Rafael Ríos Rey (28 July 1911 – April 1980) was a Puerto Rican

mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...

ist. He is credited with being the first Puerto Rican muralist whose work received international recognition.

Early years

Ríos Rey was born in

Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce ( , , ) is a city and a Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The most populated city outside the San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Juan metropolitan area, Ponce was founded on August 12, 1692Some publ ...

, on 28 July 1911 in a family of artists. His father was Octavio Ríos De Jesús (1886–1933) who was a

scenographer A scenographer or scenic designer, also production designer, is a person who develops the appearance of a stage design, a TV or movie set, a gaming environment, a trade fair exhibition design or a museum experience exhibition design. The term ori ...

for Russian dancer

Anna Pavlova Anna Pavlovna Pavlova. (born Anna Matveyevna Pavlova; – 23 January 1931) was a Russian prima ballerina. She was a principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev, but is most recognized for creating ...

from 1918 to 1921. Ríos Rey studied art under

Miguel Pou Miguel Pou Becerra (24 August 1880 – 6 May 1968) was a Puerto Rican oil canvas painter, draftsman, and art professor. Together with José Campeche and Francisco Oller, he has been called "one of Puerto Rico's greatest masters." He was an ...

with such other disciples as

Olga Albizu Olga Albizu Rosaly (1924–2005) was an abstract expressionist painter from Ponce, Puerto Rico. Albizu Rosaly was the first woman dedicated to abstraction in Puerto Rico. Life Albizu was born to a relatively wealthy family and raised in Puerto ...

, Horacio Castaign, and Luis Quero Chiesa.

Career

In 1934 Rios Rey studied mural painting under the migrant Spanish mural artist Ismael D'Alzina. In 1936 Rios Rey traveled to New York City where he was exposed to the American muralist movement and the main expositors of Mexican muralism such as

Rufino Tamayo Rufino del Carmen Arellanes Tamayo (August 25, 1899 – June 24, 1991) was a Mexican painter of Zapotec peoples, Zapotec heritage, born in Oaxaca City, Oaxaca de Juárez, Mexico.Sullivan, 170-171Ades, 357 Tamayo was active in the mid-20th cen ...

José Clemente Orozco José Clemente Orozco (November 23, 1883 – September 7, 1949) was a Mexican caricaturist and painter, who specialized in political murals that established the Mexican Mural Renaissance together with murals by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siquei ...

and David Alfaro Sequeiros. He returned to Puerto Rico in 1937 where he established his painting studio. In 1950, Rios Rey traveled to Mexico where he studied metal engraving with Carlos Alvarado Lang,

scenography Scenography is the practice of crafting stage environments or atmospheres. In the contemporary English usage, scenography can be defined as the combination of technological and material stagecrafts to represent, enact, and produce a sense of plac ...

with Antonio López Mancera,

mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

with Jorge Best Benganzo and

painting with

José Chávez Morado José Chávez Morado (4 January 1909 – 1 December 2002) was a Mexican artist who was associated with the Mexican muralism movement of the 20th century. His generation followed that of Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siq ...

Style and characteristics

Ríos Rey works the subject of the farm worker, the landscape of the island of Puerto Rico and the many industries and infrastructure building projects that embodied the life of the Puerto Rican people in the first half of the twentieth century. Ríos Rey is the one Puerto Rican muralist that produced the largest number of murals in Puerto Rico – over eighty. His murals can be seen today at the Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño, Cervecería India,

Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Aeropuerto Internacional Luis Muñoz Marín'') , previously known as Isla Verde International Airport (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Aeropuerto Internacional de Isla Verde''), ...

, Little Rock School of Medicine, Ponce YMCA Building, and

Puerto Rico Iron Works Puerto Rico Iron Works (founded as ''Porto Rico Iron Works'') was a heavy industry iron foundry located in barrio La Playa (de Ponce), La Playa in Ponce, Puerto Rico. The company was founded in 1918. The foundry "was Puerto Rico's most prolifi ...

, in addition to many private residential locations. He also designed theatrical and

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

tic scenes in Puerto Rico and New York City. He painted numerous murals for hotels, banks, and public buildings. In addition he did art work for books. His works embodied the life of the poor jibaro countrymen on one end and the industrialization that took place in Puerto Rico in the 1950s at the other end.

Murals

Outstanding murals by Rios Rey are: * ''Tradiciones ponceñas.'' once Traditions(1953) at Plaza del Caribe, Ponce * ''La Fundición.''

he Foundry He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter call ...

(1953) at Empresas Ferre. (Now housing Trinity College of Puerto Rico),

Barrio Playa Barrio Playa, also known as Playa de Ponce, Ponce Playa, or La Playa, is one of the thirty-one barrios that comprise the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Bucaná, Canas, Vayas, and Capitanejo, Playa is one of the municipality' ...

, Ponce. * ''El Hombre.'' an(1955) at the Ponce YMCA Building, Ponce. There are also several Ríos Rey murals in the first floor of the Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño building (today, 2019, it is called Banco Santander), and at the "Mural de la Música" at the former Parque de Bombas on the southeast corner of Calle Cristina and Calle Mayor (now, 2019, Instituto de Música Juan Morel Campos).Mariano Vidal Armstrong. ''Ponce, Notas para su Historia.'' Second edition. 1986. p.63.

Last years and death

Rios Rey died in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan ( , ; Spanish for "Saint John the Baptist, John") is the capital city and most populous Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in the Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the ...

on 29 April 1980.

Honors and legacy

* University professor Néstor Murray Irizarry, wrote a biography of Rios Rey in 2001 titled ''Rafael Ríos Rey: ensayo de ensayo''. It was published on the 90th anniversary of the birth or Rafael Rios Rey (2001).

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rios Rey, Rafael 1911 births 1980 deaths Puerto Rican painters Painters from Ponce 20th-century male artists