Skip to main content

Enrique Riverón papers, 1918-1990s

Enrique Riverón papers, 1918-1990s

Riverón, Enrique, 1902-1998

Cartoonist, Sculptor, Painter, Illustrator

Collection Information

Size: 3.3 linear ft.

Summary: Correspondence, writings and diary entries, scrapbooks, printed materials, and photographs documenting Riveron's career as an illustrator, cartoonist, painter and sculptor in the United States, Cuba, and to a lesser degree, his teaching career at Wichita University, Kan.

Biographical/Historical Note

Painter, sculptor, cartoonist, illustrator; Miami, Fla.; b. 1902 in Cienfuegos, Cuba; d. 1998. Riverón traveled and studied under scholarship in his early twenties to France, Italy, Belgium, and Spain. He attended the Academia de San Fernando in Madrid and had a one man show in Paris as well as several in Havana and New York. For a number of years he was a cartoonist for Havana newspapers as well as for magazines such as the New Yorker, Life, and Cine Mundial which was published in New York and widely circulated in Latin America. He worked for a time in Hollywood for Disney. After 1940 he focused on painting and sculpture, and moved to Miami as an exile in 1964.

Provenance

Donated 1996 by Patricia Riverón Lee, daughter of Riverón.

A Finding Aid to the Enrique Riverón Papers,
1918-1990s
, in the Archives of American Art
AAA.riveenri
Author
Finding aid prepared by Stephanie L. Ashley
Biographical Note
Painter, sculptor, cartoonist, and illustrator Enrique Riverón was born in 1902 in Cienfuegos, Cuba and belonged to the first generation of Cuban modernists, experimenting with Cubism and pursuing abstraction from very early on in his career. During his early twenties Riverón traveled to France, Italy, Belgium, and Spain to study under scholarships and attend the Academia de San Fernando in Madrid. In 1926 Riverón's first major one-man exhibition took place at the Association Paris Amerique Latine where the catalog introduction was written by noted Mexican writer Alfonso Reyes.
In 1927 Riverón returned to Havana and had a one-man show of his European work at the Asociación de Pintores y Escultores, as well as several other shows in Havana and New York. He moved to the United States in 1930 and became a United States citizen in 1943.
In addition to being known for his naturalistic drawings of street life in Paris and Cuba, Riverón began working with collage in the 1930s and was, for a number of years, a cartoonist for newspapers in Havana and other publications such as
The New Yorker
and
Cine Mundial
which was published in New York and widely circulated in Latin America. He also worked in Hollywood for a time as an illustrator for Walt Disney Pictures.
From 1940 on, Riverón focused on painting and sculpture. He moved to Miami from Wichita, Kansas, in 1964. Enrique Riverón died in 1998.
Arrangement
The collection is organized into eight series.
Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1929-1960 (Box 1; 2 folders)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1918-1991 (box 1, 0.6 ft.)
Series 3: Writings, 1923-1980s, undated (box 1, 0.2 ft.)
Series 4: Scrapbooks, 1920s-1990s, undated (boxes 1, 3, and 4, 0.7 ft.)
Series 5: Artwork, 1958-1983, undated (boxes 1 and 5, 0.4 ft.)
Series 6: Printed Material, circa 1930-1992 (boxes 2 and 5, 0.7 ft.)
Series 7: Photographs, 1918-1992, undated (boxes 2, 5 and 6, 0.6 ft.)
Series 8: Miscellany, 1927-1989, undated (box 6, 7 folders)
Scope and Content Note
The Enrique Riverón papers measure 3.3 linear feet, date from 1918-1990s and document Riverón's career as an illustrator, cartoonist, painter and sculptor in the United States and Cuba and, to a lesser extent, his teaching career at Wichita University in Kansas. The collection includes correspondence, the majority of which concerns Riverón's exhibitions; writings, primarily Riverón's recollections of his trips to Paris and Madrid and his memories of people he met in Latin America, Europe, and the United States; printed material documenting exhibitions and Riverón's work for magazines such as
Cine-Mudial
and
Bally-Hoo
; and photographs.
Provenance
Donated 1996 by Patricia Riverón Lee, daughter of Riverón.
Related Material
The Archives of American Art also has a collection of Enrique Riverón letters to Mario Carreño, 1981-1990, in which Riverón writes of their mutual friends, his memories of Cuba, health issues, politics, pricing paintings, collages, and his longings for Paris and New York.
Processing Information
The collection was processed by Rosa M. Fernandez in 1997. The finding aid was written by Stephanie Ashley in 2002.

Restrictions on Access

Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.

How to Cite This Collection

Enrique Riverón papers, 1918-1990s. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Download Finding Aid

Also in the Archives

Tags

EAD XML

  • No downloads available