Centro de Arte Fundación Ortiz Gurdián

Founded in 2000, León, Nicaragua
Program coordination: Juanita Bermúdez

The Ortiz Gurdián Foundation
The Ortiz Gurdián Foundation – established in 1996 by Patricia Gurdián de Ortiz and Ramiro Ortiz Mayorga, Nicaraguan private entrepreneurs, from traditional families of the city of Leon and art collectors – was conceived as a non-profit institution to contribute to the cultural development of Nicaragua.

Its initial objective was the organization of the Biennial of Nicaraguan Painting, whose first edition took place in 1997. In 2001, the scope of the event is extended to Bienal de Artes Visuales. At the same time, other private entrepreneurs in the Central American region created similar organizations and created biennials in their countries. This led to a regional event, the Visual Arts Biennial of the Central American Isthmus, in which artists from the six countries jointly participated and contributed greatly to the projection of Central American art at the international level. There have been nine editions of the local and regional Biennial, including those made in 2014.

The Cultural Program of the Ortiz Gurdian Foundation is composed of two Art Centers: Fundación Ortiz Gurdian / BANPRO Art Center in Managua and Fundación Ortiz Gurdian Art Center in León.

The Art Center in León
The Art Center was born on December 5, 2000 with the inauguration of the Norberto Ramírez house. In November 2002 Derbyshire House opened; In 2006, the house Delgadillo and in 2013, the house Deshon. The four houses with large corridors, lounges and gardens, built between the 18th and 19th centuries, are examples of the most authentic Leon architecture of those times. They belonged to illustrious families of the city. They were acquired and restored from the year 1999 by the Ortiz Gurdián family, with the genuine desire that they will house in their interior part of the collection of universal art that through many years has been conforming, and be able to share it with their Nicaraguan compatriots and International visitors.

Each house host a different collection
The house Norberto Ramírez : the collection “From occidental art to Nicaraguan art”
The House Derbyshire: an exhibition of Latin-American painting.
The House Delgadillo: the collection “Integración and Grupo Praxis”
The House Deshon: the Contemporary Art Collection from the Ortiz-Gurdián Foundation

The Art Center in Managua
The Fundación Ortiz-Gurdián / Banpro Art Center opened its doors with the sponsorship of the Banco de la Producción on December 11, 2013. In addition to being a space where works of universal art are exhibited, the Art Center is destined to be, in the short term, a reference and reference center on bibliographic material in the field of visual arts, as well as a meeting point where art historians and critics, artists, students from universities and colleges converge.
Address: Ground floor of the Málaga Building of Plaza España.
Managua Nicaragua

Source: fundacionortizgurdian.org

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