One of the most celebrated contemporary Latin American artists, Fernando Botero was born in Medellin, Colombia in 1932, and started his artistic career at the age of 16 as an illustrator for local newspaper, El Colombiano. In 1951, he moved to Bogota, where he held his first solo exhibition at the Leo Matiz Gallery. He was awarded the Second Prize at the National Salon the following year and used the prize money to fund his travels to Spain, Italy, and France, where he studied the work of Renaissance and Baroque masters. After his time in Europe, Fernando Botero moved to Mexico, where he developed his signature style of exaggerated forms. The artist further developed his style after relocating to New York in 1960, but only began to produce sculpture in 1973 after establishing a studio space in Paris, France. Currently working and residing in Paris, New York, and Tuscany, Fernando Botero has enjoyed monumental success, with enormous public sculpture installations held at the Champs-Elysees in Paris, the Piaza della Signoria in Florence, and Park Avenue in New York, as well as several major retrospectives, including “Fernando Botero: Una celebración” held in Mexico City in 2012. Selected Public Collections: The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA National Museum of Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia Kunsthalle Nuremberg, Nuremberg, Germany Museum Moderne Kunst, Vienna, Austria Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan Selected Solo Exhibitions: Galería Leo Matiz, Bogotá, Colombia, 1951 Gres Gallery, Washington, D. C., USA, 1957 Marlborough Gallery, New York, USA, 1972 “Retrospective Exhibition” Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 1975 “Traveling Exhibition” Seibu Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan; Osaka Municipal Museum of Fine Arts, Osaka, Japan, 1981 “Fernando Botero - Recent Painting” Marlborough Fine Art, London, United Kingdom, 1983 “Botero Sculpture” Champs-elysees, Paris, France, 1992 “Botero in New York” the Public Art Fund Inc., Park Avenue, New York, USA, 1993 “Retrospective of Monumental Sculpture” Piazza della Signoria, Florence, Italy, 1999 “Botero, Oeuvres Récentes” Musée Maillol, Paris, France, 2003 “Botero in Singapore” Esplanade Park, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore, Singapore, 2004 “Fernando Botero - The Last 15 Years” Palazzo Venezia, Rome, Italy, 2005 “Fernando Botero, The Circus Series” Galerie Gmurzynska, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Thomas Gibson Fine Art Ltd., London, United Kingdom, 2008-2009 “Fernando Botero: The Abu Ghraib Series” The Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, USA, 2009-2010 “Fernado Botero. Una celebración” Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, Mexico, 2012 “Fernando Botero: disegnatore e scultore” PartArt, Pietrasanta, Italy, 2012