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Homage · public monuments

Rodrigo Arenas Betancourt

Five public works. Not a catalogue.

Rodrigo Arenas Betancourt (El Uvital, rural Fredonia, Antioquia, 23 October 1919 — Medellín, 14 May 1995) was a Colombian sculptor and writer. He trained in Medellín and Bogotá, then in Mexico, and from 1967 kept his studio in Caldas, Antioquia. His public monuments — bronze, concrete, steel — stand in plazas and universities across Colombia. This page is a homage to five of those works. They already belong to the cities that hold them. Cano Gallery does not own them, does not sell them, and does not speak for the Arenas estate.

Cano Gallery covers certified studio works separately from these public monuments. Cano does not invent stock.

Banrepcultural spells the surname Betancurt; Wikipedia, the University of Antioquia and La Esmeralda write Betancourt. Same person. This page writes Betancourt.

Death date: 14 May 1995 (Wikipedia, La Esmeralda, El Tiempo 15 May 1995, Alcaldía de Fredonia). Banrepcultural records 12 May 1995. The disagreement is left visible.

Biography

Peasant family, El Uvital / Fredonia, Antioquia. Brief spell at the Seminario de Misiones de Yarumal, 1931–1932. From about 1938 he carved wooden Christs and worked as assistant to Pedro Nel Gómez and Bernardo Vieco Ortiz. Instituto de Bellas Artes, Medellín; Escuela de Bellas Artes, Universidad Nacional, Bogotá, 1939–1941. Mexico from 1944: Academia de San Carlos and La Esmeralda. Studio in Caldas, Antioquia, from 1967. Artistic adviser to the University of Antioquia. Monumental language of bronze, concrete and steel. Honoris Causa, Maestro en Artes Plásticas, Universidad de Antioquia, 1995.

Certified work · studio bronzes

Certified work

Six studio bronzes, covered here separately from the public monuments below. Each card shows the certificate — that is the proof. Certified by José Patricio Arenas Rosas, son of the master. Cano Gallery does not invent stock.

Certificate of authenticity for Mujer Maya Torteando, lost-wax bronze by Rodrigo Arenas Betancourt. Photograph of the full certificate.
Certificate photographed in full. That is the proof.

Mujer Maya Torteando

  • Technique Lost-wax bronze
  • Measure 100 × 50 cm
  • Series La Obra Ingenua (México)
Certificate of authenticity for El Tachiclero, lost-wax bronze by Rodrigo Arenas Betancourt. Photograph of the full certificate.
Certificate photographed in full. That is the proof.

El Tachiclero

  • Technique Lost-wax bronze
  • Measure 100 × 50 cm
  • Series La Obra Ingenua (México)
Certificate of authenticity for Niña con el Perico, lost-wax bronze by Rodrigo Arenas Betancourt. Photograph of the full certificate.
Certificate photographed in full. That is the proof.

Niña con el Perico

  • Technique Lost-wax bronze
  • Measure 100 × 50 cm
  • Series La Obra Ingenua (México)
Certificate of authenticity for Córdoba de Rionegro, lost-wax bronze by Rodrigo Arenas Betancourt. Photograph of the full certificate.
Certificate photographed in full. That is the proof.

Córdoba de Rionegro

  • Technique Lost-wax bronze
  • Measure 120 × 100 cm
  • Series 1/10
Certificate of authenticity for Potros Dobles, lost-wax bronze by Rodrigo Arenas Betancourt. Photograph of the full certificate.
Certificate photographed in full. That is the proof.

Potros Dobles

  • Technique Lost-wax bronze
  • Measure 100 × 50 cm
  • Series Potros
Certificate of authenticity for Cabeza de Potro, lost-wax bronze by Rodrigo Arenas Betancourt. Photograph of the full certificate.
Certificate photographed in full. That is the proof.

Cabeza de Potro

  • Technique Lost-wax bronze
  • Measure 100 × 60 cm
  • Series Potros
The five works

Public monuments. Homage. Cano Gallery covers them. It does not sell them.

Prometeo de la Libertad, public monument in Ciénaga, Magdalena.
Prometeo de la Libertad, Ciénaga, Magdalena. Photograph: Jdvillalobos, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
01 · Ciénaga, Magdalena

Prometeo de la Libertad

Also Monumento a Las Bananeras. Banrepcultural title: Las Bananeras.

  • Place Plaza de los Mártires, Ciénaga
  • Year 1974–1978. Local reporting: inaugurated 1978.

Public monument in Plaza de los Mártires, Ciénaga; Wikipedia records it as designed for Curaçao and installed here.

Los Potros, bronze horses on a diagonal beam, Neiva.
Los Potros, Neiva, Huila. Photograph: Jkhidalgo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
02 · Neiva, Huila

Los Potros

Av. La Toma / Carrera 2.

  • Year Year not agreed: La Nación 1988 · Wikipedia EN 1997 · Wikipedia ES silent.
  • Material Bronze horses on a concrete diagonal (La Nación; TUR4all).

Bronze horses on a rising concrete beam; a public homage to the Huila writer José Eustasio Rivera.

Bolívar desnudo, Plaza de Bolívar, Pereira. Sculpture by Rodrigo Arenas Betancourt.
Bolívar desnudo, Plaza de Bolívar, Pereira. Photograph: SajoR, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
03 · Pereira

Bolívar desnudo

Plaza de Bolívar. Bronze, cast in Mexico. Inaugurated August 1963. Construction 1956–1962.

  • Year Inaugurated 1963, for the city’s centenary.
  • Height 9 m (monument page) / 10 m (Arenas list + Banrepcultural).

Nude equestrian Bolívar in Pereira’s main square, inaugurated in 1963 for the city’s centenary.

El Hombre Creador de Energía, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín.
El Hombre Creador de Energía, Universidad de Antioquia. Photograph: Yimicorrea, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
04 · Universidad de Antioquia

El Hombre Creador de Energía

Also called Prometeo. Plazoleta central, Ciudad Universitaria, Medellín.

  • Year 1968–1971 (UdeA / El Colombiano). Wikipedia and Banrepcultural: 1968–1970.
  • Material Bronze and concrete (UdeA).
  • Size 18.00 m high × 6.00 m diameter (UdeA).

Monumental fountain-sculpture on the central plaza of the University of Antioquia: a man and a woman at the top of a concrete flower.

Cristo Liberador Latinoamericano, bronze in the metropolitan cathedral of Barranquilla.
Cristo Liberador Latinoamericano, Catedral Metropolitana María Reina, Barranquilla. Photograph: Jdvillalobos, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0. Commons filename: Cristo Libertador.
05 · Barranquilla

Cristo Liberador Latinoamericano

Also seen as Cristo Libertador (Commons filename). Interior of Catedral Metropolitana María Reina.

  • Year 1978–1985 (Wikipedia works list + cathedral file). Other cathedral text: installed 1982, blessed 1986.
  • Height 15 m (Arenas works table) / 16 m (cathedral page, Docomomo).
  • Material Bronze. Founder named on the cathedral page: Darío Montoya.

Monumental bronze Christ inside Barranquilla’s metropolitan cathedral.

Sources

What is cited

  1. Wikipedia ES — Rodrigo Arenas Betancourt
  2. Wikipedia EN — Rodrigo Arenas Betancourt
  3. Enciclopedia Banrepcultural — Rodrigo Arenas Betancurt
  4. Universidad de Antioquia, Museo Abierto
  5. La Esmeralda (ENPEG)
  6. El Tiempo, 15 May 1995
  7. El Colombiano — UdeA Prometeo
  8. La Nación — Los Potros

Corrections: archivo@galeriacano.com.