Darío Suro

Dario Suro (June 13, 1917, La Vega – January 18, 1997, Santo Domingo) was a painter, critic and diplomat from the Dominican Republic. He was the nephew of painter Enrique García Godoy, his first art teacher. Along with Yoryi Morel and Jaime Colson, he is considered one of the founders of the modernist school of Dominican painting. Early on he became popular as an "impressionistic" landscape artist, who often painted horses and rainy scenes of the Cibao region of his country. Suro had his first one-man exhibition in 1938 at the Ateneo Dominicano in Santo Domingo. Subsequently the same exhibition was shown at the San Cristobal Ateneo and in 1939, he was included in group exhibitions in New York City, at the Riverside Museum and the Dominican Republic Pavilion at the World's Fair of that year. In 1940 Suro was included in the Inter-American Exhibition of the Caribbean organized by the Organization of American States. In that year he participated in a group show at the Ateneo Dominicano in Santo Domingo. In 1942 he had a solo exhibition at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes in Santo Domingo. The following year, 1943, he married Maruxa Franco Fernandez of Santiago and shortly after, they departed for Mexico where he was named Cultural Attaché at the Dominican Republic Embassy in that country. On the way they stayed in Havana for several weeks, where his bride's cousin, Tomas Hernandez Franco, was the Dominican Consul General to that city. Here he met with the young art critic José Gómez-Sicre, whom he had encountered previously in Santo Domingo. Later they would renew their friendship in Washington, D.C., where Gómez-Sicre was the founder and director of the Art Museum of the Americas, which was established in 1976 by the O.A.S. Permanent Council. While in Havana Suro also met and befriended important modern artists such as Fidelio Ponce, Carlos Enríquez and Amelia Peláez.

Finally arriving in Mexico after their fascinating Cuban "sejour", Suro confronted a very busy agenda. In addition to his duties as attaché, he enrolled at Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda", where he studied art for nearly four years with some of the most prestigious artists in contemporary Mexico, including Diego Rivera, Agustín Lazo, Guerrero Galván and Manuel Rodríguez Lozano. The young artist and diplomat soon befriended some of the most prominent people in Mexico City, then going through a remarkable golden cultural moment, including the great humanist, Alfonso Reyes, the art historian and critic Justino Fernández, painters María Izquierdo and Angelina Beloff (the first wife of Diego Rivera), writer and critic Agustín Velázquez Chávez and the Soviet Ambassador Constantine Alexandrovich Oumansky, who would die under unusual circumstances in 1945. José Clemente Orozco, Frida Kahlo, Hector Javier, Lupe Marin and José Vasconcelos, who would play a crucial role in the career of Dario Suro, are also among the many acquaintances cultivated at that time by the Suros. While in Mexico, in 1944, he received word that he had won the Second Prize (Silver Medal) at the Second National Fine Arts Biennial in Santo Domingo. Two years later he won First Prize (Gold Medal) at the Third National Fine Arts Biennial of the Dominican Republic.

The Mexican experience dramatically changed the art of Dario Suro. Walking away from a harmonious palette and the depiction of pleasant, often melancholy, genre scenes that made him so popular with his countrymen, he opted instead for something much more bold and jarring. Influenced by the Mexican nationalistic spirit that embraced all things ethnic, Suro adapted this tendency and created an equivalent Dominican vision heretofore unseen, a new kind of painting called "Negroide", which had its counterpart in Dominican literature of that time, namely in the poetry of his brother Rubén Suro ("Poemas De Una Sola Intencion"). Directly addressing multiracial issues (an obvious component of Dominican reality) through graphic images, was indeed a new approach in a nation where whitewashing was often the norm. Many Dominicans liked to think that their heritage derived exclusively from Spain, forgetting their important African legacy. Suro's take was confrontational and without apologies, creating imagery that made some of his countrymen uncomfortable. In 1946 he was included in a group show at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City and the following year he had a solo exhibition in the same august institution, an event that was widely covered in that city, bringing him recognition from some of the most important art critics - but perhaps leading to an eventual downfall vis-a-vis his own government. His name appeared on posters all over the city, as well as in the social columns accompanied by invitations from some of the most exclusive society circles. Everything seemed to be happening to Dario Suro in 1946: a solo exhibition in one of the most prestigious institutions of Mexico, the joy of being a father for the first time (his son Jaime was born the previous year) and a sudden fame accompanied with the feeling that Mexicans felt a certain kinship towards the young Dominican. All was about to change - his embassy job was suddenly terminated. Before he knew it, he was on a plane with his family going back home where he would be facing an uncertain future. Suro was told by unofficial sources that dictator Rafael Trujillo was not happy with the attention given to his cultural attaché by the Mexicans. This kind of situation was not uncommon in the regime of the megalomaniac autocrat: only he was allowed to shine!

