Oscar Garcia-Rivera

Oscar Garcia Rivera (1916 – 1971) was born in Cuba’s province of Pinar del Río in 1916. He chronicled Havana street scenes and his art reflects the most typical manifestations of everyday life in Cuba. He may be considered as the painter of urban psychology and the premier Costumbrista painter of the 20th century. He graduated in 1939 from the Academy of San Alejandro and became a professor in 1942. In 1947, Thomas M. Beggs, director of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., stated that an exhibition of works by García Rivera and his wife Silvia Fernández Arrojo had been one of the best ever at the famous institution.