Darío Suro

Born to Jaime Vicente Suro Sánchez (born in 1890, in Utuado, Puerto Rico) and Isabel Emilia García-Godoy Ceara (born in 1883 to Federico García Godoy and Rosa Ceara Giménez).[1] He had a brother, Rubén Antonio (1916-2006).[1]

Early on, he became popular as an Impressionist landscape artist, often painting horses and rainy scenes of the Cibao region of his country. Suro had his first solo exhibition in 1938 at the Ateneo Dominicano in Santo Domingo. Subsequently, the same exhibition was shown at the San Cristobal Ateneo and in 1939, he was included in group exhibitions in New York City, at the Riverside Museum and the Dominican Republic Pavilion at the 1939 New York World's Fair.

In 1940, Suro participated in the Inter-American Exhibition of the Caribbean organized by the Organization of American States. In that same year, he participated in a group show at the Ateneo Dominicano in Santo Domingo. In 1942, he had a solo exhibition at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes in Santo Domingo.

Lluvia en el mercado (English: Rain in the Market), 1942 (Museo de Arte Moderno, Santo Domingo)

In 1943, he married Maruxa Franco Fernandez from Santiago and shortly after, they departed to Mexico where he was appointed cultural attaché In the Dominican Republic Embassy. On the way, they stayed in Havana for several weeks, where his bride's cousin, Tomas Hernandez Franco, was the Dominican Consul General. There he met with the young art critic José Gómez-Sicre, whom he had encountered previously in Santo Domingo. Later they would renew their friendship in Washington, D.C., where Gómez-Sicre was the founder and director of the Art Museum of the Americas, which was established in 1976 by the O.A.S. Permanent Council. While in Havana, Suro also met and befriended important modern artists such as Fidelio Ponce, Carlos Enríquez and Amelia Peláez.

Upon his return to Santo Domingo, Suro and his wife were warmly greeted by family and friends, while others, especially some who were close to Trujillo, kept a certain distance. The fall from grace was short lived.

Vasconcelos, his friend from Mexico, who happened to arrive in Santo Domingo on an official visit and raved to Trujillo about the recently repatriated diplomat and painter, calling him "brilliant", and strongly urging the Dominican leader to name Suro Director of Fine Arts of the nation. This happened in early 1947 and once again Suro was celebrated. That same year, he had a successful solo exhibition at the National Palace of Fine Arts in Santo Domingo, showing works that were shown in Mexico with a few recent Dominican additions. Overall, Dominicans were greatly impressed by a new dynamic vision of their nation forged in Mexico by a young Dominican.

In 1950, Suro's life changed once again when he was sent to Spain as cultural attaché of the Dominican Republic. Arriving with his family in Madrid, Suro befriended some of the most outstanding Spanish artists of that time, including Antonio Saura, Antoni Tàpies, Manolo Millares, and Jose Caballero ("Pepe"). Caballero was a close friend of Federico García Lorca, Pablo Neruda, Luis Buñuel and others. Suro was also able to see the great art of Spain, including works by his personal favorites Velázquez, El Greco and Goya.

Living in Spain also facilitated extensive travel to other European cities, including Paris, London and Amsterdam. He especially loved Italy, and was particularly impressed by the works of Piero della Francesca.

Combining diplomacy and art as he had in Mexico, Suro participated in group exhibitions in Madrid and Barcelona, as well as faraway places like San Francisco (Legion of Honor) and Pittsburgh (Carnegie Institute). He was invited to participate in the Salón de los Once in 1951, along with ten other artists, a venue organized by the philosopher Eugeni d'Ors. The same year, he participated in the First Hispano-American Biennial, which was exhibited in Madrid and Barcelona. He represented the Dominican Republic in several important congresses (including the Congreso de la Cooperacion Intellectual Latino Americano—1952) while continuing his travels throughout the Iberian Peninsula and several other European nations.

In terms of his artistic development, Spain had a significant impact. This is where Suro painted his first abstract canvases, influenced by European trends.

As in Mexico, his busy professional life came to an abrupt end. His job was suddenly terminated, without any explanation. Upon arrival in Santo Domingo the same scenario was repeated that they experienced upon their return from Mexico. The Suros heard gossip about the termination of his job and a close friend, who happened to be related to Trujillo's wife, recommended that they leave the country. Leaving the country in that era was not simple. Both Dario and Maruxa were interrogated, but in a fairly short time they were on their way to New York City in 1953. Their children joined them the following year.

