Editing Fernando Botero (section)

==Biography==

===Early life===
Fernando Botero was born in [[Medellín]] on 19 April 1932.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://efe.com/cultura/2023-09-15/fernando-botero-maestro-de-las-tradiciones-colombianas-y-un-artista-universal/|title=Fernando Botero, maestro de las tradiciones colombianas y un artista universal|date=15 September 2023|work=[[Agencia EFE]]|language=es}}</ref> His father, David Botero, <ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Brennan |first=Carol |title=Contemporary Hispanic Biography |publisher=Gale |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7876-6539-5 |volume=2 |location=Detroit, MI |pages=43-46}}</ref> a salesman who traveled by horseback, died when Fernando was four.<ref name=GuardianObit /> His mother, Flora Angulo, '''<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Brennan |first=Carol |title=Contemporary Hispanic Biography |publisher=Gale |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7876-6539-5 |volume=2 |location=Detroit, MI |pages=43-46}}</ref>''' worked as a [[seamstress]] to support the family.<ref name="GuardianObit">{{cite news |last1=Caistor |first1=Nick |title=Fernando Botero obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/sep/15/fernando-botero-obituary |access-date=15 September 2023 |work=The Guardian |date=15 September 2023}}</ref> An uncle took a major role in his life.<ref name=GuardianObit /> Although isolated from art as presented in museums and other cultural institutes, Botero was influenced by the [[Baroque architecture|Baroque]] style of the colonial churches and the city life of [[Medellín]] while growing up.<ref>[http://www.boterosa.org/biography/boteros_early_life.html "Botero's Early Life"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090715174830/http://www.boterosa.org/biography/boteros_early_life.html |date=15 July 2009}}, BoteroSA</ref>

Botero received his primary education at the Ateneo Antioqueño and, thanks to a scholarship, he continued his secondary education at the Jesuit School of Bolívar.<ref name="Sillevis2006">{{cite book |author=John Sillevis |title=The Baroque World of Fernando Botero |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rlDfPIgeK3YC&pg=PA8 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-300-12359-3}}</ref> In 1944, Botero's uncle sent him to a school for [[matadors]] for two years.<ref>[http://www.askart.com/AskART/artists/biography.aspx?searchtype=BIO&artist=9000119 "Fernando Botero"], AskArt</ref> Some of his earlier drawings were inspired by the bullfight scene. He sold his first painting for two [[Colombian peso|pesos]], thanks to a merchant who allowed him to display it in the window of his shop.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fernando Botero |url=https://www.christies.com/en/artists/fernando-botero?lotavailability=All&sortby=relevance |website=Christie's |access-date=5 March 2024}}</ref><ref name=":03">{{Cite book |last=Brennan |first=Carol |title=Contemporary Hispanic Biography |publisher=Gale |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7876-6539-5 |volume=2 |location=Detroit, MI |pages=43-46}}</ref> He spoke with the ''Los Angeles Times'', during an interview in November  2000, and explained that he lost the money he got for the painting and thus, his brothers never believed him.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Darling |first=Juanita |date=2000-11-02 |title=Softening the Face of Medellin |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-nov-02-mn-45891-story.html |access-date=2024-02-23 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> His love of drawing nudes caused problems with his Roman Catholic education. He was expelled from school after defending Pablo Picasso’s art in an essay. <ref name=":03" /> In 1948, Botero at the age of 16 had his first illustrations published in the Sunday supplement of ''[[El Colombiano]]'', one of the most important newspapers in Medellín. He used the money he was paid to attend high school at the Liceo de Marinilla de Antioquia.<ref name="Infobae-Villantoy">{{cite news |last1=Villantoy |first1=Abigail |title=La muestra itinerante de Fernando Botero que llegó a Lima en 2006 y la influencia del artista en la ópera peruana |url=https://www.infobae.com/peru/2023/09/15/fernando-botero-su-muestra-itinerante-que-llego-a-lima-en-2006-y-la-influencia-del-artista-en-la-opera-peruana/ |access-date=17 September 2023 |agency=Infobae |date=15 September 2023}}</ref>