Upon his return to Santo Domingo, Suro and his wife were warmly greeted by family and friends, while others, especially some who were close to Trujillo, kept a certain distance. But the fall from grace would be short lived. The legendary writer, philosopher and politician José Vasconcelos, who forged a friendship with the Suros in Mexico City, happened to arrive in Santo Domingo on an official visit and apparently raved to Trujillo about the recently repatriated diplomat and painter, whom he called "brilliant", strongly urging the Dominican leader to name Suro Director of Fine Arts of the nation. This happened in early 1947 and once again Dario Suro was not only accepted, but celebrated. In that year he had a solo exhibition at the National Palace of Fine Arts in Santo Domingo, which was immensely popular, incorporating most of the works that were shown in Mexico with a few recent Dominican additions. Maruxa Suro received phone calls from society ladies who were appalled by the new Suro. Overall, however, Dominicans were greatly impressed by a new dynamic vision of their nation forged in Mexico by a young Dominican. The successful exhibition was taken to Suro's home town, La Vega, where it was shown at the Biblioteca La Progresista, and received with warm enthusiasm. As Director of Fine Arts, Suro was once again in the spotlight, receiving distinguished guests, including Alicia Markova and Anton Dolin and groups like the celebrated "Coros y Danzas" from Spain. He was responsible for overseeing new exhibitions at the Palacio de Bellas Artes and setting up cultural programs. He also gave lectures covering a wide range of themes, like the one on his friend José Clemente Orozco, "La Muerte de Orozco", which he gave at the Instituto Dominico Americano in Santo Domingo. In 1948 he participated in the 4th National Biennial of Fine Arts.

At this time the Suro family would go through dramatic, painful changes. His son, Jaime, died suddenly shortly before his second birthday, a tragedy that would deeply mark the Suros for the rest of their lives. This sad moment became an obsessive recurring leitmotif in several of his paintings. Depicting the dead child becomes a kind of catharsis in those canvases; the native Baquini ritual of burying children becomes an important point of identity for the artist. In 1948, his son Federico was born and the following year his daughter Rosa. In 1950, Suro's life would once again change when he was sent to Spain as Cultural Attaché of the Dominican Republic. Arriving in Madrid, with his family, he was about to embark on an exciting and stimulating adventure. Suro befriended some of the most outstanding Spanish artists of that time, including Antonio Saura, Antoni Tàpies, Manolo Millares, and forged a special friendship with the extraordinary painter Jose Caballero ("Pepe") and his wife Maria Fernanda. Caballero had been a close friend of Federico García Lorca, Pablo Neruda, Luis Buñuel and others. In fact, he often created posters and designed sets for the plays of Lorca when they were first presented. Most important of all for Suro would be his contact with the great art of Spain, especially his favorites Velázquez, El Greco and Goya. Living in Europe also facilitated extensive travel to other nations, that included visiting great museums in Paris, London, Amsterdam, etc. He especially loved Italy where he devoured the work of the great Italians, including his idol Piero de la Francesca. Combining diplomacy and art, as in Mexico, Suro participated in group exhibitions in Madrid and Barcelona, as well as faraway places like San Francisco (Legion of Honor) and Pittsburgh (Carnegie Institute). He was invited to participate in the prestigious Salon de Los Once in 1951, along with ten other artists, a venue organized by the philosopher Eugeni d'Ors. The same year he participated in the First Hispano-American Biennial that was presented both in Madrid and Barcelona, where he also had a solo exhibition at the Galeria Caralt that was enthusiastically received by the Catalans. He represented the Dominican Republic in several important congresses (including Congreso de la Cooperacion Intellectual Latino Americano—1952) while continuing his travels throughout the Iberian peninsula and several other European nations.

