Paul DiNegro, Key West. Oil on board, 10 by 10 ¼ inches.
The Key West Citizen, December 29, 1945 noted native son Paul Di Negro, “Italy had its Leonardo De Vinci; Holland had Rembrandt, France her Renoir, while Key West proudly claims her native son Paul G. Di Negro. Born and educated in Key West, his fore bearers have bestowed upon him a mixture of Scotch-Irish, French, Italian and Spanish. An inheritance which might well be an ideal foundation for artistic talent. When quite young he struck out for himself and left Key West to seek his way on the mainland…cataloging the things he saw while spending time in Pittsburgh, Youngstown, St. Louis, Baltimore and Norfolk, Virginia.
Sketching scenes that impressed him most, his list includes coal mockers, steel mills, boats, docks and pastoral scenery…Di Negro knows exactly what he wants to do in depicting his version of the American scene…Returning to Key West in 1920 to transpose his ideas and sketches on canvas, Mr. Di Negro gained art plaudits in art shows and galleries throughout the nation. He gained artists’ acclaims for his mural on the wall of the Key West Art Center…A master of lush, vivid tropical land and sea-scapes; Mr. Di Negro’s studio is filled with colorful paintings that have won him much praise at art exhibitions. He has successfully hung paintings at such renowned art centers as; Huntingdon College, Montgomery, Alabama; University of Florida; University of Georgia; A. and M. College Station, Texas; with art galleries in New York City; the Ringling School of Art; Federal Art Gallery, Oklahoma City; Texan College of Arts and Industries, Kingsville, Texas; Dayton Art League, Port Orange, Florida; University of Alabama.
Mr. Di Negro is a member of the Royal Palm Club and exhibited through the Federal Art Project…Listed in ‘Who’s Who in American Art’…Out-of- Towner’s recognize Di Negro individuality in painting and his imaginative conceptions of life as it appears to him. Year in and year out winter tourists to Key West’s wonderland, flock to Di Negro’s compact, immaculate studio to gaze in marvel at the host of riotous color displayed there. Especially the gorgeously painted miniatures mounted on cleaved tiny, artist easels. From his work you feel that Di Negro has been unhampered by distracting influences of metropolitan centers and that he developed his natural born talent in an unhurried atmosphere…He neither paints nor speaks artistic baby talk. He is a genuine workman. One day, while visiting the Civilian Beach Club, Mr. Di Negro was charmed by its unique setting and friendly atmosphere and decided to paint the club in glowing oils. This painting and other samples of his work are now on casual exhibition at the Civilian Beach Club.”
Born: September 5, 1900, Key West.
Membership: WPA artist, U.S. Naval Station, Key West; Key West Society of Artists.
Exhibits: Key West Federal Galleries; Key West Society of Artists, 3rd Annual Outdoor Exhibit, February 1941, Casa Marina Hotel; Miami Beach Art Center, Christmas, 1941, Fourteen Key West Artists; Ringling School of Art; University of Florida; University of Alabama.
