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(28 December 1914 - 11 August 1997)
Juan Manuel Cedeño is considered one of Panama's greatest painters and belonged to the second republican period of art (from 1940 through the end of 1950), although he continued painting until his death in 1997.
His prolific paintings of many aspects of Panamanian life and customs earned him the fame as the "cronista grafico de la nacionalidad panameña" (graphic chronicler of the Panamanian nationality). But he preferred to be known as the painter from Los Santos, a label he wore with great pride. (There is a story that has been told often that during a gathering of politicians and community leaders in Los Santos several suggested to Juan Manuel that he should consider running for president of Panama. He thanked them for the suggestion, said he was flattered by it, but asked, "Why should I want to be president of the Republic of Panama; I am a painter.")
He was born in historic La Villa, in Los Santos Province of Panama, December 28, 1914, the 13th of 14 children
of Celio Cedeño Palma and Josefa Henriquez Castillo de Cedeño.
Juan Manuel's love and natural talent for art started early in life when he started drawing at the age of four years. When he was seven, he starting painting reproductions of religious scenes from a book on Dante.
Education
Juan Manuel completed primary schooling in Los Santos where he distinguished himself with his drawings. He was chosen to make all the maps for his school, the quality of which earned him the name "el zurdito de oro" (golden lefty).
He started secondary schooling in 1930 and showed great promise in art that he was awarded a scholarship to the Instituto Nacional in Panama City where he then -- at the age of 16 years -- was encouraged to enroll in Panama's National Academy of Painting (today the National School of Painting -- Escuela Nacional de Artes Plasticas) where he studied under Roberto Lewis, one of Panama's foremost painters. (Juan Manuel was later considered one of Lewis' most outstanding students.) After graduating from the Instituto Nacional in 1935, Juan Manuel taught in schools in rural schools in other interior parts of the country and from 1939 continued studies at the National Academy of Painting until 1943.
Upon winning a government scholarship to study abroad, he chose the Chicago Institute of Art where he studied from 1944 through 1948 and graduated with B.A. degree in Fine Arts. While in Chicago, he exhibited his paintings at the Chicago International House in 1945; in The School of the Art Institute in 1946 (winning honorable mention); and in the Institute of Design in 1947.
In 1953, Juan Manuel studied art (as invited student) at the Polytechnical Institute of Mexico in Mexico City under the muralist Siqueiros and painter Diego Rivera.