===Career===
Botero's work was first exhibited in 1948, in a group show along with other artists from the region.<ref name=ArtFact>[http://www.artfact.com/artist/botero-fernando-kog6td69zv "Fernando Botero"], ArtFact</ref> From 1949 to 1950, Botero worked as a set designer, before moving to [[Bogotá]] in 1951. Young Botero also worked as a newspaper [[illustrator]] to support his artistic interests and before attending San Fernando Academy. The [[Pérez Art Museum]] Miami acquired a still life picture of Botero's early days of career depicting apples, an influence of European art historical movements and 20th-century painters.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Manzanas (Apples) • Pérez Art Museum Miami |url=https://www.pamm.org/en/artwork/2012.22 |access-date=6 September 2023 |website=Pérez Art Museum Miami |language=en-US}}</ref> His first one-man show was held at the Galería Leo Matiz in Bogotá, a few months after his arrival.<ref>{{cite news |title=¿Quién es Fernando Botero y por qué su obra es tan importante? |url=https://aristeguinoticias.com/1509/kiosko/quien-es-fernando-botero-y-por-que-su-obra-es-tan-importante/ |access-date=17 September 2023 |agency=Aristegui Noticias |date=15 September 2023}}</ref>

In 1952, using his gallery earnings, Botero sailed to Europe. He arrived in [[Barcelona]] and then moved on to [[Madrid]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Fernando Botero: Biography of Fernando Botero |url=https://www.theartstory.org/artist/botero-fernando/ |website=The Art Story |access-date=17 September 2023}}</ref> In Madrid, Botero studied at the [[Royal Academy of San Fernando|Academia de San Fernando]] and was a frequent visitor to the [[Prado Museum]], where he copied works by [[Francisco Goya|Goya]] and [[Diego Velázquez|Velázquez]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hanstein |first1=Mariana |title=Fernando Botero |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WKsiMxOBllIC&pg=PA15 |publisher=Taschen |date=2003 |page=15 |isbn=9783822821299 |access-date=2 July 2016}}</ref> He sold his copies on the streets to make money.<ref name=":04">{{Cite book |last=Brennan |first=Carol |title=Contemporary Hispanic Biography |publisher=Gale |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7876-6539-5 |volume=2 |location=Detroit, MI |pages=43-46}}</ref> 

In 1953, Botero moved to Paris, where he spent most of his time in the [[Louvre]], studying the works there. He lived in [[Florence]] from 1953 to 1954, studying the works of Renaissance masters.<ref name="ArtFact"/> Later in life, he lived most of the time in Paris, but spent one month a year in his native city of Medellín. He had more than 50 exhibitions in major cities worldwide, and his work commands selling prices in the millions of dollars.<ref name=Gibson /> In 1958, he won the ninth edition of the [[Salón de Artistas Colombianos]].<ref name=Dinero>[http://www.dinero.com/wf_InfoArticulo.aspx?idArt=15098 "El poder en Colombia: Los cien personajes mas influyentes de Colombia"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091027103119/http://www.dinero.com/wf_InfoArticulo.aspx?idArt=15098 |date=27 October 2009 }}, InfoArt, ''Dinero'', 1 May 1995</ref>

Around 1964, Botero made his first attempts to create sculptures.<ref name="ByV">{{cite web |last1=Fernández |first1=Tomás |last2=Tamaro |first2=Elena |title=Fernando Botero: Biografía |url=https://www.biografiasyvidas.com/reportaje/fernando_botero/ |website=Biografías y Vidas. La enciclopedia biográfica en línea |access-date=17 September 2023 |location=Barcelona |date=2004}}</ref>
Due to financial constraints preventing him from working with bronze, he made his sculptures with acrylic resin and sawdust. A notable example during this time was ''Small Head (Bishop)'' in 1964, a sculpture painted with great realism. The material was too porous, so he abandoned this method.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hanstein |first1=Mariana |title=Fernando Botero |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WKsiMxOBllIC&pg=PA15 |publisher=Taschen |date=2003 |page=89 |isbn=9783822821299 |access-date=2 July 2016}}</ref> He returned to sculpture "with enthusiasm" in Italy in the mid-1970s and exhibited his characteristic bronze sculptures for the first time at the [[Grand Palais]] in Paris in 1977.<ref name="ByV"/> He exhibited selected paintings, drawings, and sculptures at [[Louis Stern Fine Arts|Louis Stern Galleries]] in Beverly Hills in 1992.

