Juan Carlos Distéfano
Juan Carlos Distéfano | |
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 Distéfano in 2019 | |
| Born | 29 August 1933 Villa Celina, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina |
| Died | 25 July 2026 (aged 92) Buenos Aires, Argentina |
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Juan Carlos Distéfano (29 August 1933 – 25 July 2026) was an Argentine sculptor, graphic designer and educator. He served as the director of the Graphic Design Department at the Instituto Di Tella in Buenos Aires. Distéfano represented Argentina at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015 and was awarded the Konex Brilliant Award for Visual Arts in 1992.[1]
Early life and career
Juan Carlos Distéfano was born in Villa Celina, Buenos Aires Province on 29 August 1933. He was the son of an Italian immigrant father and an Argentine mother of Spanish descent.[2]
In 1947, he enrolled in the Escuela Nacional de Artes Gráficas No.9 when he was thirteen years old, He then studied at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes Manuel Belgrano in Buenos Aires and got qualified as an art teacher. During this studying term, he studied under notable Argentine artists such as Demetrio Urruchúa, Aurelio Macchi, and Onofre Pacenza.[3][4]
Between 1960 and 1970, Distéfano was the graphic director of the Visual Arts Center at the Torcuato di Tella Institute. From 1968 onwards, he dedicated himself to sculpture, with a marked connection between his sculptural works and his paintings. He won the Francisco Romero Scholarship awarded by the Fondo Nacional de las Artes for the Arts and the Italian Embassy in Argentina in 1970. In 1976, he abandoned graphic design to dedicate himself exclusively to sculpture. In 1977, he was forced into exile due to the banning of his wife's novel "Ganarse la muerte" by the Argentine military dictatorship. He lived in Spain between 1977 and 1980.[5][6]
In 1982, Distéfano was awarded the Konex Award for Figurative Sculpture, and in 1992 the Konex Award for Visual Arts.
Personal life and death
In 1955, he married the writer Griselda Gambaro.[7]
Distéfano died in Buenos Aires on 25 July 2026, at the age of 92.[8][9][10]
References
- ↑ "Konex Awards - 1992 - Visual Arts". Konex Foundation (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 July 2026.
- ↑ "Maestros del Diseño en América Latina: Juan Carlos Distéfano (Argentina)". Experimenta (in Spanish). 11 October 2022. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
- ↑ "Carlos Distéfano". Arte de la Argentina (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 July 2026.
- ↑ "Juan Carlos Distéfano". Centro Cultural Recoleta (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 July 2026.
- ↑ Arte Argentino contemporáneo. Ameris, Spain. p. 32. ISBN 84-85542-04-5. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
- ↑ Catalogue of his retrospective at the National Museum of Fine Arts, 1998
- ↑ "Juan Carlos Distéfano, Master of Argentine Sculpture, Dies at 92". The Rio Times. Rocco Caldero. 26 July 2026. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
- ↑ "Murió Juan Carlos Distéfano, uno de los escultores más importantes de la Argentina". Clarín (in Spanish). 25 July 2026. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
- ↑ "Murió Juan Carlos Distéfano, un creador que dejó su huella distintiva en la historia del arte argentino". Infobae (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 July 2026.
- ↑ "Murió Juan Carlos Distéfano, el polifacético artista argentino que mantuvo viva la memoria". La Nación (in Spanish). Celina Chatruc. 25 July 2026. Retrieved 26 July 2026.