Julio Dacunha, a Colombian artist, is recognized among the pioneers of abstraction in Latin America. He began his studies at the Faculty of Architecture of the National University of Colombia and later obtained his degree in architecture from the University of Florida in 1952. His interest in the visual arts led him to the renowned Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, where he completed a Master of Fine Arts under the mentorship of Wallace Mitchell and Matja Grotell.
While studying art, Dacunha held an exhibition at the El Callejón Gallery in 1954, showing works influenced by international abstract movements challenging the figurative realism prevailing in the country then. This established one of the most important historical references in the history of Latin American abstraction. After moving to Wilmington in 1957 to take up a teaching position, DaCunha became the head of the department at the University of Delaware's College of Art and Design from 1966 to 1969, later receiving the appointment of Professor Emeritus at the University.
Solo exhibitions of Dacunha's work have been held in Bogotá, Philadelphia, Michigan, Delaware, New York, Paris, and London, as well as at the Delaware Art Museum and the Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts.
In his artistic career, Dacunha expressed a sense of the sensory and visual effects of the Hispanic traditions of soleares in flamenco and Greek mythology, themes that he developed in many of his series, citing the decisive influences on his work of Arshile Gorky, Paul Klee, Pablo Picasso, Roberto Matta, and Francisco de Goya, among others.
Dacunha's work is characterized by a deep exploration of abstraction with a style less rigid than the prevailing constructivism and concretism of the time, which allowed him to develop a unique visual language. Dacunha's legacy remains fundamental to abstract art in Latin America, highlighting the relevance and originality of abstraction in Colombia.
