Mario CARREÑO
1913–1999, Cuba/Chile

Mario Carreno Morales, was born in June 24, 1913 in Havana, Cuba in the neighborhood of Santo Suarez and died in December 20, 1999 in Santiago de Chile, Chile.He studied in San Alejandro as many other great Cuban artists did. Carreño left to Spain in 1931, where he was not able to paint immediately. He was an associate and owner of a club called " Satan". Graphic designs allowed him to survive during those difficult years. In 1935, he left to Mexico, where he worked with great muralists, but it was in Paris between 1937 and 1939, that he began to exhibit his first successful work. The artistic environment was excellent, surrounded by the same social circles as Picasso and Wifredo Lam. During the 1940's he moved to New York, where he had several important exhibitions in Perls Gallery. After this period, Carreño flew to Havana with the purpose of creating a new movement with the Duco technique, a technique that was previously influenced by the Mexican muralist master Alfaros Sequeiros. This artwork was finished on 1943. Among the most outstanding artwork created by Carreno with the Duco technique during those years were, Cortadores de Caña, Danza Afrocubana, Fuego en el Batey, and others. In 1957, Carreño went to Chile invited by his friend and writer Pablo Neruda. During this visit he met Ida Gonzalez, which was the secretary of Pablo Neruda at that time. They started a romance that later led to marriage. Pablo Neruda was always amazed with Cuba, its climate, beaches and especially the polimitas seashells. For Mario Carreño, Chile was sort of a paradise compared to the overly fast paced reality of New York. When Mario Carreño returned to Paris in 1962, he was extremely preoccupied and anguished by the possibility of an atomic war. For a long time he was traumatized by a fear that pervaded all Europe. From this experience emerged the series, "The Petrified World", which was a protest against war and human suffering. Thereafter, Mario Carreño returned to Chile to reside permanently and continued growing as a talented artist culminating his last period with the surrealism.

Source: http://www.mariocarreno.com/