulsating, fully empowered entities with a life of their own. His body of work before his death was a fierce expressionism, where both the human and landscape forms were torn and reconstructed."