Laureano Ladrón de Guevara

He began his artistic studies at Valparaiso, where he was a disciple of Juan Francisco Gonzalez with whom he learned drawing.[1] Later, he studied law and architecture, which he abandoned to join the School of Fine Arts, University of Chile, where he studied with Jose Mercedes Ortega, Fernando Alvarez de Sotomayor, Alberto Valenzuela Llanos, Ricardo Richon-Brunet, and Pedro Lira. He was one of the members of Generation 13.

After gaining recognition for his work and with the money he earned from his first exhibition, he traveled to Europe in 1924 to devote himself to studying the techniques of fresco painting and engraving. Inspired by Paul Cézanne, he joined the movement for the renewal of French painting and was a great admirer of cubist artists.

In Denmark he studied the stained glass technique.[1] On returning to the country in 1927, he was professor of engraving at the School of Fine Arts. He traveled to Europe for the second time with a group of 1928 fellows, as part of the so-called Generation 28.

In Spain he became interested in mural painting for which he became known as a prominent curator and teacher. Upon his return to Chile in 1932 he created the mural painting course at the School of Fine Arts. He taught at this school for over thirty years. Juana Lecaros was one of his students.[3]

In his works he recreated the coastal and rural landscape, still life, portraits and traditional scenes, through pen, ink, chalk, charcoal, oil, watercolor, fresco painting, murals and stained glass. He was noted for the strength of his drawing and recreation of intimate and melancholic atmospheres through a color that characterized Generation Thirteen and which was dominated by pastel and earthy tones.

Among the numerous awards he received during his life, the prize obtained at the Latin American Exhibition in Seville in 1929, shared with Arthur Gordon is the most noteworthy. The winning works are located, from 2001, at the University of Talca. He received the National Art Award given by the Chilean government in 1967.