FEBRUARY 7, 1934

CHILEAN MAPUCHE PRINTMAKER SANTOS CHAVEZ BORN

Santos, born in Canihual, Chile, studied at University (Univ.) of Concepción and was exposed to Tole Peralta & to Mexican muralism. Chávez also studied at the Catholic Univ. & Taller 99 in Santiago in 1961 focusing on lithography, etching, dry point & wood-block printing and, in 1968, at Pratt Institute of New York (NY) & the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Exiled from Chile in 1977, he worked in Stockholm and later in West Germany joining the National Association of Artists. In 1994, back in Santiago, he was commissioned to illustrate Pablo Neruda’s poetry collection, All the Songs – You. Playa Ancha Univ. of Educational Studies named a scholarship for Mapuche artists for him. The Chilean National Council on Culture and the Arts offers an annual Santos Chávez Prize to an Indigenous artist. His works are found at: Museums (Mus.) of Modern Art in NY, Montevideo & Rio de Janeiro; Mus. of Contemporary Art, Santiago; Metropolitan Mus., NY; and National Mus. of the American Indian. He died January 2, 2001. 

Sources:

Susan Bonta, “Creador de la Vida,” Doris Ulmann Galleries.  Retrieved 9/22/2022, Creador de la Vida – Doris Ulmann Galleries (berea.edu)

Wikipedia

Photo:  Santos Chavez, 1968.  “Cabrita Suena Con La Luna.” Woodcut on paper. Courtesy of Smithsonian American Art Museum.  Source: Santos Chavez | Smithsonian American Art Museum (si.edu)