Montebravo (José Garcia Montebravo) #2232. "Tabacos Cubanos," 2000. Acrylic on wood cigar box. 4 x 5.25 x 5.5 inches

José Garcia Montebravo Montebravo died of cancer on July 9, 2010. He was 56 years old. Montebravo (José Garcia Montebravo) was born in Las Villas in 1953 and is a self-taught artist who was a teacher of geography for many years. He started painting again in the 1980s and became a full-time artist in the 1990s. He is a leading member of the art community in Cienfuegos where he lives and works in the center of town. Montebravo’s paintings are of several types: some of his paintings are influenced by Santería and he does riffs on the “orishas,” but one is just as likely to come across drawings and paintings that are part of his fantasy series with people, birds, animals and lush Cuban plant life. A prolific artist, he has had 12 one-man exhibitions (two of them at the Cuban Art Space in New York City) and taken part in more than 200 group shows in Cuba and abroad. Since 1984, he has received 58 prizes and 15 honorable mentions for his work. He has exhibited in Cuba and abroad (in New York, Connecticut, California, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Oregon in the