Adigio BENÍTEZ

Born: 1924, Santiago de Cuba, January 26. Dead; 2013, Havana, May 9.

Education: His main studies were developed from 1943 to 1949 in the National School of Fine Arts "San Alejandro", Havana (Cuba).

Experience: From 1949 to 1953 and from 1959 to 1965 he was a caricaturist cartoonist of the newspaper Hoy de La Habana. He was founder and professor of drawing of the National School of Art of Havana and of the Superior Institute of Art. He is a member of the National Council of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba [UNEAC] and Honorary Member of the International Association of Plastic Arts [AIAP] of which he was its president. He has made designs of posters, billboards and illustrations of books among which are the poster of Jesus Menéndez, Prize of the Workers' Press of Cuba in 1948. In 1987 said institute grants him the special teaching category of Professor of Merit. He served as a jury for several salons and competitions including the Triennial of Realistic Painting Committed in Sofia (Bulgaria) in 1976. He has published 4 books of poetry

Shows: He has made a score of personal exhibitions and has participated in more than one hundred national and international collective exhibitions. He has developed an important work in the promotion of the Plastic Arts as a jury of salons, competitions and curators of Cuban art exhibitions. He has published 4 poetry notebooks and made 6 murals. In 1962 and 1963 he presented his personal exhibition "Oils, drawings and poems by Adigio Benítez" at the Galería de La Habana, at Galería de Oriente, Santiago de Cuba, at Galería de Cienfuegos and Galería de Matanzas, Cuba. In 1964 he showed "Adige Benitez, Workers, Masks and Landscapes." The following year he exhibits "Adigio Benítez, retrospective exhibition" National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana. In 1996 he exhibited "Beldades y trebejos, paintings and drawings by Adigio Benítez" International Press Center, Havana.

Awards: In 1959 he won the Acquisition Award. Annual Salon 1959. Painting, Sculpture and Engraving, National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana. In 1963 he again achieved the Acquisition Award. First National Exhibition of Drawings / 1962, José Martí National Library of Havana. In 1976 he was awarded the Prize of the II Triennial of Committed Realism, Sofia, (Bulgaria). In 1981 it was mention. First National Salon of Small Format. Lalo Carrasco Hall, Hotel Habana Libre, Havana and was awarded the Distinction for National Culture by the Council of State of the Republic of Cuba. He also won the René Portocarrero Grand Prize at the UNEAC Plastic Arts Hall in 1985. National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana. In 1994, he received the "Félix Varela" First Degree Order, the highest decoration awarded by the Cuban State in the field of cultural activity. In 2002 he obtained the National Prize for Plastic Arts granted by the National Council of Plastic Arts of the Ministry of Culture of Cuba, for the whole of his work and in 2003 he obtained the National Prize for Artistic Teaching.

Collections: His work is in the Cuban Art collections of the National Museum of Fine Arts of Havana, in [Casa de las Américas] of Havana. In him [Cuban Fund of Cultural Assets] of Havana. At the Higher Institute of Art (ISA), also from Havana. Ignacio Agramonte Museum, Camagüey (Cuba). Among other Cuban and foreign institutions and collections.