Julio Larraz
Biography
Julio Larraz was born in Havana, Cuba in 1944; he and his family were able to flee in 1961 to the United States. Son of a newspaper editor, he began to draw at a very early age. After moving to New York in 1964 he created political caricatures which were published by The New York Times, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune and Vogue Magazine among others.
In 1967 Larraz began working full-time as a painter. He credits several New York artists, including Burt Silverman, for teaching him different painting methods. Larraz draws many of his subjects from the Caribbean life around which he grew up, incorporating the thick, whitewashed walls and penetrating sunshine of his childhood into his paintings and prints. In addition to the bright, tropical scenes for which he is so well known, Larraz also has produced many still lifes that have been likened to the bodegones of seventeenth-century Spanish painters. Larraz is best known for his precise and detailed technique, his imagination, and his unique subtle touch, all of which have helped affirm his reputation as one of the most important contemporary Latin American painters. He currently lives and works in Florence, Italy.
Larraz’s works can be found in collections around the world including: American Express Bank, Paris, France; the Cintas Foundation, Inc., New York, U.S.A.; the Mitsui & Company, Inc., New York, U.S.A.; the Museo de Arte Moderno, Bogota, Colombia; The Museo de Monterrey, Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico; The Preston Carter Real Estate, Dallas, Texas; U.S.A. and the World Bank, Washington, D.C., U.S.A.