Blockbuster Botero Exhibition to Visit San Antonio, Inspiring Community Celebration

“San Antonio is the first U.S. stop for a long-anticipated retrospective exhibition of paintings, prints and sculptures from the personal collection of Colombian-born Fernando Botero, Latin America’s most popular living artist.

The exhibition, The Baroque World of Fernando Botero, comprises 100 works by the artist, whose last retrospective in the United States was in 1974. The exhibition will be divided between the San Antonio Museum of Art and the Southwest School of Art & Craft, and will be on view from May 26 through August 19, 2007. Botero’s highly accessible and engaging style should inspire strong public response to the exhibition, which was organized and circulated by Art Services Intl, Alexandria, VA.

Between May and August 2007, organizers anticipate that San Antonio will host thousands of Botero-loving visitors from Latin America, Mexico, other parts of Texas, and other Southwestern states.

Centering around this exhibition will be a San Antonio-wide Botero celebration ””designated Botero: Beloved Artist of the Americas ”” a collaborative project between the San Antonio Museum of Art, the Southwest School of Art & Craft, the San Antonio Public Library Foundation and public television station KLRN.

Educational materials created by the institutions will explore how Botero’s distinctive work and style has intrigued and delighted viewers through the years, and will be used in family- and child-centered offerings at various branch libraries throughout the city as well as at the exhibiting institutions.

The San Antonio Library Foundation is working toward the purchase and installation of a Botero bronze sculpture for the San Antonio Central Library. Public television station KLRN will air Botero-related television programming during the exhibitions and is the guiding force behind the project website, www.BoteroSA.org.

In San Antonio, the exhibition is made possible through the generous sponsorship of the AT&T Foundation. Additional significant support has also been provided by the Robert J. and Helen C. Kleberg Foundation and the Kronkosky Charitable Foundation. The partners also recognize and appreciate the services of Bromley Communications, the El Tropicano Riverwalk Holiday Inn and the support of the Edouard Foundation.

For current information on events and art encounters, or to learn more about the artist himself, visit www.BoteroSA.org. Questions or requests for high-res IMAGES can be addressed to:

Leigh Baldwin, San Antonio Museum of Art: leigh.baldwin@samuseum.org
Cathy Brillson, Southwest School of Art and Craft: cbrillson@swschool.org
Tracey Bennett, San Antonio Public Library Foundation: tracey.bennett@saplf.org
Deborah Vallejo, Bromley Communications: deborah.vallejo@bromcomm.com

The Baroque World of Fernando Botero
May 26 – August 19, 2007

One exhibition, two locations:
San Antonio Museum of Art, 200 West Jones Avenue, San Antonio, www.samuseum.org
Southwest School of Art & Craft, 300 Augusta, San Antonio, www.swschool.org
For further information on Botero and Botero-related activities in San Antonio all summer:
www.BoteroSA.org
www.samuseum.org
www.swschool.org “

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