Oral history interview with José Maria Mijares
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 1 sound cassette. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 30 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Mijares Fernández, José María, 1921-
label: Interviewer
content: Martínez, Juan A.
label: Names
content: Peláez, Amelia, 1897-1968
topic: label: Topic
content: Cuban American art
label: Topic
content: Artists -- Florida -- Miami -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Expatriate artists -- Florida -- Miami -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Artists -- Cuba -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Art, Modern -- 20th century -- Florida -- Miami
label: Topic
content: Cuban American artists
label: Topic
content: Latino and Latin American artists
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Mijares Fernández, José María, 1921-
label: Interviewer
content: Martínez, Juan A.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: José Maria Mijares (1921-2004) was a painter from Miami, Fla. Born in Cuba.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 107 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1998 Jan. 17
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.mijare98
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of José Maria Mijares conducted 1998 Jan. 17, by Juan A. Martínez, in Mijares' home/studio, Miami, Fla., for the Archives of American Art.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Mijares discusses his background; his early interest in drawing; attending Cuba's main art school, the San Alejandro Academy of Art, Havana; his professors, Leopoldo Romanach and Armando Menocal; artistic influences of Cuban modernist painters Fidelio Ponce and Amelia Peláez; being awarded the second prize in a national exhibition in Hanava, 1944 for his work Alameda; the art movement in the 1950s "arte concreto," which involved geometric abstraction and art for art's sake; difficulties of being an artist in Cuba due to lack of galleries and collectors; teaching at San Alejandro in the late 1950s; going into exile in the mid-1960s to Miami; his work schedule of drawing and painting about 6 hours daily; favorite medium being oil on canvas, but also works with serigraphy and watercolor; briefly mentions his artistic style; and his nostalgia for Cuba which is a source of inspiration in his work.