Pedro Oraá
Pedro Oraá
Pedro de Oraá was born in Havana, Cuba in 1931 and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts San Alejandro. He is a painter, editor, poet, writer and art critic, best known for his co-founding of Los Diez Pintores Concretos, a group of artists working in geometric abstraction in 1950s Cuba (1958-1961). Oraá and Loló Soldevilla, another abstract artist, his contemporary and wife, opened Galeria Color-Luz in 1957 Havana, which became the rendezvous point for Los Diez as well as, the place where they held a majority of their exhibitions. Los Diez were the pioneers for the Concrete movement or Concrete Abstraction, a style that defines itself as simply geometrical and without "...representational or drawn-from-life references... a style without narrative or natural connections..." Even after the groups' dissolution in 1961, Oraá represented Cuba in many exhibitions both on the island and abroad and was a significant member in many cultural organizations such as The National Union of Writers and Artists and The National Council of Culture. With a career spanning more than 70 years, Pedro de Oraá is the last living member of Los Diez.