In terms of his artistic development, Spain made a crucial difference. This is where Suro painted his first abstract canvases, influenced by European trends that were in sharp contrast to the world of Rivera. But as in Mexico, his busy professional life came to an abrupt end. Once again his job was suddenly terminated, without any explanation. Suro then decided to return to the Dominican Republic via the long route traveling south by train with his family and finally boarding a ship in Cadiz; on the way they visited some of the great Spanish cities that are rich in cultural sites. Upon arrival in Santo Domingo the same scenario was repeated that they experienced upon their return from Mexico. The Suros heard gossip about the termination of his job, and a close friend who happened to be related to the wife of dictator Rafael Trujillo warned them, recommending that they leave Santo Domingo and go somewhere like New York City. Apparently there was talk about the former attaché being the only Dominican artist who had not done a portrait of "El Jefe". Yet if Suro had painted Trujillo in his non-conventional style he would have confronted serious problems. Leaving their country in that era was nothing simple. Both Dario and Maruxa were interrogated separately and treated like culprits but in a fairly short time they were on their way to New York in 1953. Their children would join them the following year.

Dario Suro's New York experience would be decidedly different from his Mexico City and Madrid years. With very limited English, the couple had a diffilcult time adjusting to the metropolis. His wife immediately found work as a seamstress in a factory on 40th Street, in the heart of the garment district. On the other hand Dario had a harder time. Visiting several establishments that hired artists to do fairly routine work, he soon realized that there was less of a demand for those in his field. Suro never forgot being turned down by a sympathetic manager who, nevertheless, handed him a note of recommendation that he wrote to another company that read: "You might want to hire this guy; he's nice and he seems to be on the level". He finally found a job on 23rd Street, in a factory where artists painted porcelains, screens and other objects. They were given models to work from, with a limited freedom of artistic expression. His coworkers were talented men from all over the world who were in the same predicament as Suro, earning minimal wages and often under a gruelling schedule. Nevertheless, Suro wasted no time in exploring the New York art scene. He immediately started contacting dealers and gallery owners like Rose Fried, Betty Parsons, Leo Castelli and others. As an art critic Suro was a pioneer, writing the first in-depth critical articles on both Mondrian and Stuart Davis in Spanish. He reintroduced the work of Joaquín Torres García to the artists within the Rose Fried Gallery circle, where he was asked to write the text of an accompanying monograph for the breakthrough exhibition of Torres-Garcia that took place in 1960. Among the artists befriended by Dario Suro in New York were Fritz Glarner, Ronnie Elliott, Jean Arp, Stuart Davis, Adolf Fleischmann, Minna Citron, Bud Hopkins, Burgoyne Diller, Philip Guston, Charmion von Wiegand, John Grillo, Jean Xceron, Judith Rothschild, Lil Picard, Esteban Vicente, Raymond Hendler, John Hultberg and Lynne Drexler. In spite of his busy schedule, working in the factory and painting at home, he managed to write for many important international publications, including the Paris based Aujourd'hui and the Madrid based Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos, and he was a frequent contributor at El Caribe and other newspapers back home in the Dominican Republic.

Thanks to his oppressive job he met Herman Somberg, one of his coworkers who was a quintessential New Yorker and a talented artist who happened to be one of the closest friends of Franz Kline. After a certain reluctance the latter finally agreed to meet Suro and the two became fast friends (later Suro reminisced about the encounter and ensuing friendship in an article written for Americas Magazine "Franz Kline - Freedom and Space" in 1969). He frequented the Cedar Tavern which he later called "one of the great universities of my life" and the place where he drank seriously along with his growing number of acquaintances. Another special friend was Philip Guston, who was fluent in Spanish. Suro would write to him in Spanish and Guston would answer back in English, sometimes addressing him as "Querido Amigo Dario". Many of the friends that he met early on through Rose Fried were part of the Neo-Plasticist world. Fritz Glarner had been a close friend of Piet Mondrian, a kindred spirit and the man who photographically documented the New York studio of the famous Dutch artist. Glarner was an important artist who often received commissions from Nelson Rockefeller. He embellished public areas with his paintings throughout New York City, including the lobby of the Time Life building and the library of the United Nations. One of Dario Suro's most intriguing friends was the phenomenal German Dadaist poet, writer and drummer Richard Huelsenbeck who was also a psychiatrist who went by the name Charles R. Hulbeck. As in Mexico and in Spain, Suro changed his style once again, expressing himself through geometric abstract images and eventually going on to works that were decidedly informal and expressionistic.

