José Bernal

José Bernal ( born January 8, 1925 in Santa Clara, Cuba, † April 19, 2010 in Skokie, Illinois) is an American painter of Cuban origin. He was born in Santa Clara, in the former province of Las Villas, now Villa Clara, Cuba, was born. In 1980 he acquired the U.S. citizenship.

The Art of Jose Bernal presents a highly independent body of work dar. Its aesthetics comes from a fertile imagination, his Cuban origin and the experience of exile and new beginnings. Bernal's complete works from 1937 to today covers a broad spectrum of styles, sometimes alluding to the old masters, sometimes newer art movements quoting. His work has been described as a modernist, abstract and expressionistic, but the wide range of his art defies categorization. One can also refer to his work as a post- modern, especially since he rejects the concept of the new in art, a view he shares with the postmodern theory.

Biography

Life in Cuba

From early childhood, José Bernal taught intensively in art and music, encouraged and supported by his artistic parents. His studies led him to teach art. At the same time he studied at the Escuela de Artes Plásticas Leopoldo Romañach on, and where she earned a Master's degree ( Master of Fine Arts ). His musical and visual creations have been performed and exhibited in Santa Clara and Havana.

In 1961, during the invasion of the Bay of Pigs, Bernal was among the large number of Cubans who were arrested for " unpatriotic behavior ". After his release Bernal feared for his life and that of his family. He carefully planned with his wife, to leave the country with her three small children. However, it took more than a year, until they got visas in June 1962, she left Cuba.

Life in the USA

In Miami, the family Bernal reached the United States. They were due to lack of work opportunities, however, remain only a few months in Florida, and in the fall of 1962 in order to Chicago. Bernal had to earn a living for his family, but this proved difficult due to lack of language skills. He found a job at a company that use graphic designed. Bernal worked beside on to his private art works. During this time, his work underwent a change, which was caused by the change of the geographical environment. His palette was reflected in Cuba is not the bright, vivid colors of his homeland resist, in Chicago, however, he began his art represent the tropical colors of his Caribbean homeland.

In 1964 Bernal's art portfolio of one of the directors of Marshall Field's has been seen, admired his talent and offered him a position as a designer. The Director of Marshall Field 's Art Gallery persuaded Bernal to exhibit his impressionistic portraits, landscapes and still lifes. Shortly afterwards discovered Betty Parsons, an art dealer, artist and art collector, his works and began to organize a series of images, exhibitions and sales. The lucrative connection made ​​it possible for Bernal to give up his job at Marshall Field's and was able to work as a teacher again. Now he could practice his double space of teaching and painting.

After 1970, his MFA degree through the School of the Art Institute of Chicago had been recognized, Bernal taught art while working on his own creations, he also exhibited. Lydia Murman, an art critic of the New Art Examiner, wrote in 1981 about his Soloaussstellung of collages and assemblages:

" Bernal 's works INVOLVE the viewer Because They resurrect the concern for art as a communicative force. The viewer Reacts to the classical arrangement, in Which found objects are manipulated with a respect for Their physical properties and potential for Their symbolic value. While hot wood, old newspaper print, tarnished metal, and antique objects produce an aural did Absorbs the viewer and stirs archetypal images within his subconscious, some works, : such as " Balancing the Unbalanced ," In Which a faucet is Perceived as a faucet, invite the viewer to open the dialogue Concerning substance and illusion, art and reality. "

" Bernal's works draw the viewer with one, because they revive the interest in art as a communicative force. The viewer responds to the traditional configuration in which objects in respect of their physical properties and their possible symbolic be manipulated. Whereas warm wood, old newsprint, tarnished metal and antique objects produce an aura that not only attracts the audience, but making him see archetypal images in the subconscious. Some works, such as " Balancing the Unbalanced " in which a faucet is perceived as a faucet, invite the viewer to open a dialogue in terms of substance and illusion, art and reality. "

Although Bernal and his family did not want to admit it at first, began exhibiting in 1980 the first signs of Parkinson's disease, 1993, the disease was confirmed. However, the disease did not stop them from Bernal to continue painting, and he fought against the damage of the disease. In 2004, Bernal of the National Parkinson Foundation in Miami suggested to donate some of his paintings for subsequent auction to support the Institute financially. Bernal has now donated in this way nearly 300 images.

Bernal's work is commented on in two books by Dorothy Chaplik on Latin American art: Latin American Arts and Cultures and Defining Latin American Art / Hacia una definición del arte latinoamericano. In her essay The Art of José Bernal describes his art as multi-faceted, prolific and distinctive. Furthermore, it provides Bernal's artistic change is through the challenges in his life: the political unrest in Cuba, his personal struggle against Parkinson 's disease and its unerschüttliche turning to a life-affirming art ..

José Bernal died on 19 April 2010 at his home in Skokie Illinois to the consequences of his disease. Documents relating to his life and artistic work are the Julian Samora Library kept in the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and made ​​available for research.

Public collections

• San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, Texas
• Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona
• Asheville Art Museum, Asheville, North Carolina
• Cameron Art Museum, Wilmington, North Carolina
• McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas
• Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Evanston, Illinois
• The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
• Institute for Latino Studies / University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana
• Art Museum of the Americas, OAS, Washington, D.C.
• El Museo del Barrio, New York City, New York
• DePaul Art Museum, Chicago, Illinois
• Loyola University Museum of Art, Chicago, Illinois
• Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain