Elsa Núñez Was Presented the National Visual Arts Award 2014

Elsa Núñez Was Presented the National Visual Arts Award 2014
Santo Domingo, July 20 2015

The Ministry of Culture (MINC) presented the National Visual Arts Award corresponding to 2014 to visual artist Elsa Núñez, for being an emblematic example of modernity, and for having an outstanding production and significant international experience.

The ceremony was held in the Museum of Modern Art and was headed by the Minister of Culture, José Antonio Rodríguez, together with Carlos Santos, Deputy Minister of Institutional Development at the MINC; and, Carlos Salcedo, Chief of Staff of the Minister of Culture. The Selection Committee of the National Visual Arts Award, made of the Director of the Museum of Modern Art, María Elena Ditrén; the Director of the Gallery of Fine Arts, Marianne de Tolentino; the Director of the Bellapart Museum, Myrna Guerrero; the President of the Association of Galleries, Mildred Canahuate; and, the President of the Association of Visual Artists (CODAP for its acronym in Spanish), Clinton López, was present during the ceremony.

The following persons are also part of the Committee: the President of the Dominican Association of Art Critics (ADCA), Carlos Acero Ruiz; the Director of the Centro Cultural Eduardo León Jimenes, María Amalia León Cabral; and, as an independent cultural manager, Danilo de los Santos. As he presented the award and a cash prize of $750,000 pesos, Minister Rodríguez explained that Elsa Núñez had been selected unanimously by the Committee, after it considered her indisputable artistic force in the arts, her ongoing commitment to the Dominican visual creation and for creating masterpieces of the visual arts imaginary, which have become milestones among the visual production of our country.

“It is nothing more than fair for an artist such as Elsa Núñez who has known how to express her female worldview, what it is to be Dominican (dominicanidad), for creating a wonderful world of color and unique feelings under her unmistakable style that is able to live within her own paintings, transmitting to us through its central character all the drama of our history or beauty, which is always freedom, of her prodigious craft of painting,” he highlighted.

In turn, Elsa Núñez thanked the Minister of Culture, the Selection Committee, and especially the Dominican government, for presenting to her the highest honor granted by the State to a visual artist.

“I’m living a moment that I will remember all my life. The words of the Minister, who also chairs the Selection Committee of the National Visual Arts Award, and those of Marianne de Tolentino, who read the summary of my career and personal life, filled me with an indescribable and unforgettable emotion,” she stressed. Artist Elsa Núñez has a professional career that spans over 50 years, in which her testimonial and humanist style stands out, and whose teaching has had great impact on the present and future generations. She graduated from the National School of Fine Arts (1962), where she was influenced by her teacher Gilberto Hernández Ortega.

By 1960, Darío Suro regarded her as the most important painter of her generation. Between 1970 and 1974 Núñez remained in Madrid, Spain, where she conducted graduate studies at the School of Fine Arts of San Fernando. She has been ranked as one of the most emblematic artists of the Dominican artistic modernity.

Her work has been successfully exhibited in galleries, museums and cultural centers in Latin America, the Caribbean, in Europe and in the United States, as well as at biennials and group exhibits, such as the Eduardo León Jimenes Art Competition; the National Biennial of Visual Arts; the International Painting Festival at Cagnes Sur-Mer, France; at the Venice Biennale in Italy, and at the São Paulo Biennale in Brazil.

The National Visual Arts Award has been presented to Maestros: Darío Suro (1993), Antonio Prats Ventós (1995), Fernando Peña Defilló (2010), and posthumously to Gaspar Mario Cruz, Luis Martínez Richiez, Clara Ledesma and Silvano Lora. Also to Ada Balcácer (2011), Domingo Liz (2012) and Ramón Oviedo (2013); and posthumously to: Cándido Bidó, Paul Giudichelli, Gilberto Hernández Ortega, Soucy de Pellerano and Guillo Pérez.

Photos

The Minister of Culture José Antonio Rodríguez, presents artist Elsa Núñez the National Visual Arts Award 2014.

The Minister of Culture José Antonio Rodríguez.

Carlos Salcedo, José Antonio Rodríguez, Elsa Núñez, Jorge Severino, María Elena Ditrén and Carlos Santos.

Verónica Sención, Virginia Goris and Rosa Tavárez.