Luis Desangles

Self-portrait (1900)

Juan Pablo Duarte Contemplating the Birth of the Republic

Luis Desangles Lubiles, known as "Sisito" (8 February 1861, Santo Domingo - 13 April 1940, Santiago de Cuba) was a Dominican painter who specialized in portraits and patriotic scenes. He is also credited with introducing the Costumbrista style there and created several church murals.

Biography[]

His father Pedro (Pierre) came from France. He initially studied art with a local painter named León Cordero. After Cordero's death in 1874, aged barely sixteen, he travelled to Italy to complete his studies. In 1883, he opened his first workshop in Santo Domingo.^[1]

Banished by Ulises Heureaux, he first went to Puerto Rico, where he befriended Eugenio María de Hostos, then to the United States, where he made the acquaintance of José Martí.^[2] He returned home in 1904, but was there only briefly before being appointed Consul for Santiago de Cuba by President Carlos Morales.

He would live in Cuba for the rest of his life and it became his second homeland. In 1912, he was appointed Director of the "Escuela Superior de Varones de San Cristóbal" (a boys' school) and later taught at the "Academia Municipal de Bellas Artes".^[2] In 1935, he was appointed Honorary Director of the "Escuela Provincial de Artes Plásticas de Santiago de Cuba" (now the "Escuela Provincial de Artes Plásticas José Joaquín Tejada")

He created numerous portraits of famous political figures, posthumously and from life, including Juan Pablo Duarte, Buenaventura Báez Méndez, Matías Ramón Mella, Ulises Francisco Espaillat, Francisco del Rosario Sánchez and Gregorio Luperón.^[2] Several well-known artists were among his students; notably Abelardo Rodríguez Urdaneta and Ramón Frade.

In October 2018, a major retrospective of his work was presented at the Museo Bellapart in Santo Domingo.^[3]

References[]

External links[]

Media related to Luis Desangles at Wikimedia Commons