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Transcript/ScriptNO USAGM SHARE
((PLAYBOOK SLUG: COLOMBIA BOTERO’S ART
HEADLINE: Artist Botero Gets a Last Goodbye in his Birthplace
TEASER: Colombian painter and sculptor was known for his plump, playful depictions of people, images inspired by landscapes in his native Medellín
BYLINE: Austin Landis
DATE: 10/2/2023 at 3:45pm
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Medellin, Colombia
VIDEOGRAPHER: Austin Landis, Courtesy
VIDEO EDITOR:
PRODUCER: Austin Landis
SCRIPT EDITORS: LR, MAS, pcd
VIDEO SOURCES: VOA Original, Museo de Antioquia, Fundacion Leo Matiz, El Colombiano, Biblioteca Publica Piloto, AFP, Reuters
PLATFORMS: WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO _X_
TRT: 2:05
VID APPROVED BY: MAS
TYPE: TV/R
EDITOR NOTES: Email edited script to austinclandis@gmail.com))
[[EDS/Producer: See images of sculptures to ensure they are appropriate for your audience. Thanks.]]
((INTRO))
[[Colombian artist Fernando Botero, who died in September, was known for his plump, colorful and playful portraits of all levels of society - from a Colombian seamstress to crime boss Pablo Escobar to the Pope. His ashes will be buried in Italy, but before that, his remains made a stop in his native city of Medellin ((PRONOUNCED meh-deh-YEEN'). For VOA, Austin Landis reports from Medellin.]]
((NARRATOR))
Fernando Botero's bronze, inflated sculptures of human bodies tower over this plaza in central Medellin. Fixtures, just like ones in Paris, Singapore and Israel.
Standing beneath them, the city’s residents came to say farewell to their hometown artist.
[[RADIO VERSION: Among them was Medellin artist Angela Maria Vanegas, who said Botero leaves an indelible impression on the history of painting and sculpture around the world. Vanegas says she was very excited because he was a man who was born in her city, Medellin.]]
((Angela Maria Vanegas, Medellin Artist – FEMALE IN SPANISH))
“He leaves an indelible fingerprint on the history of painting and sculpture around the world. I was very excited because he was a man who was born in Medellin, in my city.”
[[RADIO VERSION: ARTEAGA AUDIO UP, EST & FADE]]
[[RADIO VERSION: Medellin resident Maria Eugenia Arteaga says he leaves the people of the Antioquia region and the nation of Colombia at a very good international level (in terms of prestige). She says she and others have come to bid him a final farewell.]]
((Maria Eugenia Arteaga, Medellin Resident – FEMALE IN SPANISH))
“He left the people of Antioquia, and the country of Colombia, at a very good international level. We came to give him the final goodbye.”
((NARRATOR))
Botero was born here in Medellin’s Boston neighborhood in 1932.
((COURTESY: BIBLIOTECA PUBLICA PILOTO))
The city was on the cusp of industrializing.
[[RADIO VERSION: Lucrecia Piedrahita, a former director of the Museum of Antioquia says Botero always portrayed the city and the small towns that surround Medellin, a city of narrow streets in a (Spanish) colonial architectural style. It was rural architecture, many times vernacular, and the mountainous landscape, which Piedrahita says is beautiful.]]
((Lucrecia Piedrahita, Former Director of the Museum of Antioquia – FEMALE IN SPANISH))
“Botero always showed us the city and the small towns that surrounded Medellin, a city of narrow streets in a colonial architecture style. Rural architecture, many times vernacular architecture. The mountainous landscape, which is beautiful.”
((Courtesy: Museo de Antioquia))
((NARRATOR))
Those landscapes, the mountains and rural houses are depicted in several Botero’s paintings.
He was baptized here in this church near his home, where VOA found the original records of his baptism and first marriage.
((COURTESY: MUSEO DE ANTIOQUIA))
Religious art, the most common throughout the city at the time, was a core theme of Botero’s paintings.
((end courtesy))
The painter and sculptor’s remains returned to his home city where people filed inside the Museum of Antioquia to pay their respects.
It holds the world’s largest collection of his works, nearly 200, all donated by Botero.
The building and “Plaza Botero” were part of his vision for a permanent oasis of culture in the heart of his native city.
((Austin Landis, for VOA News, Medellin, Colombia))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
