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Guillermo Silva Santamaria
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Colombia
• 1921
- 2007
Biography
Guillermo Silva SantamarÃa (June 7, 1921 – June 29, 2007) was a Colombian surrealist painter, printmaker, and sculptor, renowned for his exceptional mastery of intaglio and his works with vibrant colors and medieval themes. Born in Bogotá, he began his artistic training in 1937 in Paris under the tutelage of French master Pierre Daguet, adopting an impressionist style influenced by Van Gogh. Returning to Colombia in 1939, he founded the country's first stained-glass workshop with French artist Jean Crotti in 1949. In 1950, he taught at the School of Fine Arts in Bogotá.
In 1956, Silva SantamarÃa moved to Mexico to study printmaking at the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda" under Isidoro Ocampo. The following year, he perfected his printing techniques at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. His works, often satirical, address social realities through depictions of medieval knights and absurd battles, exploring the absurdity of war with fantastical designs and innovative printing processes.
Silva SantamarÃa has exhibited on four continents, including at the Museum of Modern Art in Bogotá, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. He also taught at the Universidad Iberoamericana and the National Autonomous University of Mexico, training an entire generation of printmakers in Mexico City.
In the 1980s, he spent a decade in India studying yoga, then returned to Europe, settling in Malaga, Spain, where he continued to paint and also devoted himself to sculpture. From 1993, he spent his summers in Norway, regularly exhibiting his works. Guillermo Silva SantamarÃa died on June 29, 2007, near Roenland, Norway.
His works are held in prestigious collections such as the Brooklyn Museum, which owns his 1960 print "Medieval Combats," illustrating his interest in medieval themes and his mastery of printmaking techniques.
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