FERNANDO BOTERO’S development can now bc traced back ovcr a period of dccades. His oeuvre encompasses a great variety ofthcmcs: self portraits, portraits, nudes, loving couples, bishops, cardinals, saints, military men, still lifes, bordcllo scenes, bullfights, lane scapes. Other subjects have been developed out of the still lifes of the Spaniards Luis Melendez, Zurbaran, and Cotan or the Dutchman Heda. These are supplemented by continually fresh variations on works bv such othcr earlier masters as van Eyck, Durcr, Eubens, Velazquez, Rigaud, Bonnard, and Cezanne. The enjoyment of storytelling apparcnt in many of his paintings can be compared to the narrative Baroque panels of his South American homeland...

FERNANDO BOTERO’S development can now bc traced back ovcr a period of dccades. His oeuvre encompasses a great variety ofthcmcs: self portraits, portraits, nudes, loving couples, bishops, cardinals, saints, military men, still lifes, bordcllo scenes, bullfights, lane scapes. Other subjects have been developed out of the still lifes of the Spaniards Luis Melendez, Zurbaran, and Cotan or the Dutchman Heda. These are supplemented by continually fresh variations on works bv such othcr earlier masters as van Eyck, Durcr, Eubens, Velazquez, Rigaud, Bonnard, and Cezanne. The enjoyment of storytelling apparcnt in many of his paintings can be compared to the narrative Baroque panels of his South American homeland.

The paintings have been accompanicd by drawings, large-format red chalk or charcoal drawings alternating with pastels, works in pen and ink, or watercolors. Finally, over the past decade or so Botcro has translated a number of his motifs into the threedimensional terms of sculpture.

Werner Spies

Ar Introduction to the Art of Fernando Botero

Biographical Notes

PLATES

List of Plates

"I am the most Colombian of Colombian artists": A Conversation with Fernando Botero

Fernando Botero

Six Short Stories

Selected One-Man Exhibitions

Selected Bibliography