Julio Larraz
“I attempt to create a different reality where dreams serve as the foundations for a parallel universe.”
Julio Larraz (B. 1944) was born in Havana, Cuba and is recognized for his mastery of color, realistic depictions of everyday life in the Caribbean, and surrealist imagery. As a son of a newspaper publisher, he began to draw at a very early age. In 1961, his family moved to Miami, Florida forever leaving Cuba and moved to New York City in1964, where Larraz lived for the next five years. It was there that he began to draw political caricatures that were published by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune and Vogue magazine, among others. (Read More)
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It wasn’t until 1967 when he began working full time as an artist, studying under various New York artists that includes Burt Silverman, for teaching him various complex painting techniques. His first solo show was in 1971 at the Pyramid Galleries in Washington, D.C. After this exhibition, his career exponentially grew and he had exhibitions at the New School for Social Research and FAR Gallery, both in New York City.
In 1976 he won awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the National Institute of Arts and Letters. The same year he was also awarded the Cintas Grant from the Institute of International Education. A year later, Larraz moved to San Patricio, New Mexico, fascinated by the light and atmosphere of the barren hills of the Hondo Valley. It was there that he met Ron Hall, his future dealer, who is based in Texas. In 1978 Larraz bought a house in Grandview, New York. There he met Nohra Haime whose New York gallery represented him until 1994. In 1983 he moved to Paris, remaining there for two years.
He now lives with his family in Miami, Florida after living in Florence, Italy for three years. 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.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
Important Exhibitions
2021 – 2022 Julio Larraz, The Kingdom We Carry Inside, Coral Gables, Florida, USA
2017 Revelations, Art of the World Gallery, Houston, Texas, USA
2006 Julio Larraz – Giochi di potere, Piazza del Duomo, Chiesa e Chiostro di Sant’Agostino Pietrasanta, Italy
2004 Treinta Años de Trabajo, Museo de Arte Moderno, Bogotá, Colombia; Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, México; Museo de Arte de Zapopan, Guadalajara, México; Museo de Arte Cortarricense, San Jose, Costa Rica
1998 Julio Larraz, Museo Pedro de Osma, Lima, Peru
Julio Larraz, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, Florida, USA
1995 The Planets, Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, Florida, USA
1987 Museo de Monterrey, Monterrey, México
1986 Museo de Arte Moderno, Bogotá, Colombia
1976 Westmoreland Museum of Art, Greensburg, Pennsylvania, USA
Important Group Exhibitions
2023 ZonaMACO, Mexico City, México
2020 Palm Beach Modern and Contemporary Art Fair, Florida, USA
2019 Art Busan, Busan, South Korea
2018 KIAF Art, Seoul, South Korea
2003 Paraiso Perdido: Aspectos del Paisaje en el Arte Latinoamericano, Lowe Art Museum, Coral Gables, Florida, USA
1999 Silent Things, Secret Things, Still Life from Rembrandt to the Millenium, Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
1995 Point/Counterpoint, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California, USA
1990 Figuración Fabulación, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela
1986 Outside Cuba, Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA; Museo de Arte de Ponce, Puerto Rico
Maestros en la colección del Museo, Museo de Arte Moderno, Bogotá, Colombia
1984 MIRA, Museo del Barrio, New York; Cuban Museum of Art and Culture, Miami, Florida, USA
1979 Realism and Latin American Painting: The Seventies, Center of Inner-American Relations, New York, USA; Museo de Monterrey, México
1978 Art in Decoration, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
1976 Recent Latin American Drawings (1960-1970) Lines of Vision, International Exhibitions Foundation, Washington D.C., USA
Permanent Collections
Museo de Arte Moderno, Bogotá, Colombia
City of Pietrasanta, Italy
Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, México
Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
Bacardi Corporation, Miami, Florida, USA
Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, Florida, USA
Chase Manhattan Bank, New York, USA
Coral Gables Museum, Coral Gables, Florida, USA
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, California, USA
The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Poughkeepsie, New York, USA
Museum of Modern Art-MOMA, New York, USA
Perez Art Museum Miami-PAMM, Miami, Florida, USA
World Bank, Washington D.C., USA