Waldo Diaz-Balart

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Waldo Diaz-Balart
Born	February 10, 1931 Holguin, Cuba

Waldo Diaz-Balart (born Waldo Díaz-Balart y Gutiérrez on February 10, 1931 in Holguin, Cuba) is a Cuban painter living in Madrid, Spain.

Díaz-Balart studied accounting and political science and economics in Havana before moving to New York to pursue art studies in 1959. From 1959 to 1962 studied art in the Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA. Professionally, on 1967 he develops as lecturer in many cultural centres and universities of USA, Poland, Spain, Germany and Netherlands. He acted in two movies by Andy Warhol, The Life of Juanita Castro in 1965 and The Love of Ondine in 1968.

Díaz-Balart lectures frequently and his work – explorations of color and light in geometric paintings and light sculpture – has been widely exhibited. On 1966 presents an individual exhibition in the Studio Gallery in Washington D.C. In 1967 presented an exhibition in Galerie Iris Clert Paris, France. In 1998 presents "Waldo Balart. Black Painting" in Galería Edurne, Madrid, Spain. In 1970 participated in the collective exhibition Salón 70 in the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de La Habana. In 1964 exhibits in the Pan American Union in Washington D.C. and on 1968 in the Gallery of Modern Art, New York, USA. On 1970 he participated at the first San Juan's Bienal del Grabado Latinoamericano (Biennial of Latin- American Engraving) at the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, Puerto Rico and in 1979 in the Third Bienal Internacional del Deporte en las Bellas Artes (Biennial of Sport in Fine Arts) in Barcelona, Spain. On 1995 participated in the International Art Fair, Köln, Germany.

Most recently, he had one-man shows in the Netherlands, in Spain and in the United States at the Art Gallery of Florida International University. He is the recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation fellowship and his work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid, the Mondriaanhuis in Amersfoort, The Netherlands, and the Museum of Modern Art in Huenfeld, Germany, among others. In 1992 he published the book Waldo Díaz-Balart, Ensayos de Arte.

His sister, Mirta Diaz-Balart, was Fidel Castro's first wife. His nephews, Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Mario Diaz-Balart are two US congressmen.

[edit] References

Cintas Foundation article
El Nuevo Herald, WALDO DÍAZ-BALART: ENTRE LA LUZ Y EL TIEMPO, February 3, 2002 Page 1E (Spanish)
El Nuevo Herald, UN PINTOR QUE VIO EL VERDADERO COLOR DE CASTRO, March 5, 2006 (Spanish)
Nuevo Herald, WALDO BALART Y LA BOHEMIA CONSTRUCTIVISTA, January 9, 1994 (Spanish)
El Nuevo Herald, ENCUENTRO CON LA BOHEMIA CUBANA DE MADRID, September 5, 2001
The Washington Times, Fidel at 80 , August 13, 2006
El Nuevo Herald, CONGRESO `CON CUBA EN LA DISTANCIA' DESTACA LAS ARTES PLÁSTICAS, May 28, 2003, Page PAGE: 2C (Spanish)
Jose Veigas-Zamora, Cristina Vives Gutierrez, Adolfo V. Nodal, Valia Garzon, Dannys Montes de Oca; Memoria: Cuban Art of the 20th Century; (California/International Arts Foundation 2001); ISBN 9780917571114
Jose Viegas; Memoria: Artes Visuales Cubanas Del Siglo Xx; (California International Arts 2004); ISBN 9780917571121 (Spanish)
Andrea O'Reilly Herrera; Cuba: Idea of a Nation Displaced; (State University of New York Press, 2007) ISBN 978-0791471999
Waldo Diaz-Balart; Cintas Fellow: Waldo Diaz-Balart: February 8-March 10, 2002; (Art Museum at Florida International University, 2002); ASIN: B0006S012I