18 Facts About Miguel Jorge

Miguel Jorge displayed a high degree of intellect and an interest in art and design early in life, leading Jorge to pursue extensive academic studies in fine art and architecture.

Miguel Jorge studied architecture in the University of Havana, where he took courses in color dynamics under Josef Albers of Yale, a mentor of his.

Miguel Jorge gained early recognition in the arts for his exhibitions in Havana's prestigious Lyceum in the 1950s and had become close to the prominent Gomez-Mena family of Spaniard nobility and Cuban aristocracy by way of the Cuban sugar industry.

Miguel Jorge continued to paint avidly while in his architecture career in Miami, though he sought to transition into a greater focus on his art.

Miguel Jorge was a neighbor of famed Cuban artist Juan Gonzalez while they resided within the main business and cultural hub of Coral Gables, Florida during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

That same year, Miguel Jorge was commissioned to design the event logo for the inaugural Re-Encuentro Cubano exhibition series, held in June, which would run annually until 1980.

Miguel Jorge died of suicide in 1984 at the age of 56 in Miami, Florida.

Miguel Jorge's artwork reflected his personality, which ranged from mercurial, sensitive, witty, acerbic, and self-critical.

Miguel Jorge's art utilized intricate, eccentric, and unpredictable geometric patterns informed by architecture that often incorporated ambiguous images, hidden images, angles and fragmenting effects.

Miguel Jorge's subjects included the Madonna and child, Cuban tropical scenes, other figurative works such as still lifes and faces, as well as other works approaching total abstraction.

Miguel Jorge often utilized tropical flourishes that meshed the rigidity of geometric and mechanized elements with flowing and branch-like organic embellishments, such leaves.

Miguel Jorge's mediums included watercolor, acrylic paint, pastels, marker, pencil, and oil paintings on either canvas or paper.

Miguel Jorge's career has been discussed in published literature of Cuban, Latin American, and American art, including the books Cuban-American Art in Miami: Exile, Identity and the Neo-Baroque and The Cuban-American Experience: Culture, Images, and Perspectives, Memoria: Cuban Art of the 20th Century as well as media and literary publications such as The Miami Herald, The Miami Times, the American Library Association's Choice, Gables Living Magazine, and Latin American art journal Resumen.

Miguel Jorge exhibited extensively in both individual and group showings throughout Cuba, Spain, and the United States.

In 1981 Miguel Jorge won the Central National Bank of Miami Award at the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art.

Miguel Jorge is credited as founding member Miami's Latin American art market and became closely associated with other leading participants, including the Grupo GALA, Juan Gonzalez, the Permuys, and particularly Dionisio Perkins and Lourdes Gomez Franca.

Notable examples include Humberto Calzada, who Miguel Jorge mentored, and Pablo Cano, who would eventually collaborate extensively with Gomez Franca beginning in the 1980s and 1990s.

Miguel Jorge's artwork is featured in several prominent collections of Latin American Art, including the Lowe Art Museum as well as the Permuy and Pinedo Collections.