He participated in group shows at the Rose Fried Gallery, like the International Collage Exhibition in 1956. Barbara Guest covering this show for Arts Magazine mistook Suro for a Spaniard but made the following observation "Suro has carried the Dada idea along, with a frank assemblage of numbers which would have delighted le grand maitre Picabia". Dario Suro also participated in many group shows, like "International Avant Garde Perspectives" at the Newport Art Association in 1959, and he finally had a solo exhibition at the Poindexter Gallery, in Manhattan, in 1962. The new paintings were both a reflection of his American experience, as well as his life-long obsession with Spain - several paintings were entitled "Tauromaquia", Suro's homage to Goya. Unfortunately, the exhibition coincided with a major newspaper strike and Suro did not receive a normal press coverage. John Gruen, in The Herald Tribune, among the few periodicals that covered the event wrote the following: "A Dominican artist who has shown extensively in Europe but not previously here offers oils and collages in intensely muted colors flavored with textual elements reminiscent of the Spanish concern with the "earth". They are strong, bold and terse". He received a congratulatory letter from his old friend Vela Zanetti, who visited the exhibition and was both impressed and surprised by the new paintings commenting to Suro that they were quite a departure from his past work. The art magazines had overall positive comments as well. Art News noted: "Dario Suro was born in the Dominican Republic in 1918 and has studied in Mexico (with Diego Rivera among others) and in Europe. He has been in New York since 1953. Although this is his first New York one-man show, he is hardly a newcomer- he has been seen in several big international exhibitions. He works in black, grey or white, sometimes in monochromes and tends to mix mediums like charcoal, watercolor and ink. He also works with collage or combines collage with paintings. In certain works it is as though the artist had not interfered or intervened in any way- the surface puckers or wrinkles, and seems like a natural instead of an artificial surface. One of the best works, "Day and Night - Homage to Kline", is clearly something produced by an artist. It looks as though he first made a painting, then tore it up into strips and made an entirely different work out of them. The strips, like large calligraphy, flash brilliantly, light on dark."

Dario Suro's life in New York was tough but stimulating and productive. In 1961 events in his homeland would once again change his situation. Dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo was assassinated and Juan Bosch, Suro's childhood friend, who was elected President of the Dominican Republic in 1962, named him Cultural Attaché at the Embassy in Washington as well as at the Organization of American States (OAS) in the same city. Suro would remain in these posts for practically the rest of his life. The capital of the US would not offer quite the same artistic stimulus as New York but his new job would be more comfortable and better-paying. Suro continued painting and exhibiting worldwide until the last years. His painting went through new phases, constantly changing his style, and in his last decade he revisited old themes, often combining them and coming up with something new in the process. He also continued writing, frequently contributing to Americas Magazine, several Dominican publications like Ahora and Listin Diario, as well as international ones like Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos and Acento Cultural. He was promoted from Attaché to Counselor (1965) to Minister Counselor (1967) to Minister Plenipotentiary, Deputy Chief of Mission (1970) and finally Adjunct Ambassador, Alternate Representative (1980). In October 1996 he returned to the Dominican Republic with his wife, Maruxa. He was hoping to concentrate completely on his art, developing new ideas for paintings inspired by shadows; however, he died the following January. His funeral was attended by many friends, as well as Dominican dignitaries; three former Dominican presidents were present, including Salvador Jorge Blanco, Donald Reid Cabral and Juan Bosch, who told the Suro family "Dario Suro was not only a great artist, he was a great Dominican".

