José Gómez Sicre Papers, 1916-1991

Biographical Sketch

José Gómez Sicre, known as Pepe by friends and family, was born July 6, 1916 in Matanzas, Cuba to Guillermina Sicre and Clemente Gómez. José Gómez Sicre graduated from the University of Havana in 1941 with degrees in Consular Law and Politics, and later took courses in art history at New York University and Columbia University. Although he was a lawyer by trade, his professional career was spent working promoting Latin American artists and their art for 50 years. Gómez Sicre was a critic, researcher and writer, publishing numerous reports and articles on Latin American artists. Most importantly, Gómez Sicre provided Latin American artists with an introduction to the audience in the United States and the world.

José Gómez Sicre’s involvement in the world of art began early. In the 1940’s, he was responsible for organizing exhibitions of Cuban art that traveled to various Latin American countries in his position as Director of Exhibits of the Institución Hispanocubana de Cultura (Hispano-Cuban Institution of Culture). In 1944 he served as an advisor to Alfred H. Barr, of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, putting together an exhibition of Cuban paintings that traveled across the United States for the next two years.

Gómez Sicre began his influential work for the Pan-American Union's Visual Arts Unit in 1946 as a Specialist (the Pan-American Union later became the Organization of American States [O.A.S.] in 1948). In 1948, Gómez Sicre was promoted to the position of Chief in the Visual Arts Unit and remained in that post until 1976. Under his leadership, the Visual Arts Unit began to actively collect works of Latin American art beginning in 1957 with financial support of O.A.S., instead of relying solely on donations. The Art Museum of the Americas was established in 1976 by the O.A.S. Permanent Council and Gómez Sicre served as its founder and director. From its modest start of 250 works the collection grew to an impressive 2,000 objects.

José Gómez Sicre published many books, both for O.A.S. and on his own, some which include: Mario Carreño (1943), Cuban Painting Today (1944), Spanish Master Drawings XV to XVIII Centuries (1951), Four Artists of the Americas (O.A.S., 1957), Guide to Public Collections in Latin America (O.A.S., 2 vols., 1956, 1968), Leonardo Nierman (1971), and Jose Luis Cuevas: Self-Portrait with Model (1983). He also wrote and co-directed the scripts of more that twelve films on art in Latin America for the O.A.S. Articles he wrote appeared in publications like Norte, Art News, Art in America, Americas, Art International, Le Connoiseur, Social Education, L’oeil, Boulletin of the Dade, Vision, Lampara, Vandidades, Hombre de Mundo, Miami Replicas.

Aside from his professional activities and research on artists, Gómez Sicre established personal relationships with many artists, inviting them into his home and offering them advice beyond their art. In 1951, JGS married Lucila Ballerin, a native of Venice, in Italy but later divorced in 1955. Guillermina, Gómez Sicre’s mother, was a significant presence in his life, living with him in Washington D.C. until she died in 1974.

José Gómez Sicre died on July 22, 1991, at the age of 75.

Return to the Table of Contents

Scope and Contents Note

GROUP 1: PROFESSIONAL PAPERS

WRITTEN WORKS, 1947-1981

Drafts and published works comprise this series (565 items), which is separated into titled and untitled written works as well as clippings from both magazines and newspapers. The titled and untitled sections (525 items) consist mainly of writings about artists. Many contain the original Spanish version, as well as its English translation. Most of the writings are short descriptions of Latin American artists, but some of the works, in particular writings on artist José Luis Cuevas, are much longer and more detailed. Newspaper and magazine clippings (40 items) published between 1946-1981 focus on trends in Latin American art, as well as artist profiles.

CORRESPONDENCE, 1934-1991

Letters and memoranda constitute this series, which is arranged by date, organization or person covering the period of 1934-1991. Gómez Sicre maintained numerous contacts with Latin American artists, museums around the world, and art sponsors. Correspondence between Gómez Sicre and the Modern Museum of Art in New York, artists José Luis Cuevas and Mario Carreño, and his publishers constitute the bulk of the business correspondence. This series contains significant documentation of Gómez Sicre’s relationship with Alfred H. Barr of MoMA, Mario Carreño, and his publishers. This series documents Gómez Sicre’s thirty year correspondence with artist José Luis Cuevas on whom he published a book entitled “José Luis Cuevas: Self-Portrait with Model” in 1983.

ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES (O.A.S), 1945-1989

This series documents Gómez Sicre’s work for the Organization of American States (known as the Pan American Union until 1948) through correspondence, forms, and art inventory lists between 1945-1989. There is material concerning the O.A.S’s selection of a new director of the Museum of Modern Art Latin America in the early 1980s including candidate reviews and correspondence between Gómez Sicre and high level officials of O.A.S. This series also includes correspondence and press materials documenting the tribute in honor of Gómez Sicre’s achievements and contributions to O.A.S. Other materials illustrate the establishment of a Latin American Film Library.

ARTIST FILES, 1934-1989

Correspondence, clippings and photographs of art, 1934-1989 (2,500 items), make up the artist files series. This series contains two sets of artist files: those Gómez Sicre created during his lifetime and a second set created by the Benson Collection during arrangement from the collected material Gómez Sicre had accumulated. In the files created by Sicre (boxes 8-11) and the files created by the repository (box 12) the files are arranged alphabetically by the artists' last name. Some files are quite thick (57 items in one) and others only contain one item. The majority of the material is in Spanish.

RESEARCH MATERIALS, no date

Notebooks and typed and handwriting notes documents artists, art movements and Latin American historical figures, as well as daily notes; there are 403 items, all undated. The bulk of this series is comprised of typed note cards, one per artist (258 items). The notebooks of different sizes contain notes and addresses with phone numbers.

COLLECTED MATERIALS

This series contains written works such as manuscripts, clippings, and speeches created by people other than Gómez Sicre, 83 items. The bulk of the material is published reviews and clippings (68 items) of artists and art movements from newspapers and magazines. The scrapbook contains newspaper clippings with dates as early as the 1930’s.

AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS, no date

This series contains 1,174 photographs of art works, most from the Modern Museum of Art in New York City. The photographs do not only document Latin American art but instead display a wide spectrum of artistic movements and time periods.

GROUP 2: PERSONAL & BIOGRAPHICAL PAPERS

CORRESPONDENCE, 1943-1991

This correspondence contains letters of a personal, more than professional nature from Gómez Sicre’s friends (102 items). Also, included are letters from family who were still living in Cuba. Letters to and from his godson, José Luis Zayas “Guillo” are included. Some of the correspondence and attachments from the subseries of marriage and divorce is in Italian, as well as Spanish. The greeting cards celebrate holidays and his retirements, and are from a variety of people. Lastly, in the threats subseries there are four different instances of an un-identified person sending either an intimidating drawing, and there is an article defaming Gómez Sicre’s character.

Notable in the series is President Ronald Reagan’s 1982 letter of congratulation on Gómez Sicre achieving United States citizenship.

GENERAL, 1916-1991

This series (23 items) contains various versions of Gómez Sicre’s résumé and biographies written by others upon his death. Also included are the transcripts of interviews conducted with Gómez Sicre, the largest and most complete having been conducted by a Ph.D. student. Clippings include: a photocopy of The New York Times on Gómez Sicre’s birthday, July 6, 1916, a society article from 1922 about his mother, Guillermina Sicre, and her family. The remaining two clippings are announcements of his mother’s death in 1974.

LEGAL DOCUMENTS

This series contains official documents such as Gómez Sicre’s birth certificate, his Italian marriage license, and divorce papers from both Cuba (1959) and Italy (1970). Also included are requests for visas from the United States to visit other Latin American countries on business matters. Gómez Sicre’s Selective Service registration card is also in this series.

FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS

Receipts for hotels, air travel, and for works of art comprise this series (21 items).

EDUCATION

Diplomas for Gómez Sicre’s bachiller degree from the Institute in Matanzas, his degrees from the University of Havana, and other later certifications are included. There is one report card from NYU and a syllabus from a course taken while pursuing his degree in consular law.

Return to the Table of Contents

Restrictions

Access Restrictions

Unrestricted.

Use Restrictions

Standard copyright restrictions apply.

Return to the Table of Contents

Return to the Table of Contents

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Cite as: José Gómez Sicre Papers, Benson Latin American Collection, University of Texas Libraries, the University of Texas at Austin.

Return to the Table of Contents

Box and Folder Inventory

Return to the Table of Contents

Return to the Table of Contents