About the Artist

(1921-2007) Born in Bogota, Columbia, Santamaria studied painting as a teenager under the French painter, Pierre Daguet. He also attended the School of Fine Arts (Ecole des Beaux Artes) in France.

Extensive travel led Santamaria to Europe a second time, Peru, to Mexico and to the United States. Each of these destinations "touched" his style and technique of making art. For instances he studied engraving at the School of Esmeralda in Mexico City (1956), then a year later he pursued engraving at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

Santamaria's influence as a teacher, headquartered in Mexico City, shaped a generation of printmakers there and beyond. In 1961 he won a First Prize in Engraving in a competition staged by the Canadian Painters and Etchers Society at the Royal Museum in Ontario, Canada.