Antonio Sotomayor

Antonio "Tony" Sotomayor (1902–1985) was a Bolivian-born American artist and educator, known as a painter and muralist. He also worked as an illustrator, caricaturist, designer, and ceramicist.

Early life Antonio Sotomayor was born on May 13, 1902, in Chulumani, Bolivia to parents Celia Meza and Juan Sotomayor. His family moved to La Paz when he was a teenager. He studied at Escuela de Bellas Artes in La Paz, with Belgian metal artist .

Career In 1923, Sotomayor immigrated to San Francisco. In the 1930s he painted two murals at the Palace Hotel, in the room known as “The Pied Piper.” In 1939, he created murals for the Peruvian Pavilion and the Fountain of the Pacific, (a 36 foot by 46 foot, terracotta relief map) for the Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island, 1939–1940 (GGIE). The relief map was executed at Gladding McBean in Lincoln, California. The fountain is one of very few surviving artifacts of the GGIE still existing on Treasure Island. He taught art at California School of Fine Art (now the San Francisco Art Institute) from 1940 to 1950. Museum of Modern Art, among others. His archive can be found at the San Francisco Public Library's History Center.

Personal life He was married to Grace Eugenie LaMova Andrews Sotomayor in 1927, they never had any children.