Carlos Sotomayor was born in La Serena – Chile –
on 27th August 1911.His father, Carlos Sotomayor Caceres was
a Civil Engineer who worked for the Chilean
Railway Company, married to Julia Roman Morales. They had 5
children: Carlos, Julio (poet), Lucia, Ines
(agronomist) and Elena.
In his teenage years Carlos Sotomayor met the
painter and sculptor Laura Rodig, who had just come back from
Europe and worked with her, putting up an
exhibition together with Pedro Olmos.
He studied at the Instituto Nacional in Santiago
and in 1931 he studied at the School of Architecture of the Universidad de
Chile. However, in 1932 he opted to study at the Fine Arts College of the same
university instead. Some of his teachers were Jorge Caballero, Herman Gazmuri
and Augusto Eguiluz.
His first formal exhibition took place in
September 1933 at the Libreria Walton, a centre of cultural events. This
event was sponsored and introduced by the poet
Vicente Huidobro, with whom Carlos Sotomayor shared
a close friendship.
In 1934 Sotomayor joined the Grupo Decembrista,
together with Maria Valencia, Gabriela Rivanedeira, Jaime Dvar and Waldo
Parraguez. This group of neocubist artists was led by Vicente Huidobro.
In May 1936, Carlos Sotomayor married Franka Serka
Jurac, fellow student at the Fine Arts College.
In 1937 he joined the Grupo Rectangulo de Arte
Moderno, encouraged by the artist Vergara Grez. He exhibited
at the
Alianza de Intelectuales de Chile together with Maria Valencia, Waldo Parraguez
and Haroldo Donoso.
In August 1944 he exhibited 20 paintings at the
Sala del Ministerio de Educacion. In the catalogue there were articles and
poems by the poets Eduardo Anguita and Julio Molina. The critic Antonio Romera
wrote a very complimentary review in the press.
In 1946 Sotomayor exhibited several oil paintings
and drawings at the Sala del Ministerio de Educacion. The writer Andres Sabella
wrote an article about it.
In December 1952 Sotomayor exhibited at the Sala
Pro Arte and in 1953 he took part in the Primer Salon de Primavera de la Casa
de la Cultura de Nunoa, together with 50 other artists: Jose Balmes, Sergio
Montecinos, Raul Santelices and Jose Venturelli among them.
In 1955 he started working at the National Railway
Company as a draughtsman in the Department of Vias & Obras.
In 1960 Sotomayor took part in La Segunta Feria de
Artes Plasticas (Parque Forestal) organised by the Museo de Arte Moderno.
Sotomayor won second prize.
Sotomayor exhibited his works at the Exposicion de
Pintura Chilena Nueva in March 1962, organised and sponsored by
Empresa Esso Oil Co. Nemesio Antunez and Jose
Balmes also participated.
In November 1966 Sotomayor exhibited his oil
paintings at the Sala del Instituto de Artes Plasticas de la Universidad de
Chile.
His last exhibition took place in 1979 at he
Galeria Eco, where there were 30 of his paintings, among them: ‘The painter and
his models’, ‘Rape 1’ and ‘Lanscapes of Cartagena’. The art critic Jose Maria
Palacios praised Sotomayor’s works in the press.
In 1973 Sotomayor retired from the F.F. C.C. del
E. and devoted himself entirely to his paintings until his death.
In 1984 he travelled to Europe where he visited
museums of modern art in Paris, London, Birmingham and Rome.
In 1988 he suffered a heart attack from which he
did not recover and passed away on 17th of April leaving behind
his wife Franka, and sons Carlos and Alvaro.