Ruperto Jay Matamoros

Native of San Luis, Santiago de Cuba. Considered since the forties one of the maximum representatives of naif painting in Cuba. It can be said that his prolific artistic trajectory begins from the first exhibition of the Free Studio of Painting and Sculpture, that unusual venture founded by Eduardo Abela, Rita Longa, René Portocarrero and Domingo Ravenet in an attempt to democratize artistic education.

In his long life as a painter, he develops with passion and love, the landscape of the Cuban countryside, although without ceasing to work urban and coastal landscapes, portraits and historical themes. From 1959, with the triumph of the Revolution, his work is truly respected and considered, and becomes, without a doubt, an emblematic figure of Cuban naif painting.

Chronology:
1937- He enters the Free Studio of painting and sculpture, until 1938 when the project disappears. That year he makes his first collective exhibition with the results of free education, in the very barracks that served as workshops and classrooms, on the Paseo del Prado, city of La Habana. He receives an Honorable Mention, awarded by the Department of Culture.

1939- One of his works becomes part of the permanent exhibition of the Prado Gallery, owned by María Luisa Gómez Mena.

1946- He forms his own workshop for decoration and painting of private homes and buildings.

1959- At the triumph of the Revolution, Matamoros at the head of his workshop participates in campaigns and activities such as "La Habana se viste de limpio".

1963- He closes his workshop and begins working at the Ministry of Justice. He joins the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba.

1964- Painting and sculpture exhibition, vestibule of the Ministry of Justice.
National Salon of Painting and Sculpture, Palace of Fine Arts, where he wins an award.

1965- Exhibition Ruperto Jay Matamoros and Carmela Jay Casuso, at the Gallery of La Habana.

1968- Pittura cubana oggi, Italian-Latin American Institute of Rome.

1969- 2nd Triennial of Insito Art (Naif), Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. Honorable Mention.
Biennial of Grenoble, France.

1970- Salon 70, Palace of Fine Arts, La Habana.

1971- Primitive Painters Exhibition, Gallery of La Habana.

1972- Cuban Primitives Exhibition, Budapest, Hungary.
Eight primitive painters, Sofia, Bulgaria.
Images of Cuba, Stockholm, Sweden.

1973- International Exhibition of Committed Realist Painting of Socialist Countries, National Gallery of Fine Arts, Sofia, Bulgaria.
Small format exhibition, Gallery L, La Habana.
Cuban Landscapes, Camagüey.

1974- Matamoros exhibits, Ho Chi Minh Gallery of the Ministry of Justice.
Collective exhibition Martí in the plastic arts, Gallery L, La Habana.

1975- Personal exhibition in the library of the Popular Supreme Court, La Habana.

1976- 11 Naive Painters of Cuba, vestibule of the Palace of Fine Arts of Mexico D.F.

1979- R.J. Matamoros exhibits, personal exhibition at the Ho Chi Minh Gallery of the Ministry of Justice.

1980- Leopoldo Romañach Landscape Salon, Guantánamo, receives award.
4 primitive painters, Amelia Peláez Gallery of Lenin Park.
3rd Realist Painting Salon, Gallery of the National Union of Painters, in Sofia, Bulgaria.

1982- Distinction for National Culture, awarded by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Cuba.
Landscape Salon '82, Palace of Fine Arts, receives award.
He retires from the Ministry of Justice and dedicates himself entirely to painting.

1983- Jay Matamoros Exhibition, Amelia Peláez Gallery of Lenin Park.
Modern Cuban Painters, Gallery of the National Union of Painters, in Sofia, Bulgaria.
3rd Salon of the City, Provincial Center of Plastic Arts and Design.

1984- I Biennial of La Habana, National Museum of Fine Arts.
Salon of Plastic Arts of the UNEAC, National Museum of Fine Arts.

1985- Salon of Plastic Arts of the UNEAC, National Museum of Fine Arts.

1986- II Biennial of La Habana, National Museum of Fine Arts.

1987- Anthological exhibition, prepared by the National Museum on the occasion of the artist's 75th anniversary.

1988- Jay Matamoros, Art Gallery of Mella, Santiago de Cuba.
Cuban Painters, Moscow, USSR.

1989- He participates in the exhibition Cuban Landscape: Tradition and Contemporaneity, within the framework of the III Biennial of La Habana.

1990- Matamoros at Night, Provincial Center of Plastic Arts and Design, La Habana.
Matamoros exhibits, municipal museum of San Luis, Santiago de Cuba.
Day and Night of Ruperto Jay Matamoros, Art Center, Guantánamo.

1992- Already I was here, Gallery L, La Habana.

1994- Félix Varela Order, awarded by the Council of State of the Republic of Cuba to personalities of culture.

2000- Medal for the 270th anniversary of the University of La Habana (1728-1998).
National Prize for Plastic Arts, awarded by the National Council of Plastic Arts.