educationSeries: Dominican Modernism with Darío Antonio Suro García-Godoy
A portrait of Darío Suro (La Vega, 1917), Dominican art critic, diplomat and painter, and a figure of the modernist school. The article looks at his beginnings with his uncle Enrique García-Godoy, his obsessions (rain, horses) and the death of his son, which left its mark on his painting.
Darío Antonio Suro García-Godoy was an art critic, diplomat and painter from the Dominican Republic. He was the nephew of the painter Enrique García-Godoy, his first art teacher. García-Godoy is considered one of the founders of the modernist school of Dominican painting. Darío Suro was born in La Vega in 1917. As a young man, he constantly drew scenes of the town and its surroundings. His first teacher was Enrique García-Godoy, his uncle, a well-regarded academic painter who had trained in Europe, mainly in Italy, and who painted scenes from Dominican history.
Los Bañistas, 1945
García-Godoy’s early works could be described as “costumbrist,” gradually shifting into a kind of “neo-impressionism” that was immediately and sincerely welcomed by the public because, in essence, it is pleasant, accessible and decorative. During this phase, two themes begin to obsess Suro. He paints rain scenes, which he would later explain were a reaction to the paintings of Yoryi Morel, which overflow with sunlight, and also a response to local weather conditions: in La Vega, his hometown, it rained more than in Morel’s hometown of Santiago, which was sunnier. His other obsession at the time was the horse, which fascinated him and which he drew and painted constantly. According to his wife Maruxa, whenever he saw one of these noble animals, he would stand transfixed, observing them closely.
“Suddenly, something terrible happens, the most tragic moment of his life: his son, Jaime Agustin, born in Mexico and almost two years old, dies suddenly. His painting at this time clearly reflects the anguish and pain of this tragic moment. It becomes an obsessive theme that haunts him for several years in his canvases dealing with this sad event. Some of these works are indeed very dark, such as the one of the father carrying the dead child. Another is full of color, with Jaime in the foreground, attending his own funeral surrounded by his ‘friends,’ keeping the darkness outside the painting. This tragedy marks Suro for the rest of his life. Despite the overwhelming anguish, two events bring him some relief: the birth of his son Federico in 1948 and that of his daughter Rosa in 1949.”
