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Leopoldo Romanach y Guillen Curriculum
Leopoldo Romanach y Guillen (1862- 1951) He was born in Sierra Morena, Corralillo, Las Villas, on October 7, 1862. He studied his elementary and middle education in Barcelona, where he had contact with the work of the prestigious Catalan artist Fortuny. He came back to Cuba at the age of fifteen years old and in 1885 he enrolled in San Alejandro Academy. There, he was a Miguel Melero’ s disciple.
In 1889 he received a scholarship to study in Italy, in the Free School. He participated in the Associazionne Artistico Internazionale of Italy, where he won some prizes. In 1895 he moved to New York, city in which he settled as a painter for several years. He went back to Havana in 1900, when he was named Professor of Coloring in San Alejandro. He dedicated the rest of his life to this institution, preparing three generations of artists. Due to his tolerance to the new ideas about painting and to his pedagogic capacity, he was pretty appreciated by his pupils, not only by those who chose an academic art, but also by those who followed the way of the moderns.
Leopoldo Romanach traveled a lot and his work was displayed in several important exhibits. In 1904 he won the Gold Medal in the Exhibit of Saint Louis and Silver Medal in the Exhibit of Buffalo. In 1905 he obtained the Gold Medal in the Exhibit of Charleston, in 1912 he won the Medal of Honor at the Exhibit of Panama and in 1929 he received the Major Prize in the Iberian-American Exhibit of Sevilla. The Republic of Cuba granted him its greatest distinction, handing him over the Gran Cruz de la Orden Nacional del Merito, Carlos Manuel de Cespedes (Big Cross of the National Order of Merit, Carlos Manuel de Cespedes). His paintings were included in the main national exhibits throughout the first half of the 20th Century. In 1952 the Ministry of Education set up a huge exhibit -as a tribute to his work- in the Salon of Los Pasos Perdidos of the National Capitol, and also printed an excellent booklet totally dedicated to this great artist. In Miami his work was presented in the exhibit prepared by Dora Valdes-Fauli in the Bacardi Gallery, in 1988, titled Pintura y Litografia Cubanas (Cuban painting and Lithography) (1825- 1925).
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