Alfredo Valenzuela Puelma
| Alfredo Valenzuela Puelma | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
Alfredo Valenzuela Puelma February 8, 1856 Valparaíso, Chile |
| Died | October 27, 1909 Villejuif, France |
| Nationality | Chilean |
| Known for | Painting |
| Awards | 1877 - First place, Salón Oficial, Santiago, Chile; 1878 - First and second place, Salón Oficial, Santiago, Chile; 1880 - First place, Salón Oficial, Santiago, Chile; 1884 - First place, Salón Oficial, Santiago, Chile; 1889 - Honorable mention, Salon de Paris, France; 1890 - Third place, Salón de Otoño, Madrid, Spain; 1892 - Marcos Maturana award , Salón Oficial, Santiago, Chile; 1892 - Edwards Award, Salón Oficial, Santiago, Chile; 1896 - First place, Exposición Municipal de Valparaíso, Chile; 1899 - Edwards Award, Salón Oficial, Santiago, Chile; 1901 - Third place, Exposición de Buffalo, United States; 1903 - Edwards Award, Salón Oficial, Santiago, Chile; 1929 - Third place, Ibero-American Exposition of 1929, Spain. |
Alfredo Valenzuela Puelma (Valparaiso, February 8, 1856 – Villejuif, France, October 27, 1909), was one of Chile's best-known painters and one of the four artists known as the Great Chilean Masters.
Alfredo showed a talent and interest in art from an early age. At the age of twelve, he began attending the Academy of Fine Arts where he learned from Ernesto Kirchbach and Juan Mochi. For the first few years he combined artistic training with the study of medicine.
Between 1881 and 1885 he was awarded a scholarship from the Chilean Government to continue his art studies at the workshop of Benjamin Constant in Paris. He also took courses in anatomy at the Sorbonne, where he made contact with movements that would go on to revolutionise art history, like the Manet School. However, it was the work of the Spanish masters that he copied at the Louvre that made the deepest impression on him, and were more of an influence on his style.
In 1887, for the second time, he won a scholarship to study in Paris this time attended the workshop of Jean Paul Laurens. Whilst studying in France and upon his return to Chile, he submitted his works to be included in most art galleries and art contests in Santiago, and won awards on several occasions. During the last decade of the 19th century, when living in Valparaíso, he played an active role as an administrator at the Theater La Victoria, as well as managing art exhibitions.
Valenzuela Puelma made his final trip to France in 1907 and never returned to Chile. He was suffering from persistent depression and mental illness that left him destitute and led ultimately to his death at the age of 53. His remains were later repatriated to Chile and honored at a grand ceremony held in the main hall of the National Museum of Fine Arts.
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