Suro was the first artist to receive "El Premio Nacional de Artes Plasicas" of the Dominican Republic in 1993, which was presented to him by President Joaquín Balaguer. The prestigious "Orden de Duarte, Sanchez y Mella" medal was presented posthumously to his widow by President Leonel Fernández in 1999. A comprehensive retrospective, "Dario Suro 1917–1997 : Metamorfosis y Transmigracones", was organized at the Centro Cultural de Espana in Santo Domingo, curated by Ricardo Ramon Jarnes, Laura Gil and Marianne de Tolentino in 2001. The 4th Caribbean Biennial (2002), dedicated to Suro, was organized by Sara Herman, Director of the National Gallery of Modern Art of the Dominican Republic; Ricardo Ramon Jarnes and Laura Gil curated an accompanying retrospective exhibition. President Hipolito Mejia and Vice President Milagro Ortiz Bosch opened this biennial. In 1981 Dario Suro assessed his approach to art in the following manner: "I have always been motivated by the existential condition of an object and not by the development of a style." More recently, Art historian and critic Alejandro Anreus, who often wrote about Dario Suro, offered a more complete summary of his multi-faceted career as follows. "Stylistically Suro transformed the social realism of the Mexican muralists into a neo-realist aesthetic charged with an existential view of tragedy. By the 1950s he had already painted in a kind of pre-Pop Art when he completed his numeric series, and in the 1960s his abstract expressionist phase was a highly original one where the stain, more than the gesture, was his proffered mark-making strategy, while his palette was evocative of 17th century Spanish painting. His erotic period (1970s) culminated in an obsessive calligraphic use of thin, transparent layers of paint, where lines constructed the female sexual forms as pulsating, fully empowered entities with a life of their own. His body of work before his death was a fierce expressionism, where both the human and landscape forms were torn and reconstructed."

References

• La Pintura Moderna at the Museo Bellapart
• Museo de Arte Moderno. Santo Domingo.
• Berardo Collecton. Lisboa.
• Latin Art Museum - Fernando Urena Rib (online). "Trascendencia en la obra de Dario Suro."

