Roberto Gonz?lez-Goyri

(b Guatemala City, 20 Nov 1924). Guatemalan sculptor and painter. He studied at the Escuela de Bellas Artes in Guatemala City (1938-45) and from 1942 to 1945 worked on the stained-glass windows at the Palacio Nacional. In 1948 he won a grant that enabled him to study in New York, at the Art Students League and at the Sculpture Center, until 1951. On his return from the USA he concentrated on sculpture until 1973, working particularly closely with Guatemalan architects in the 1950s on large reliefs in exposed cast concrete, mainly for government buildings in Guatemala City. The outstanding examples of these reliefs in Guatemala City, characterized by simple lines and an epic scale, are Guatemalan Nationality (3*40 m, 1959) for the Seguro Social building; Culture and Economy (14*7.5 m, 1963-4) for the Cr?dito Hipotecario building; Economy and Culture (40*21 m, 1964; Banco de Guatemala); and The Quetzal and the Golden Eagle (8*4 m, 1973; Inst. Guat. Amer.). He also produced a free-standing monument to the national hero, Tec?n Um?n (hammered concrete, h. 7.5 m, 1963; Guatemala City), and small sculptures such as Wolf's Head (bronze), which was awarded a prize in Guatemala and was acquired in 1957 by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He served briefly as director of the Escuela de Artes Pl?sticas in Guatemala City (1957-8).

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