José Torres Martino

Torres was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, in 1916.[1] Torres was raised in Puerto Rico, but moved to New York City, where he studied at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn for a brief time.[1] Financial problems forced him to leave Pratt before completing his degree, and he returned to Puerto Rico.[1]

He began working as a radio journalist upon his return to Puerto Rico from New York.[1] He co-founded Puerto Rico's first magazine focusing on radio journalism when he was 22 years old.[1] According to Margarita Fernandez Zavala, a professor of art at the University of Puerto Rico, Torres went on to become a well known voice for radio and television audiences between the 1940s and 1980s.[1] Fernandez Zavala called Torres "one of the pioneers of radio and television on the island."[1] Torres co-founded the Press and Television Guild of Puerto Rico in 1951, and later served as the guild's president.[1] He spearheaded the creation of a graphics art program and workshop at the University of Puerto Rico.[1] In addition to his appearances on the radio, Torres also became a columnist for El Nuevo Día, a Puerto Rican daily newspaper.[1]

Torres continued to paint while working on the radio in his twenties. During the mid-1940s, he was able to transition to painting as a full-time career.[1] He returned to New York City, where he resumed school and held exhibitions of his work.[1] He toured Europe before returning to Puerto Rico. He then co-founded, with Felix Rodriguez Baez, Rafael Tufiño, and Lorenzo Homar, the Center for Puerto Rican Art. He also co-founded the Escuela de Artes Plásticas y Diseño de Puerto Rico.[1]

Jose Torres Martino died in Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico, on 22 April 2011, at the age of 94.[1] He is honored at Ponce's Park of the Illustrious Ponce Citizens.[2]