Culture will Dedicate National Biennial of Visual Arts to Fernando Peña Defilló

Culture will Dedicate National Biennial of Visual Arts to Fernando Peña Defilló
Santo Domingo, 22 de Abril de 2015

With a special dedication to the illustrious Dominican visual artist Fernando Peña Defilló, the Ministry of Culture will hold the 28th edition of the 2015 National Biennial of Visual Arts.

For his career and significant contributions to the national arts, the Organizing Committee of the 28th edition of the event unanimously decided to dedicate such high recognition to Maestro Peña Defilló, according to the state agency. The details of the recognition were notified to the Executive Director of the Fernando Peña Defilló Museum Foundation, George Manuel Hazoury Peña, during a visit to the Foundation. The visit was headed by the Deputy Minister of Institutional Development, Mr. Carlos Santos, representing the Minister Culture, singer and songwriter José Antonio Rodríguez.

Mr. George Manuel Hazoury Peña, on behalf of the family and the Foundation, thanked the Ministry of Culture for its interest in honoring and recognizing the artistic and intellectual trajectory of Maestro Peña Defilló. Hazoury also said that the Maestro expressed gratitude at the news of the dedication of this year’s National Biennial of Visual Arts to him, personally, as well as to honor his artistic career. In addition, he announced that the Foundation will collaborate with this important event of the national visual arts to make it a successful one.

During the meeting, the scheduled activities of the Biennial were announced, which will include a retrospective of the works of Maestro Fernando Peña Defilló at the National Gallery of the Palace of Fine Arts, a day of lectures, conferences, and discussions about the life and work of the famous Dominican artist.

The visit lasted three hours and the following authorities were present: Mrs. María Elena Ditrén, Director of the Museum of Modern Art and Mrs. Marianne de Tolentino, Director of the National Gallery of Fine Arts, representing the Committee of the Biennial; the Fernando Peña Defilló Foundation was represented by Mr. George Manuel Hazoury Peña, Executive Director of the Fernando Peña Defilló Museum, and Mr. Alex Martínez Suárez, Architect, General Coordinator and Coordinator of Museology. Ms. Irasema Jiminián, Communications Director of the MINC, was also present.

On behalf of the Ministry of Culture, the Deputy Minister of Institutional Development thanked the directors of the Fernando Peña Defilló Foundation for their hospitality and interest shown by the cultural entity.

The rules and program of the 28th Biennial of Visual Arts, will be announced at a press conference next week.

Biography: Fernando Peña Defilló

He was born in Santo Domingo, in 1928. He studied at the National School of Fine Arts in Santo Domingo, where he was taught by renowned Spanish artists, including José Gausachs, Manolo Pascual and Vela Zanetti, and by Dominican Maestros Celeste Woss and Gilberto Hernández Ortega. In 1951, Defilló traveled to Madrid, Spain, where, in addition to being a guest student at the San Fernando School of Art, he received private lessons in the studio-workshop of the famous painter Daniel Vázquez Díaz.

Santos reported that details of the rules and installation of the event will be announced during a press conference to be held at the MINC headquarters next week.

Defilló returned home in 1963 to continue developing his fruitful career. Then, 25 years ago, he retired to Jarabacoa, where he found the time and the perfect space to capture images that seethed and continue to seethe in his head, as he himself has expressed.

The Fernando Peña Defilló Museum: is located in an antique 17th century home, across the street from the Regina Angelorum church and the old Santa Catalina de Siena Monastery, on the José Reyes Street, corner with Padre Billini, in the Colonial City.

During the visit to the Fernando Defilló Museum, Mr. Carlos Santos, MINC’s Deputy Minister of Institutional Development; Mr. George Manuel Hazoury Peña, Executive Director of the Fernando Defilló Museum Foundation; María Elena Ditrén, Director General of the Museum of Modern Art; Marianne de Tolentino, Director of the National Gallery of Fine Arts; Irasema Jiminián, Director General of Communications at MINC; and, Alex Martínez Suárez, Architect, General Coordinator, and Museology Coordinator of the Fernando Defilló Museum.

The Fernando Peña Defilló Museum