Luis Desangles Lubiles, known as “Sisito” (8 February 1861, Santo Domingo – 13 April 1940, Santiago de Cuba) was a Dominican painter who specialized in portraits and patriotic scenes. He is also credited with introducing the Costumbrista style there and created several church murals.
His daddy Pedro (Pierre) came from France. He initially studied art taking into consideration a local painter named León Cordero. After Cordero’s death in 1874, aged barely sixteen, he travelled to Italy to unadulterated his studies. In 1883, he opened his first workshop in Santo Domingo.
Banished by Ulises Heureaux, he first went to Puerto Rico, where he befriended Eugenio María de Hostos, then to the United States, where he made the acquaintance of José Martí. He returned home in 1904, but was there solitary briefly back being appointed Consul for Santiago de Cuba by President Carlos Morales.
He would bring to life in Cuba for the in flames of his moving picture and it became his second homeland. In 1912, he was appointed Director of the “Escuela Superior de Varones de San Cristóbal” (a boys’ school) and higher taught at the “Academia Municipal de Bellas Artes”. In 1935, he was appointed Honorary Director of the “Escuela Provincial de Artes Plásticas de Santiago de Cuba” (now the “Escuela Provincial de Artes Plásticas José Joaquín Tejada”)
He created numerous portraits of famous political figures, posthumously and from life, including Juan Pablo Duarte, Buenaventura Báez Méndez, Matías Ramón Mella, Ulises Francisco Espaillat, Francisco del Rosario Sánchez and Gregorio Luperón. Several well-known artists were in the course of his students; notably Abelardo Rodríguez Urdaneta and Ramón Frade.
In October 2018, a major retrospective of his put it on was presented at the Museo Bellapart in Santo Domingo.
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