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• Alfonso Reyes. Dario Suro Exhibition Catalogue. (Commentaries by Alfonso Reyes and María Izquierdo) Palacio de Bellas Artes. Mexico City. 1946.
• Juan Almagre. "Notas de Arte." Ultimas Noticias del Excelsior. Mexico D.F. 1946.
• Chouchette Tourres. "Exposicion Dario Suro". Revista Manana. Mexico D.F, 1946.
• Adolfo Salazar. "Las Artes En Mexico De Semana A Semana." Novedades. Mexico D.F. 1946.
• R. Cortes Tamayo. "Dario Suro Pintor Dominicano." Prensa Grafica - Seccion de Arte y de Letras. Mexico D.F. Oct. 21, 1946.
• Benito Benitez. "Dario Suro." Prensa Grafica - Seccion de Arte y de Letras. Mexico D.F. October, 1946.
• Luis Lara Pardo. "Cuadros de Dario Suro." Revista de Revistas - Seccion Exposiciones, page 39. Mexico City. Nov. 10, 1946.
• María Izquierdo. "Anoche se inauguro la exposiccion del pintor Dario Suro." El Nacional. Mexico D.F. October, 1946.
• Agustin Velazquez Chavez. "Dario Suro." Ars. Mexico D.F. November 13, 1946.
• Jose Maria Garcia Rogriguez. "D. Suro o Lo Humano En La Angustia Del Hombre". La Nación. Santo Domingo. June 17, 1948.
• Freddy Gaton Arce. "La Medida - Oleo de Suro". El Caribe - page 9. Santo Domingo. July 18, 1949.
• Dario Suro. "Orozco en su sitio." Cuadernos Dominicanos de Cultura - Ano VI, Num 73 - page 16. Santo Domingo. September 1949.
• Dario Suro. "El Mundo Magico Taíno." Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos - Numéro 17 -page 259. Madrid. September–October 1950.
• Jose Llado de Cosso. "Un gran pintor dominicano habla de una gran exposicion." El Día. Tegucigalpa. March 31, 1951.
• Dario Suro. "La pintura de Esteban Vicente." El Mundo. San Juan. July 29, 1951.
• Cecilio Barberan. "Arte de Hoy en Madrid - Suro en el Salon de los 11." Informaciones. Madrid 1951.
• Rufo Velazquez. "VIII Salon de los Once." Arte. Madrid. 1951.
• Figuerola Ferretti. "Octavo Salon de los Once (Sala Biosca)." Arte. Madrid. 1951.
• Rafael Santos Torroella. "1 Bienal Hipanoamericana de Arte." Mundo Hispanico - N 46. Madrid. 1952.
• Carlos Edmundo Ory. "Exposiciones de la Semana." Diario de Barcelona. Barcelona. March 15, 1952.
• A. Cirici Pelicer. "Dario Suro." Hoy - Seccion La Forma Viva, page 21. Barcelona, March 18, 1952.
• Carlos Edmundo Ory. "Nuestro Tiempo - Poesia & Pintura". (Suro and Ory collaborative monograph) Madrid. 1952.
• Horia Tanasescu. "Exposicion Retrospectiva de Dario Suro". El Caribe. Santo Domingo. June 7, 1953.
• Dario Suro. "Dos Pintores Americanos: Davis y Glarner." El Caribe; page 11. Santo Domingo. Jan 9, 1955.
• Vela Zanetti. "Les Arts Plastiques". La Revue Française - Nro. 56 - 6 annee - pages 67, 68, 69 & 70. Paris. May 1954.
• Barbara Guest. "Notes on Collage" Arts - Vol. 30, No. 6 - page 51. New York. 1956.
• Dario Suro. "L'espace: Mondrian et Picasso". Aujourd'hui - Art & Architecture; n. 20, page 28. Paris. Decembre 1958.
• Dario Suro. "Joaquín Torres García" (monograph). Rose Fried Gallery. New York. 1960.
• Dario Suro. "De Malevich A Demain." Aujourd'hui - Art & Architecture; n. 29, page 54. Paris. Decembre 1960.
• Florencio Garcia Cisneros. 40 Latin American Artists In New York, New York. 1960.
• Dario Suro. "The Baroque in Santo Domingo." Americas. Washington, D.C. 1963.
• Dario Suro. "Torres Garcia of Uruguay, Universal Constructionist." Americas - Volume 17, Number 3 -page 24. Washington, D.C. March, 1965.
• Dario Suro. "Stuart Davis (1894–1964)." America. Washington, D.C. 1965.
• Dario Suro. "Taíno Sculpture - Of Artists and Owls." Americas - Volume 18, Number 3 -page 21. Washington, D.C. March, 1966.
• Dario Suro. "Estilo y Condicion." El Nacional de Ahora - page 25. Santo Domingo. October 29, 1967.
• Maria Ugarte. "La Pintura De Dario Suro Esta En Continua Evolucion." El Caribe. Santo Domingo. February 7, 1967.
• Dario Suro. Arte Dominicano (first comprehensive history of Dominican Art). Santo Domingo; Publicaciones AHORA, C. por A.; 1968.
• Dario Suro. "Franz Kline - Freedom and Space." Americas - Volume 20, Number 6 -page 21. Washington, D.C. June, 1968.
• Dario Suro. "Taíno Sculpture" (Part 2). Americas - Volume 20, Number 11-12. Washington, D.C. Nov-Dec, 1968.
• Dario Suro. Colson - Dominicano Universal. Publicaciones Ahora. Santo Domingo. 1969.
• Dario Suro. "Construccion de un Desorden." Ahora - N. 440. Santo Domingo. April 17, 1973
• Dario Suro. "Thomas Jefferson, the Architect." Americas - Volume 25, Numbers 11, 12 -page 29. Washington, D.C. Nov-Dec, 1973.
