Marcos Pinedo is a Cuban-American art patron, collector, and art dealer residing in Miami, Florida. Pinedo rose to prominence in the 1980s and is closely associated with several leading Latin American artists. He and his wife, Josefina Camacho Pinedo, own the Pinedo Collection of Latin American and European art, among the most prestigious private art collections in South Florida.
Background
Marcos Fernando Pinedo was born on July 22, 1948, in Havana, Cuba, and raised in Matanzas. Both his mother's and his father's respective families came to Cuba from Spain in the early 20th century due to the Spanish Civil War. His mother's family came from the rural and agrarian Bilbao area within the Basque Country. His father's family had come from the Canary Islands and were active in electrical and industrial professions. As all his grandparents were Spaniards, this impacted Pinedo's cultural upbringing within Cuban society by incorporating Spaniard influences as well.
Just before the Bay of Pigs Invasion, Pinedo's family secured a position for him to be brought to the United States through the Catholic Church's covert Operation Peter Pan at the age of 12. He arrived in Miami on April 6, 1961 and would never return to Cuba or see his parents, though his maternal uncle, Eric Beraza, was already in the United States and his grandparents would later join later in the decade. Pinedo's early years in the United States were marked by repeated relocation.
Beraza, a military boot manufacturer from Spain, was residing in North Carolina. After joining Pinedo for a nine-day period in Miami when he first arrived via Operation Peter Pan, the two resided in North Carolina for two years. They returned to Miami when Pinedo's maternal grandparents were able to secure entry into the United States. In this period Pinedo was attending Miami Jackson Senior High School, though while in the tenth grade Pinedo and Beraza would move to San Jose, California, where Beraza had better employment opportunities. After graduating from high school, Pinedo attended San Jose Community College and studied languages. He returned to Miami in 1972 where he remained thereafter.
Education
Marcos Pinedo attended Miami Jackson Senior High School and later studied at San Jose City College.
Pinedo returned to Miami in 1972 after selling his home in California, giving him enough disposable income to assist his grandparents in Miami. The following year, he met Josefina Camacho, then working in a Miami transportation business and recently divorced from artist Juan González. The two had their first date at the Permuy Gallery in Coral Gables during one of their famed Friday Gallery Nights (better known as "Los Viernes" or simply "Fridays") in August of 1973. There the gallery's general manager, famed art dealer and patron Marta Permuy, who was already acquainted with Camacho, introduced Pinedo to several of the artists present including Lourdes Gómez Franca, Miguel Jorge, Dionisio Perkins, Rafael Consuegra, and Emilio Falero. Pinedo subsequently became a frequent presence and participant in the Permuy's Fridays and evening salons.
Permuy became a close mentor to Pinedo and would advise him closely, helping him build his private collection in the ensuing decades. She connected him to key contacts in her circles, such as the aforementioned artists and others, including Grupo GALA members Baruj Salinas and Rosana McAllister, who Pinedo would establish relationships with and collect.
Pinedo married Camacho on February 3, 1979. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the Pinedos would become among the most influential collectors and patrons of Cuban and Latin American art in South Florida as the region itself became a prominent international art center. The couple would often represent Juan González, with whom they maintained a close friendship, in South Florida and support Baruj Salinas since the 1970s and throughout much of his career. They also contributed works to the famed "Miami Generation" exhibition, numerous books on Cuban art, as well as the permanent collections of several leading institutions, including the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale and Florida National University.
The Pinedo Collection remains among the most prestigious private collections of fine art in South Florida with several individual works valued in excess of $100,000. It includes fine art across the mediums of oil paintings, acrylic paintings, watercolor paintings, sculpture, and photography from Europe, the United States, and Latin America.
Artists featured in the Pinedo Collection include: Joan Miró, Alexander Calder, Marc Chagall, Wifredo Lam, Rufino Tamayo, Roberto Matta, Cundo Bermúdez, Carlos Alfonzo, Augustín Cárdenas, Rafael Soriano, Enrique Riverón, Juan González, Baruj Salinas, Lourdes Gómez Franca, Miguel Jorge, Dionisio Perkins, Enrique Gay García, Rafael Consuegra, Emilio Falero, Humberto Calzada, Roxana McAllister, Emilio Hector Rodriguez, Eduardo Chillida, Rafael Ferrer, Raul Anguiano, Pérez Celis, Miguel Fleitas, Paul Sierra, Carlos Maciá, Daniel Manrique Arias, Raul Anguiano, Nicolas Leiva, Pablo Obelar, Teresa Icaza, Rolando Lopez Dirube, Glyn Jones, Daniel Argimon, Hugo Consuegra, Daniel Serra Badue, Ramon Carulla, Tony Lopez, Felix Angel, Roberto Estopiñan, Joe Nicastri, Jose Antonio Velazquez, Victor Chab, Jose Luis Cuevas, Ramon Guerrero, Mario Algaze, and Carlos Cardenas.
The Pinedo Collection includes the largest collection of artworks by Baruj Salinas in existence with over 30 original pieces by Salinas.
Connections
Marcos F. Pinedo is married to Josefina Camacho Pinedo. The couple wed on February 3, 1979.
Marcos was raised by his maternal uncle, Eric Beraza.
