Puerto Rico would also suffer small spates of anti-colonial violence in the 1950s and on, and Marín and his other contemporaries - notably Carlos Raquel Rivera - were influenced by the broader global movement of decolonization in their artwork in the 1950s and 1960s.

#PuertoRico #Cuba #artgallery

Cuba remained a de facto protectorate until the years after Cuban Revolution's success in overthrowing the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista resulted in a violent break between the United States and Cuba. The island fell into another dictatorship under Fidel Castro, and remains one to this day.

At the time of the American invasion, the Cuban revolutionaries had pushed the Spanish authorities to the limits of their resources.

While the Cuban revolutionaries initially welcomed the Americans and threw off Spanish rule, Cuba would legally remain an American protectorate until 1934.

Although the revolt in Puerto Rico was foiled due to mistakes and the modest size of the revolt, in Cuba the 1868 Grito de Yara spawned a series of three anti-colonial wars that culminated in the end of Spanish rule in 1898, when the United States took advantage of the war to take Spain's colonies.

Marín was an advocate of Puerto Rican independence, and he was particularly fascinated by the life of Betances, who formed the subject of several works. Betances was a seminal figure in Puerto Rican national identity, and one of the masterminds behind the 1868 Grito de Lares revolt against Spain.

It remains there to this day, in the museum's permanent collection. If you're ever in Puerto Rico, it's worth the trip to the museum to see this great work of Puerto Rican art, among its other treasures of Puerto Rico's cultural heritage and exhibitions.

Eventually in 2008, the mayor of Bayamón, Ramón Luis Rivera, convinced Marín to sell the painting to the municipality. Rivera was reopening the Museo de Arte of Bayamón, and he wanted "Fiat Voluntas Tua" to become the centerpiece of this effort.

For many years, this enormous painting was simply laying propped on a wall at his home on Calle Interamericana in University Gardens, in Río Piedras. As you walked past the front door, it would greet you on the right side of the hallway to his living room.

If you're a collector looking for a large acrylic painting, there are a few in the family that the gallery is looking to sell. If you want to contact us, send us a DM or go to our website and fill out our contact form. We usually get back to you sometime between the same day and 2-3 business days.

Finally, we sell original drawings and paintings of Marín. The small drawings and paintings in our collection are those left behind by Tuto, and owned by Lissy, Alfredo, and their sister, Norma Marín. We also have unlisted works that might need various degrees of restoration.

The giclées on our website are the only series that we have produced posthumously independent of Tuto. While Tuto did release giclées himself, these four series come at requests of clients in PR. We've only produced four series, and less than ten total works have been printed between all of them.

Most of our lithographs were made in the 1990s by the French lithographer Jacques de Champfleury, at his À Fleur de Pierre workshop in Paris, France (which is still in operation!). A few others were produced at the Atelier Estephan Guilvod workshop in Paris, France.

The serigraphs sold by our gallery were made in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, mostly in the 1980s to the 2010s. Some were made by local artists, such as Elizam Cruz at Taller Prisma. Due to the passage of time, some of these workshops have shuttered, or their artists have passed away.

The Augusto Marín Online Art gallery sells four types of art. Silkscreens, lithographs, giclées, and original works. The provenance of each varies, so let's talk about those!

The vast majority of reproductions were made during Marín's lifetime. A few serigraphs were released posthumously.

Our gallery is run two of Marín's eight (!) children, Lissy Marín and Alfredo Marín Carle - @marincarle.bsky.social.

The gallery's social media accounts and everyday gallery business are run by his grandson, Jorge Rivera Marín - @jlrmarin.bsky.social (Hi! That's me!).

Although Tuto was most famous in Puerto Rico, he was known in international art circles. His work has been exhibited in the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Germany, Italy, Monaco, and elsewhere, and collectors own his work all over the world.

Marín was as prodigious as he was talented!

Marín would later teach at the Plastic Arts Institute in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and the University of Puerto Rico at Carolina.

Tuto was a master of many artistic mediums. While he was most famous for his acrylic paintings, he was also a prolific muralist and sculptor, and he also wrote poetry.

The already well traveled artist would go on to study polychrome stained glass technique with the great master Arnaldo Maas in San Juan, and later he would perfect his talent for the technique at the studio of Henri Mesterom in Maastricht, in the Netherlands.