The Museo de Arte de Ponce pays tribute to Miguel Pou y Becerra at its annual fundraising event

(Ponce, Puerto Rico, November 2,5,  2022)  – On Saturday, December 3, at the Antiguo Casino de Puerto Rico, the Museo de Arte de Ponce will hold its annual fundraising event that, on this occasion, bears the name of “Luna y Aurora: Una noche por el Museo de Arte de Ponce” in  reference  to the streets among which was located the studio of the famous Ponce artist, Miguel Pou y Becerra, to whom the institution pays tribute.

 

In keeping with the times, this year the Museum will present a new, more intimate and exclusive concept, different from its traditional annual gala. “We have created a kind of petite gala in which our guests will have the opportunity to participate in a sit-down dinner, taste an exquisite three-course menu, created especially for the occasion by Chef Jose Santaella, while interacting in an environment inspired by the study, landscapes and flowers so characteristic of the artistic production of the great master Miguel Pou y Becerra”, said Rubí Rodríguez-Bustillo, Deputy Director of Operations and Sustainability of the Museum. “After dinner, we will move to a more festive atmosphere with space for 400 guests to enjoy good music and dance,” reiterated Rodríguez-Bustillo.

 

The set-up of the event will be in charge of Emilio Olabarrieta Event Atelier and the legendary Sonora Ponceña will liven up the festive portion of the evening. Also, the group Cuenta Regresiva will also join the festivity.

 

About “Luna y Aurora: Una noche por el Museo de Arte de Ponce”, Cheryl Hartup, Director of the institution, said “I am very happy that our main fundraising event in Puerto Rico pays a well-deserved tribute to the ponceño artist Miguel Pou, who also had a close friendship relationship with our founder, Don Luis A. Ferré. The Museum has over 2,000 works of the painter, in addition to the contents of his studio, which were donated by his son, including his easel, furniture, paintings, and a large art library.” Hartup added that “Pou is undoubtedly the artist best represented in the museum’s collection”.

 

Painter, draftsman and teacher, Pou studied drawing with Pedro Clausells and painting with the Spaniard Santiago Meana. After graduating from the Provincial Institute of Puerto Rico, he became a teacher. In 1910, he established an art school in Ponce, which he directed for forty years. In 1919 he studied at the Art Students League in New York and in 1935 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Along with Ramón Frade and Juan Rosado, he was one of the most important realist painters of Puerto Rico of the first half of the twentieth century. His work has been recognized in Puerto Rico, the United States and France. Currently, the exhibition “Nostalgia for my Island” commissioned by Iraida Rodríguez-Negrón, Curator of the Museo de Arte de Ponce and exhibited at the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture, in Chicago, presents five works by the artist from the Museum’s collection. Pou called himself a patriotic artist and insisted that his work reflects the soul of Puerto Rico, the people of the countryside, the “salt of the earth,” and the true characteristics of its landscape.

“The importance of Miguel Pou y Becerra for the Puerto Rican plastic arts, his indisputable influence on my grandfather, Luis A. Ferré, in his younger years when he began to study the masters of European art, and his close connection with the creation of what it is today the Museo de Arte de Ponce, make him a relevant figure in this particular stage of the history of the institution. Soon we will begin to repair and prepare the Museum so it continues to be an essential reference of universal art for our new generations. Hence, the image of Pou regains an important place in this rebirth of the institution in the face of what is a promising future for the arts in Puerto Rico, ” concluded María Luisa Ferré-Rangel, President of the Board of Trustees of the Museo de Arte de Ponce.

 

For information on this event, please send us an email to: eventos@museoarteponce.org or call 787-840-1510 during business hours.