Fidelio Ponce

Los Niños - The Children

Fidelio Ponce. Was born in 1895, Camaguey and dies on February 19th, 1949, Havana.

Initiated studies in San Alejandro from 1913 through 1918, year in which disappeared until 1923. He moved to a suburb neighborhood where he teaches drawings to poor kids and works on commercial arts.

His first exhibitions at the Lyceum, becomes a great success for him. His work "Las Beatas" is awarded with a prize from El Salon Nacional, as well as prizes from El Salon de Arte Moderno in Havana, in 1937. At this time his career is in a roll; traveled to New York and open exhibitions in the Delphis Studio. Again, received first prize for his work "Los Niños" from the Salon Nacional, and then disappeared until 1940. The Museum of Modern Art in New York obtain his work: "Mujeres" as part of its permanent collection.

Ponce, which had a great personality, was a student of Romañach and his work was influenced by his academic procedures. Today his paintings are a disaster. Much of the colors are gone and the surfaces are cracked. He never took great care with his work, neither knew how to, since never learned methods for preparing the oils adequately. He was obsessed with the white color, which he used to call "pintura nacarada" in order to project light color from it. He enjoyed Kandinsky's famous words: "...white is a great silence full of possibilities.."