Ramón Frade studied in Italy and was a pupil of the Dominican painter Desangles. Some of his works are Our Daily Bread and the Immaculate Conception. Among contemporary artists are Miguel Pou, painter of both landscapes and figures. The premature death of Rafael Arroyo Gely robbed the island of a brilliant watercolorist

From the early 1920's, at the advice of the Spanish artist Ignacio Zuloaga, the Art Department of the University of Puerto Rico under the direction of Walt Dehner held an important series of art exhibitions that did much to encourage young artists. From 1929 on, these exhibitions were annual events— sometimes devoted to Puerto Rican art and history, sometimes to the work of Spanish-American artists, sometimes to graphic artists of North America and Europe.

Only eight artists of the Island exhibited in the First Exhibition of Puerto Rican Art and History in 1929, attended by 1,400 visitors. Fifty-nine Island artists exhibited in the First Independent Exhibition of Puerto Rican Art in 1936, attended by 10,000 visitors. This exhibition afforded striking proof of the importance to Puerto Rican artists of these annual shows. The memorial exhibit was devoted to the lyrical watercolors of Arroyo Gely, a talented youth who died at twenty; his work was the direct outcome of the art exhibitions at the University—the only ones he was ever to see. Painter Rafael Arroyo was born in Aguadilla, PR, in 1913. A large portion of Arroyo's academic preparation was self-taught.

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