Antonio Martorell (San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1939–)
Multidisciplinary artist. He has excelled as a painter, illustrator, sculptor, printmaker, printmaking professor, communicator, set and costume designer for theater, performer, newspaper, radio, and television journalist, and writer. Since 1986, he has been an artist-in-residence at the University of Puerto Rico in Cayey. His work is featured in major local and international museums. He is also the author of five books: La piel de la memoria, El libro dibujado/el dibujo librado, El velorio (no-vela), Pierdencuentra, and Los colores de Tó.
After completing his studies in Diplomacy at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., he opted for the arts. After studying painting and drawing in Madrid, he returned to Puerto Rico to study graphic arts with Lorenzo Homar, at the Graphic Arts Workshop of the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture. From there, he went on to establish his Taller Alacrán, one of the first independent workshop-schools dedicated to the practice of graphic arts in Puerto Rico, with an emphasis on creating works of social and political protest. In addition to Puerto Rico, Martorell taught graphic arts in Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico, where he resided between 1978 and 1984.
He has been awarded honorary doctorates from Ana G. Méndez University, Gurabo campus (1997), the University of Puerto Rico, Cayey campus (2006), the Instituto Superior de Arte, in Havana, Cuba (2009), and the Ponce School of Medicine (2018). In 2023, he received the National Medal of Arts from the President of the United States. In addition to Puerto Rico, his works are exhibited in important museums and libraries in Colombia, Chile, Cuba, the United States, Mexico, and Venezuela, among others.
As part of his studies, Lorenzo Homar assigned him to visit La Casa del Libro Museo Biblioteca, from which a collaborative and friendly relationship emerged that continues to this day. Currently, he maintains his workshop-studio in the La Playa sector of Ponce, where he creates his art and offers guided tours of his work.