Rafael Soriano
Period: The Vanguard
1920 - 2015

Night Tree
Arbol Nocturno, ca 1980
oil on canvas
24 x 30 inches

Rafael Soriano was born on the Matanzas Province in Cuba in 1920 and studied at the the San Alejandro Academy of Fine Arts in Havana. During his studies, he became close friends with modernist painters Víctor Manuel García and Fidelio Ponce de León, as well as the critic Jose Goméz-Sicre, all figures who would prove very influential in the history of 20th century Cuban art. Soriano began painting in the 1940s, and became a distinguished practitioner of modern and concrete art in Cuba and Latin America. In 1943, he became a professor. Between 1958 and 1961 he was part of the renowned group of Ten Concrete Artists, which included Sandú Darié, Luis Martínez Pedro, Pedro de Oráa, Loló Soldevilla, and José María Mijares.

In 1962, he permanently left Cuba for the United States with his wife, Milagros, and their daughter, Hortensia, to resettle in Miami. Between 1967 and 1970, he was a professor of design and composition at the University of Miami. During this time, the artist was reinvigorated creatively, and was included in more than 50 personal shows and collective exhibitions throughout the United States and Latin America in galleries and museums. From 2013-2016, The Smithsonian Museum featured Soriano as part of its Latino Collection Artwork exhibition. Rafael Soriano died in Miami in 2015.