Suro's New York City experience would be decidedly different from his Mexico City and Madrid years. With limited English, the couple had a difficult time adjusting to the metropolis. His wife immediately found work as a seamstress in a factory. Suro, however had a harder time. Visiting several establishments that hired artists to do fairly routine work, he soon realized that there was little demand. He finally found a job on 23rd Street, in a factory where artists painted porcelain, screens and other objects. They were given models to work from, with a limited freedom of artistic expression.

Nevertheless, Suro explored the New York City art scene. He started contacting dealers and gallery owners, including Rose Fried, Betty Parsons and Leo Castelli.

As an art critic, Suro wrote the first in-depth critical articles on both Piet Mondrian and Stuart Davis in the Spanish language. He reintroduced the work of Joaquín Torres García to the artists within the Rose Fried Gallery circle, where he was asked to write the text of an accompanying monograph for Torres Garcia's 1960 breakthrough exhibition.

Among the artists befriended by Suro in New York City were Fritz Glarner, Ronnie Elliott, Jean Arp, Stuart Davis, Adolf Fleischmann, Minna Citron, Bud Hopkins, Burgoyne Diller, Philip Guston, Charmion von Wiegand, John Grillo, Jean Xceron, Judith Rothschild, Lil Picard, Esteban Vicente, Raymond Hendler, John Hultberg and Lynne Drexler.

In spite of his busy schedule, working in the factory and painting at home, he wrote for many international publications, including the Paris-based Aujourd'hui and the Madrid-based Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos, and he was a frequent contributor at El Caribe and other newspapers in the Dominican Republic.

Through his job, he met Herman Somberg, one of his coworkers who was a quintessential New Yorker and a talented artist who happened to be a close friend of Franz Kline. After a certain reluctance, the latter finally agreed to meet Suro and the two became fast friends (later Suro reminisced about the encounter and ensuing friendship in an article written for Americas Magazine "Franz Kline – Freedom and Space" in 1969). He frequented the Cedar Tavern in Manhattan, which he later called "one of the great universities of my life" and the place where he drank seriously along with his growing number of acquaintances. Another special friend was Philip Guston, who was fluent in Spanish.

In 1961, events in his homeland once again changed his life. Trujillo was assassinated. Juan Bosch, Suro's childhood friend, was elected President of the Dominican Republic in 1962 and named Suro the cultural attaché at the Embassy of the Dominican Republic in Washington, D.C., as well as the Organization of American States (OAS). Suro remained in these posts for most of the rest of his life. Washington did not offer the same artistic stimulus as New York City, but his new job was more comfortable and better-paying.

Suro continued painting and exhibiting worldwide into his old age. His painting went through new phases, constantly changing. In his last decade, he revisited old themes, often combining them and coming up with something new in the process. He also continued writing, frequently contributing to Americas Magazine, several Dominican Republic publications, including Ahora and Listin Diario, as well as international ones, including Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos and Acento Cultural. He was promoted from cultural attaché to Counselor (1965) to Minister Counselor (1967) to Minister Plenipotentiary, Deputy Chief of Mission (1970) and finally Adjunct Ambassador, Alternate Representative (1980).

In October 1996, he returned to the Dominican Republic with his wife. He was hoping to concentrate on his art, developing new ideas for paintings inspired by shadows; however, he died the following January. His funeral was attended by many friends, as well as Dominican dignitaries; three former Dominican presidents were present – Salvador Jorge Blanco, Donald Reid Cabral and Juan Bosch – who told the Suro family "Dario Suro was not only a great artist, he was a great Dominican".

Suro was the first artist to receive "El Premio Nacional de Artes Plasicas" of the Dominican Republic in 1993, which was presented to him by President Joaquín Balaguer. The "Orden de Duarte, Sanchez y Mella" medal was presented posthumously to his widow by President Leonel Fernández in 1999.

A comprehensive retrospective, "Dario Suro 1917–1997: Metamorfosis y Transmigracones", was organized at the Centro Cultural de Espana in Santo Domingo, curated by Ricardo Ramon Jarnes, Laura Gil and Marianne de Tolentino in 2001. The 4th Caribbean Biennial (2002), dedicated to Suro, was organized by Sara Herman, Director of the National Gallery of Modern Art of the Dominican Republic; Ricardo Ramon Jarnes and Laura Gil curated an accompanying retrospective exhibition. President Hipólito Mejía and Vice President Milagro Ortiz Bosch opened this biennial.

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  Numbers, 1958 (Private Collection)