Fernando Botero

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Fernando Botero

• not just another chubby face

By Laura Huertero, Fairmont High
School HuerteroL.FHS_at_robeson.k12.nc.us
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Boteros Beginnings

• In 1932, Botero was born in Medellín, Colombia,
  a land of great beauty and strife.

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• Botero is now one of the world's richest and
  most successful artists... Some critics regard
  his work as predictable and shallow popular
  in the worst sense of the word. Botero admits
  that people relate more readily to his style than
  to more abstract or conceptual works, but is
  proud of that fact. It communicates very easily
  with people, he says.
• Vivienne Walt Time

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Botero Before

• Before becoming a world-famous painter, however,
  Botero studied to become a matador. For this
  reason, many of his earlier paintings depict bull
  fighting scenes.

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Still Life with Mandolin 1956

• Boteros puffy style started in still life
  before infusing his takes on classic paintings
  and original artwork featuring pudgy people and
  animals.

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Boteros style

• Even the name Botero is shorthand for one of
  his paintings or one of his trademark pudgy
  figures, and if someone whispers Botero-esque
  as you waddle by, you can be sure that it's time
  to start losing a few.
• Philip Kennicott, Washington Post

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Even his animalseven his sculpturesare chubby!
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Boteros Vision

• It isn't clear whether Botero sees his Boteros
  quite like we do, as slightly ridiculous figures,
  a particular species with all the grotesquerie
  but little of the visual sting of caricatures
  such as the decadent old men and prostitutes of
  George Grosz. He seems to see the world through
  the medium of his tubbies, and they are
  essentially neutral objects, which can be fit to
  multiple purposes
• Philip Kennicott

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Parody

• Some of Boteros works use his trademark style
  to parody famous paintings. Compare

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The Arnolfini
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Social Satire

• Boteros chubby characters can also depict daily
  life in Colombia, as in this depiction of an
  upper middle class family.

What do the proportions in this painting tell you
about Boteros views on the bourgeoisie? What
about the figures positions?
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Botero and Religion

• Notice how religious figures can be held up for
  ridicule also. Does this priest look like
  someone anyone would take seriously?

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What do you see?
What does the background of this painting
indicate to you?
How do the figures depicted fit in this setting?
What about their clothes?
Look at the proportions of the two figures. What
do you think the sizes indicate?
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Junta Militar 1973
At first glance the work is a signature Botero -
full figures in bright, flat colors but a
second reading evokes the kernel of his
developing fascination with the military and on a
more emotional level, issues such as loss,
sadness and nostalgia. Junta Militar exudes a
slightly unsettling atmosphere and in its mild,
almost deceiving way, it is a milestone on the
artists road to uncovering the many layers of
societys dehumanization which often occurs at
the hands of politicians and generals. Artnexus.c
om
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Drug Wars in Colombia

• For decades, Botero avoided depicting the
  horrors of the civil war and cruelties of drug
  trafficking in his native country.

In 2000, after his own son, a politician, was
convicted of taking drug money, Botero could keep
silent no longer.
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The Role of Drugs and War
Which character represents the drug traffickers?
How can you tell?
What does the other figure indicate about the
drug trades effect on Colombias citizens?
How does Botero use color in this painting to
make his point?
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The Cost of War

• Guerrilla warfare and drug disputes have been
  tearing Colombia apart for over 40 years.

The focus of this painting is completely
different from Boteros earlier works. Whats
different, and why the shift?
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Land mines

• Based on the annual report from Landmine
  Monitor, an international organization
  established in 1999, Colombia is third in the
  list of countries with the greatest number of
  anti-personnel land mine victims, following
  Cambodia and Afghanistan. Land mines claim two or
  three victims every day in Columbia, which is
  accountable for more than 13 percent of the land
  mine related accidents in the world.
• Vinicius Souza and Maria Eugênia Sá Worldpress.org

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Whats Changed?

• Botero has not given up his trademark style, but
  the figures in this painting (cropped) hardly
  resemble the chubby Mona Lisas, ballerinas, and
  even priests of the past. What sets these
  paintings apart?

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Remember Abu Ghraib?

• The United States took a beating in world
  opinion when photos of torture were released from
  the prison at Abu Ghraib. After this dismal
  episode, Boteros social critiques expanded
  beyond his native Colombia.

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Abu Ghraib Style Choices

• Flesh tones are sunburned or sickly green, and
  the backgrounds are dark military greens, ochre
  tiles and a black void seen through prison bars.
  Many of the works were done in charcoal or
  pencil, with a splash of rust color soaking
  through, to indicate blood. The rare bright spots
  in the paintings come from the paraphernalia of
  sadism a blue latex glove worn by an American
  captor, strangely festive blindfolds, or
  bright-red women's underwear, used to demean and
  embarrass the men.
• Philip Kennicott

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Interpretation

• The men at Abu Ghraib may not have been
  skeletal, but they weren't pleasantly plump, a
  condition that suggests (in artistic terms)
  bourgeois prosperity or complacency. Indeed,
  being fat, in our image-conscious society, is
  almost the same as being guilty
• Phillip Kennicott

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Comparing Cultures

• We might not have land mines or guerrilla
  warfare, but we in the United States still face
  our own problems daily.

What social issues do you see around you?
In your school?
In your community?
In your country?
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Choose a Cause

• Choose one of the problems you see around you to
  address artistically, as Botero has.

As Botero is both a painter and a sculptor, you
may choose your medium.
Well, you can use markers or play dough.
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Making a Statement

• Before you are granted access to your medium,
  you must first come up with a statement of what
  issue you will depict and how you will show the
  problem, as well as its connection to Boteros
  work.

Spanish II your statement can be very simple,
but it must be in Spanish!
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The Botero Effect

• To achieve Boteros chubby style, consider
  starting your drawing with pencilled ovals, or
  your sculpture by fitting puffy lumps together.

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As your creation comes to life, consider
Proportion
Color
and Position
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Works Cited

• Fernando Botero. Answers.com. 2007. Answers
  Corporation. 06 May 2007. lthttp//www.answers.com/
  topic/fernando-botero-1gt.
• Kennicott, Philip. A Conflict of Images.
  washingtonpost.com. 14 Oct 2006. The Washington
  Post. 06 May 2007. lthttp//www.washingtonpost.com/
  wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/13/AR2006101301826.
  htmlgt.
• Matta, Botero and Rivera Lead Latin American Art
  at Christies. ArtNexus.com. 2007. ArtNexus.com.
  06 May 2007. lthttp//www.artnexus.com/ANnewsdetail
  /15151gt.

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Works Cited

• Souza, Vinicius and Maria Eugênia Sá. In
  Colombia, Land Mines Claim Three Victims a Day.
  22 Feb 2006. Worldpress.org. 07 May 2007.
  lthttp//www.worldpress.org/Americas/2271.cfmgt.
• Walt, Vivienne. Nice Round Figures. Time. 12
  Jun 2005. CNN. 07 May 2007. lthttp//www.time.com/t
  ime/magazine/article/0,9171,1071199-1,00.htmlgt.

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For More Information

• Check out Sra. H.s bookmarks on Colombia and
  Botero at
• Del.icio.us/Huerter0/Colombia