- Juan José Sicre
Infobox Person
name=Juan José Sicre
caption=
birth_date=1898
birth_place=Matanzas ,Cuba
death_date=1974
death_place=Cleveland ,Ohio ,USA Juan José Sicre (born Juan José Sicre Velez in 1898 – 1974) was one of the greatest Cuban sculptors. His most famous sculpture is of José Martí y Pérez (1958) (the
José Martí Memorial ) in thePlaza de la Revolución inHavana .Sicre graduated from an art academy in Havana in 1919 and earned an art scholarship to go to Europe where he studied in
Madrid at the Fine Arts School of San Fernando in and later underAntoine Bourdelle inParis , returning to Cuba in 1927. [cite web
url=http://www.askart.com/askart/artist.aspx?artist=120559
title=Juan Jose Sicre (1898 - 1974)
publisher=askart.com
accessdate=2007-08-05]Sicre, along with Gattorno and the painter Victor Manuel introduced European modern art style to Havana, and began Cuba's Modern Art Movement. He regularly contributed to the avant garde magazine, "Revista de Avance", which helped to establish a Cuban national identity in the arts from 1927-1934. Sicre became the professor of sculpture at the Academy of San Alejandro.
He is best known in Cuba for his huge monuments to José Martí,
Simón Bolívar , andVictor Hugo , all located in Havana. He also did statues ofEugenio María de Hostos in theDominican Republic and ofAlexandre Sabès Pétion and the Heroes of theBattle of Vertières inHaiti . In the United States he has a bust ofJohn F. Kennedy at theInter-American Development Bank . He also has in Washington, DC busts ofHenry Clay ,José Cecilio del Valle andRubén Darío at theOAS Building. InGainsville ,Florida , there is a bronze head of Martí at the Center of Latin American Studies of theUniversity of Florida . InCaracas ,Venezuela , he produced a monument toRómulo Gallegos .He was married to Silvia D. Escoubet and their son, Jorge Sicre Escoubet, lived in
Cleveland ,Ohio and played with the orchestra and his grandson,Jorge Luis Sicre-Gattorno (1958- ), is an accomplished painter in theUnited States . [cite web
url=http://www.jorgesicre.com/biography.html
title=Biography - Jorge Sicre
publisher=
accessdate=2007-08-05]Footnotes
References
* [http://www.dcmemorials.com/index_artist0000205.htm DC memorials by Sicre]
* [http://www.latam.ufl.edu/publications/Latinamericanist/Newsletter%20Fall%202006.pdf University of Florida for Latin American Studies article]
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