Alfonso A. Ossorio (1916-1990) was an abstract expressionist artist who was born in Manila in 1916 to wealthy Filipino parents from the province of Negros Occidental. His heritage was Hispanic, Filipino, and Chinese. Between the ages of eight and thirteen, he attended school in England. At age fourteen, he moved to the United States. From 1934 to 1938, he studied fine art at Harvard University and then continued his studies at the Rhode Island Sc...
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Alfonso A. Ossorio (1916-1990) was an abstract expressionist artist who was born in Manila in 1916 to wealthy Filipino parents from the province of Negros Occidental. His heritage was Hispanic, Filipino, and Chinese. Between the ages of eight and thirteen, he attended school in England. At age fourteen, he moved to the United States. From 1934 to 1938, he studied fine art at Harvard University and then continued his studies at the Rhode Island School of Design. He became an American citizen in 1933 and served as a medical illustrator in the United States Army during World War II.
Ossorio’s early work was surrealist. He was an admirer and early collector of the paintings of Jackson Pollock who counted him as a good friend. In the early 1950s, Ossorio was pouring oil and enamel paints onto canvas.
Ossorio traveled to Paris to met Jean Dubuffet in 1950. Dubuffet's interest in art brut opened up new vistas for Ossorio, who found release from society's preconceptions in the unstudied...
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