Antonio Sotomayor

Antonio Sotomayor was born in May 13, 1902 in Chulumani, Bolivia to parents Celia Meza and Juan Sotomayor.[2][3] He studied at Escuela de Bellas Artes in La Paz, with Belgian artist Adolf Lambert.[1]

In 1923, Sotomayor immigrated to San Francisco.[4] He initially working as a dishwasher at the Palace Hotel, a role that only lasted five days.[4][5] While working at the Palace he learned English and he would paint caricatures of his co-workers at the hotel, eventually they made him the "artist in residence".[2][6] In the 1930s he painted two murals at the Palace Hotel, in the room known as “The Pied Piper.”[4] When he had first arrived in San Francisco he had wanted to be an architect, but over time he changed.[6] He continued his studies at the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art (now San Francisco Art Institute).[1]

Sotomayor was an art professor at Mills College from 1942–1943.[7] He taught art at California School of Fine Art from 1940–1950.[7]

In 1937, he painted El Tigrero (1937) mural for the Richard Neutra designed Arthur and Mona Hofmann House in nearby Hillsborough, California.[8] In 1939, he created murals for the Peruvian Pavilion and the Fountain of the Pacific Bash, (a 36 foot by 46 foot, terracotta relief map) for the Panama–Pacific International Exposition (PPIE).[3][6]

For over a decade, he was a member of the San Francisco Arts Commission and received their "Award of Honor" in 1978.[3]

He had a strong interest in religious art.[3] In the early 1980s, Sotomayor painted a 30-panel mural for Grace Cathedral.[2] Sotomayor was a member of San Francisco Art Association; The Family; and Bohemian Club.[7]

Sotomayor died on February 10, 1985 at San Francisco Community Hospice, after a battle with cancer.[2] His work is included in various public museum collections including Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco,[9] Museum of Modern Art,[10] among others.

He was married to Grace Andrews Sotomayor in 1927, they never had any children.[11][2] For forty years they lived in the Nob Hill neighborhood on Leroy Place in San Francisco.[3][5]

Books with illustrations by Sotomayor.

• Jessup, Marie H.; Simpson, Lesley B. (1936). Indian Tales From Guatemala. Antonio Sotomayor (Illustrator). New York City, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons.
• Sauer, Carl (1939). Man in Nature. Antonio Sotomayor (Illustrator), Aileen Corwin (maps). New York City, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons.
• Von Hagen, Victor Wolfgang; Hawkins, Quail (1939). Quetzal Quest: A Story Of The Capture of The Quetzal, The Sacred Bird of the Aztecs and Mayans. New York City, NY: Harcourt, Brace and Company.
• Bagnani, Gilbert (1964). The Satyricon of Petronius. William Burnaby (translation), Antonio Sotomayor (illustration) (Limited edition of 1,500 numbered copies ed.). New York City, New York: The Heritage Press.

• List of people from San Francisco