Background
Portocarrero was born in Cerro, La Havana, Cuba, on February 24, 1912.
Havana, Cuba
Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes "San Alejandro".
Portocarrero was born in Cerro, La Havana, Cuba, on February 24, 1912.
René Portocarrero attended the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes "San Alejandro", but left it quite early and is mainly considered self-taught.
Portocarrero's first recorded exhibition was in 1934 at the Havana Lyceum. In 1937 he worked with Mariano Rodríguez and as a "free studies" teacher of painting and sculpture. Portocarrero was a professor at the Paintings and Sculptures Free Studies directed by Abela in 1939. After his travels through Haiti, Europe and the United States René Portocarrero gave his first show at the Julien Levy's gallery, New York, in 1945. Later he became interested in Cuban popular festivities, to this theme he dedicated a series of pastel paintings.
In the year 1950, René Portocarrero collaborated with Wifredo Lam, Martinez Pedro, Mariano, and Amelia Palaez in the village of Santiago de Las Vegas. The painter participated in the São Paulo Biennial in 1957 and 1963, and that of Venice in 1952 and 1966. In 1961 he met Fidel Castro in the Jose Marti National Library where they discussed cultural issues. In 1977 Portocarrero served for the Japan Women's Association. In 1979 he collaborated with UNESCO and AIAP. In the 1980s Portocarrero taught painting Victor Miquel Moreno Piñeiro (Victor Moreno), cousin of Servando Cabrera Moreno.
Over the course of his long career, he produced a plenty of works using different mediums, including sculpture, ceramics, and book illustration. Besides, he was a muralist, producing works for the Havana Prison, the Cuban National Theatre, the Cuban National Hospital, a church in Bauta, Cuba, and the Hotel Tryp Habana Libre.
City
Cathedral in Yellow
Woman and Dove
Three Sorcerers
Stained Glass Lady
Young Woman Dancing in Cerro Interior
Ornamented Head of a Woman
Dancers
Ornamented Figure
Carnival Sorcerer
Carnival Fiesta
Woman in Profile
Flower Vase
Composition
View of the City of Havana
Women in the Garden
Ornamental Figure
Lady with Hat in Gray-Pink Background
Carnival Figures
Landscape of Havana
Portrait of Flora
Carnival Figures
Landscape of Havana
Crucifixion
Face
Flower Vase
Mujer
Flora con Paloma
Mujer con Tocado
Flora
Retrato de una mujer
Figura en rojo
Santa Bárbara
Figura ornamentada
Retrato de dama