# Goodbye to the Last of the Five Jewels of Santiago Plastic Arts: José Loreto Horruitinier

**Date:** 08/07/2021

José Loreto Horruitiner, a most distinguished personality of the plastic arts in Cuba, passed away on the afternoon of August 4, 2021 in Santiago de Cuba at the age of 87, and with his death disappears the last of the five jewels of the plastic arts in this city.

For his artistic work and what it has represented for Cuban culture in general and especially for Santiago de Cuba, in March 2012 they were distinguished as Illustrious Children of the City: José Julián Aguilera Vicente, Miguel Ángel Botalín Pampín, Lincoln Camué Nohaya, Luis Mariano Frómeta Bustamante and José Loreto Horruitiner Vicente.

From that date in 2012, these five outstanding artists became known as "the five jewels of Santiago de Cuba's plastic arts" and with the physical departure of Horruitiner this Tuesday in August 2021 disappears the last of these "jewels," as the others preceded him in death.

José Loreto was born on December 10, 1933 in El Tivolí, a populous neighborhood near the famous Trocha del Carnaval Santiaguero, and from 1949 he trained in painting, graphic drawing, engraving, sculpture and ceramics at the José Joaquín Tejada Academy, where he graduated in 1956.

In addition to his work at the "José Joaquín Tejada," where he remained as part of the faculty, Horruitiner led numerous initiatives in Santiago de Cuba and in other areas of the eastern region to promote the plastic arts in particular, and culture in general, and was one of the founders of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (Uneac).

Due to his enormous artistic prestige, José Loreto was a member of the Technical Advisory Council of Culture, was a member of the Caguayo Foundation, and throughout his fruitful professional career, in which he imposed a very distinctive style, the artist accumulated recognitions and accolades, among them the Distinction for National Culture, the Raúl Gómez García medals from the SNTC, and the "September 28th" medal from the CDR, the Laureate Seal from the SNTC; the José María Heredia Recognition Plaque, and the award of Illustrious Son of the city of Santiago de Cuba.