Altino Villasante

Passage in Florence

Altino Villasante is a young master of watercolor. At the age of 20, he conquered the two highest Peruvian awards by winning the Mitchell Watercolor Contest and the Annual Exhibition of Watercolor. Mr. Villasante is a self-taught watercolorist. By 1988, he was one of Latin America’s rising stars in the art world. His subject matter varies from figurative and landscape art to architectural and abstract work. Always, his subject is characterized by a dedication to portraying the accuracy of the homeland that nurtured his artistic visions. Villasante was born in a small village on the shores of Lake Titicaca at the southern tip of the Peruvian Mountains. Highlands and immense plains surround the setting and it was in this location that the Tiahuanaco culture developed. Although this is one of the poorest regions of Peru, it inspires a variety of folkloric expressions in Latin American art. Born the only child of poor farmers, Villasante contends he did not grow up feeling impoverished. Villasante's parents did not understand his drive to become an artist, however. Cultural traditions in Peru dictate that an artist can only be a bohemian or die of starvation. Thus, much of his early work, especially his drawings of village life was done in the spirit of secrecy and subterfuge. Accompanied by several of his uncles, Villasante left home after the third grade to establish himself in the capital of Lima, with the expressed purpose of moving to the United States. But his family could not arrange documentation for him and he remained in Lima, living alone, attending the rest of primary and then secondary school. All the while, he was drawing and painting scenes of Lima, as well as those that he remembered from his early formative years in Conima, the tiny village he still called home. It is the feel of his representative that such loneliness has developed an exquisite perception of life that certainly is manifested and expressed through his tremendously exceptional watercolors. It is a credit to Villasante’s persistence that, with such a meager and inauspicious beginning, he has been able to capture a growing measure of international attention. Villasante has won many awards and recognitions.