On 10 June 1995, while his son [[Fernando Botero Zea]] was serving as [[Minister of National Defence (Colombia)|Minister of Defence]], a bomb containing 10 kg of dynamite was placed underneath one of Botero's bronze sculptures on display in Medellín's Plaza San Antonio. The resulting explosion killed 23 people and injured 200 more; the perpetrators were never identified.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Rohter |first1=Larry |title=Bomb in Medellin, Colombian Drug City, Kills 30 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/06/12/world/bomb-in-medellin-colombian-drug-city-kills-30.html |access-date=17 September 2023 |work=New York Times |date=12 June 1995}}</ref> A horrified Botero decided that the damaged sculpture should be left in place as a "monument to the country's imbecility and criminality" and donated an intact replica to stand alongside it.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Ortiz |first1=Luis |title=El día que terroristas dinamitaron la paloma de la paz de Fernando Botero en Medellín y la obra que el artista le dedicó a la "imbecilidad" |url=https://www.infobae.com/colombia/2023/09/15/la-historia-de-como-terroristas-dinamitaron-la-escultura-de-fernando-botero-a-la-paz-en-medellin-y-el-contramonumento-que-el-artista-le-dedico-a-la-imbecilidad/ |access-date=17 September 2023 |agency=Infobae |date=17 September 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title="Es un recuerdo de la imbecilidad y de la criminalidad de Colombia": la historia de la escultura de Botero destrozada por una bomba que se convirtió en un símbolo de la paz |url=https://www.bbc.com/mundo/articles/cd1g5e2009zo |access-date=17 September 2023 |agency=BBC Mundo |date=15 September 2023}}</ref>  

In 2004, Botero exhibited a series of 27 drawings and 23 paintings dealing with the violence in Colombia from 1999 through 2004. He donated the works to the [[National Museum of Colombia]], where they were first exhibited.<ref name="Masters">[http://greatmastersofart.com/fernando_botero_donation.html "Fernando Botero: Donation and Controversy"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501080155/http://greatmastersofart.com/fernando_botero_donation.html |date=1 May 2011}}, Great Masters of Art. Retrieved 20 September 2010</ref>

[[File:Abughraib.jpg|thumb|''Abu Ghraib'', 2005, oil on canvas. Botero painted the [[Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse|abuses of Abu Ghraib]] between 2004 and 2005 as a permanent accusation.]]
In 2005, Botero gained considerable attention for his ''Abu Ghraib'' series, which was exhibited first in Europe. He based the works on [[Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse|reports of United States forces' abuses of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison]] during the [[Iraq War]]. Beginning with an idea he had had on a plane journey, Botero produced more than 85 paintings and 100 drawings in exploring this concept<ref>[http://www.zonaeuropa.com/20050413_2.htm "Abu Ghraib"], ZonaEuropa, 13 April 2005</ref> and "painting out the poison".<ref name="Gibson" /> The series was exhibited at two United States locations in 2007, including Washington, DC. Botero said he would not sell any of the works, but would donate them to museums.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/02/AR2007110200652.html Erica Jong, Review: "Botero Sees the World's True Heavies at Abu Ghraib"], ''The Washington Post'', 4 November 2007. Retrieved 20 September 2010</ref> In 2009, the [[Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive|Berkeley Art Museum]] acquired (as a gift from the artist) 56 paintings and drawings from the ''Abu Ghraib'' series, which can be seen online.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://webapps.cspace.berkeley.edu/bampfa/search/search/?keyword=botero&keyword_qualifier=keyword&displayType=grid&maxresults=100&start=1|title=Art Collection – CollectionSpace|website=webapps.cspace.berkeley.edu}}</ref> Selections from the series have been regularly included in the museum's annual Art for Human Rights exhibitions.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bampfa.org/program/permanent-accusation-art-human-rights|title=Permanent Accusation: Art for Human Rights|website=bampfa.org|date=5 February 2019 }}</ref>

In 2006, after having focused exclusively on the ''Abu Ghraib'' series for over 14 months, Botero returned to the themes of his early life such as the family and motherhood. In his ''Une Famille''<ref name="Family">[http://www.museumsyndicate.com/item.php?item=4939 "Family"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201125113140/http://www.museumsyndicate.com/item.php?item=4939 |date=25 November 2020 }}, oil on canvas 2006</ref> Botero represented the Colombian family, a subject often painted in the 1970s and 1980s. In his ''Maternity'',<ref name="Maternity">[http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/detail.php?ID=42550 "Maternity"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211208174806/http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/detail.php?ID=42550 |date=8 December 2021 }}, drawing 2006</ref> Botero repeated a composition he had already painted in 2003.<ref name="Mother and Child">[http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/detail.php?ID=42471 "Maternity"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211208174805/http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/detail.php?ID=42471 |date=8 December 2021 }}, oil on canvas, 2003</ref> 

In 2008, he exhibited the works of his ''The Circus'' collection, featuring 20 works in oil and watercolor. In a 2010 interview, Botero said that he was ready for other subjects: "After all this, I always return to the simplest things: [[still life]]s."<ref name="Gibson" />