Humberto Garavito (1897-1970) is recognized as one of the most important early 20th century Guatemalan painters. Born in the city of Quetzaltenango, his art career was launched around 1912, when art critic Jaime Sabartés, who later becomes Picasso's secretary, gave a strong critic's review for him. He held his first exhibit in 1916, featuring his early portraits. From 1919 to 1921, he attended the San Carlos Academy in Mexico City. Upon returning to Guatemala, he won a competition to study abroad in Europe. Although he never received the prize, he traveled at his own expense. In 1922, he studied at the San Fernando Academy in Madrid, then moved to Paris. He conducted study trips to museums in Germany, Italy and Belgium. In 1925, he held a successful solo exhibition at the Carmine Gallery in Paris. In 1927, Garavito returned to Guatemala and was appointed Director of the National Academy of Fine Arts, a position he held from 1928 to 1935. In 1937, he was appointed delegate of the Guatemalan government to the Pan-American Exposition in Dallas, Texas, and was in charge of organizing the country's stand. During this time, he participated in solo exhibitions and group shows nationally and internationally. These exhibitions included locations such as Baltimore in 1933, Dallas in 1937, New Orleans and the Pan American Union in Washington D.C. in 1948, as well as the Binet Gallery in New York in 1949. In 1945, Garavito published an illustrated book about the life and work of Francisco Cabrera, a Guatemalan miniaturist, and prepared an exhibition of Cabrera's work. One of his last major works were the murals he painted in the late 1960s, in the Cathedral of Guatemala City, which features the different periods of the Church in Guatemala and the portraits of the four Evangelists in the Church of San Francisco in Antigua, Guatemala. He held his last solo exhibition in 1969 at the School of Fine Arts in Guatemala City. In 1970, he passed and was buried at his family's mausoleum in The Quetzaltenango City Cemetery.