• Humberto Soto Ricart. "Dario Suro y Su Proxima Exposicion Retrospectiva". El Nacional De Ahora - Suplemento Dominical - Paginas 4 & 5. Santo Domingo. December 8, 1974.
• Rafael Squirru. Arte De America (El Arte Erotico De Dario Suro - pages 361 -363). Buenos Aires; Ediciones Gaglianone; 1978.
• Jeannette Miller. "Suro: Drama y Movimiento; Una Magnifica Retrospectiva." El Caribe; page 14. Santo Domingo, October 31, 1981.
• Marianne de Tolentino. "Historica y Joven Retrospectiva de Dario Suro" Listin Diario (3 Part Article). Santo Domingo, Oct.-Nov. 1981.
• Danilo de los Santos. "1. La Leccion Retrospectiva De Dario Suro: Impressionismo, Realismo Racial y Expresionismo". Hoy - Suplemento Isla Abierta - Pages 4 & 5. Santo Domingo. November 21, 1981.
• Danilo de los Santos. "2. La Leccion Retrospectiva De Dario Suro: Informalismo, Neopaisajismo y Figuracion Fraccionada". Hoy - Suplemento Isla Abierta - Pages 4 & 5. Santo Domingo, November 28, 1981.
• Marianne de Tolentino. "Bienvenido Sea El Desafio De Dario Suro". Listin Diario (Suplemento) Page 20, Santo Domingo, Nov.28, 1987,
• Laura Gil. "En La Galeria - Dario Suro". El Caribe, Santo Domingo, Page 13, Dec. 5, 1987.
• Jeannette Miller. "La Pintura Bestial de Dario Suro". Hoy (Seccion Temas Especial Para HOY EN LA GALERIA) Santo Domingo, Dec. 12, 1987.
• Laura Gil. "Rafael Squirru: Dario Suro es uno de los Grandes Maestros de Latino America". El Caribe - page 13. Santo Domingo. December 1, 1990.
• Alejandro Anreus. "Three Latin American Masters." Montclair Museum. Montclair, New Jersey. 1993.
• Alejandro Anreus. "Dario Suro: The Mexican Period"; STET- Ano 2-numero 2-Paginas 18 & 19; New York. Fall 1994.
• Leslie Bethel. The Cambridge History of Latin America - Volume 10 - Latin America Since 1930: Ideas Culture and Society. Page 414. Cambridge University Press, 1995.
• Edward J. Sullivan. "Dominican Crossroads" (from Modern and Contemporary Art of the Dominican Republic - page 13). Americas Society and the Spanish Institute. New York. 1996.
• Benjamin Ortiz & Gustvo Valdes Jr. "Art in Transit - A Dominican Experience". (Catalogue for the exhibit at INTAR Latin American Gallery). New York. 1996.
• Alejandro Anreus. "Dario Suro"; ARS Atelier. New York. Winter, 1997.
• Lolita de la Vega. "Dario Suro - Gran Pintor, Critico de Arte y Diplomatico." Temas magazine - Ano 47, No. 542; New York. February, 1997.
• Veerle Poupeye. Caribbean Art. London; Thames and Hudson; 1998.
• Gustavo Valdes Jr. "Dario Suro: La Herejia en el Arte". ARS Atelier - page 10. New York. Summer 1998.
• Federico Suro. "Dario Suro Fragmentado - Apuntes De Una Vida En Formato De Collage" Listin Diario - Ventana, Artes Y Letras-(3 part article). Santo Domingo. January 2, 9 & 16, 1999.
• Federico Suro. "Dario El Dibujante". El Caribe, Santo Domingo, page 20, January 9, 1999.
• Isabel Zakrzewski Brown. Culture and Customs of the Dominican Republic. - page 170. Westport, Connecticut; Greenwood Publishing Group; 1999.
• Sara Herman. "Ceremonias y Tiempos. Suro y Su Ritual. Dario y El Presente". ARS Atelier - page 15. New York. Spring 1999.
• Zoe Valdes. "Fantasia - Al Suro de todos los tiempos" (Short story dedicated to Dario Suro). ARS Atelier - page 17. New York. Spring 1999.
• Ana Mitila Lora. "Los Mexicanos Con Sus Indios, Los Dominicanos Con Sus Negros" (Interview with Maruxa Franco viuda Suro). Listin Diario - Seccion La Republica - MEMORIAS DEL PASADO - page 12 A - Santo Domingo; November 12, 1999.
• Ricardo Ramon Jarne (catalogue raisonné with essays by Maria Ugarte, Laura Gil and Marianne de Tolentinos). "Dario Suro 1917–1879 : Metamorfosis y Transmigraciones". Santo Domingo; Centro Cultural de Espana; 2001.
• Danilo De los Santos. "Memoria de la Pintura Dominicana" (8 volume Encyclopedia of Dominican Art). Santo Domingo & Santiago de los Caballeros. Grupo León Jimenes; 2003–2007.
• Jose del Calstillo Pichardo. "Dominican cultures: the making of a Caribbean society". Markus Wiener Publishers - page 73, 2007. (Published in Spanish in 1981 - Fundación Cultural Dominicana)
• Coleccion Permanente de Arte de la Camara de Diputados. (Several authors.) "Trascendencia y Esplendor." Santo Domingo. 2010.
• Candido Geron. Dominican Art - From Modernism to the Vanguard - 1940–2010. Santo Domingo. 2011.

Persondata
Name	Suro, Dario
Alternative names	Taíno
Short description
Date of birth	June 13, 1917
Place of birth	La Vega, Dominican Republic
Date of death	January 18, 1997
Place of death	Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic