User:GlitteringSword2

Artist [Alvaro Guillot] 1931-2010. Twentieth Century Artist Alvaro Guillot was born in Montevideo, Uruguay on January 30th 1931. His father was a French college professor and his mother a concert pianist. His family moved to Paris in 1945 after WWII where he lived until he was twenty six years old. Although he was born in Uruguay, Alvaro Guillot liked to tell newspaper reporters, art critics and his friends that he was a French Artist from Paris. In 1957 Alvaro Guillot moved to Hollywood and began acting. He had roles in 'Pharaoh's Curse', 'Thunder in the Sun' and TV's 'Sea Hunt'. He was also in many movies and TV shows as an extra walking on a street or sitting in a cafe. He quit acting to work with his friend Pierre Groleau who owned a Hollywood PR company. He met a Broadway actress at a promotional party in Hollywood and in January of 1960 and moved to New York to live with her. While living in New York City, Alvaro Guillot became a professional artist. Until 1965, Alvaro painted under two names, Alvaro Guillot and Henri Cardiallac. He started his art career walking up and down the streets of Manhattan selling his paintings for $20 each and sometimes traded them for rent. His Cardiallac paintings often sold for more than those painted under his real name. In 1963, to help sell paintings, art dealer Gregg Juarez made up several stories that Alvaro was of royal blood, the son of a diplomat and a French Baron. None were true. A reporter printed the diplomat story in 1963 and as of 2010 it was still being used by art dealers to sell Alvaro's paintings. Alvaro Guillot was friends with many twentieth century artists including Dali, Andy Warhol and Charles Levier. Alvaro's early paintings were in a Dali or Picasso style. In 1962 Salvador Dali came to a party at Alvaro Guillot apartment in New York City and the two artists became lifelong friends. Alvaro's style constantly evolved but his main focus was natural surrealism. He often painted a large poppy or other flower somewhere on the canvas which became known as his signature. Many of his early works had castles as the central theme. His later paintings were of exotic women and animals such as cats and horses. His surrealist style was well received by major art critics. Between 1963 and 1989 his paintings were sold in many of the world's high end art galleries. He was one of the artists in residence for the world famous restaurant Ma Maison in the late 1970's through the early 80's. Between the 1960's through the end of the 1980's Alvaro Guillot had one man shows in New York, Paris, London, Beverly Hills, Miami Beach, Rome and Palm Beach. He was the winner: France's Prix d'Harcourt Award 1967 Winner: NASA Art Collection Grant 1984 and was a featured artist of the New York Art Festival for 5 years. Two of Alvaro's paintings are now part of the The NASA Art Gallery and the Smithsonian Museum Art Gallery. Collectors included: William Shatner, Orsen Wells, Patty Duke, Johnny Carson, Ed McMahon, Frank Sinatra, Jack Lemmon, Burt Reynolds and other famous celebrities. Following the death of his good friend Pierre Groleau in 1988, Alvaro disappeared. Rumors spread among art dealers and friends that he died of AIDS in Los Angeles. In reality he secretly moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico and lived out the rest of his life as a recluse. During the last three years of his life Alvaro Guillot developed Parkinson’s disease and was no longer able to paint. Alvaro Guillot passed away Wednesday July 28th, 2010 under mysterious circumstances. His good friends and authorized biographers are David and Constance First.