Julio Larraz was born in Havana, Cuba, on 12 March 1944, the son of Julio Fernandez, a publisher and Emma Larraz Sorondo who together manage the printing of an important daily newspaper. He starts painting very soon, especially caricatures. In 1961 parents leave Cuba with the whole family for the United States and settle in Miami, Florida. In 1962 the family moved to Washington, D.C. and finally to the city of New York where Julio would remain for the following five years. It is right there that the political caricatures will be published by the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chigago Tribune, Vogue and other important magazines.
In 1967, Larraz worked full-time as a professional artist. Various New York artists, including Burt Silverman, helped teach him different techniques. Four years later the Pyramid Gallery in Washington, D.C. inaugurates its first exhibition. In 1972, Larraz exhibited at the New School for Social Research (Social Research School), in New York and a year later, the FAR Gallery New York presents Larraz's works in a first personal performance.
In 1976 Julio Larraz won several awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the National Institute of Arts and Letters. In the same year the Insitute of International Education gave him the Cintas Grant (study grant).
Larraz moved the residence to San Patricio, New Mexico in 1977, fascinated by the light and sterile atmosphere of the Hondo valley hills. Here he meets Ron Hall, Texas gallerist, who will represent him.
In 1978, Larraz bought house in Grandview, New York. Meet Nohra Haime from New York with whom she will work until 1994. In 1983 he moved to Paris where he remained for two years.
Julio Larraz returns to Miami, Florida in 1986. Between 1999 and 2003, he will live in Florence and then return to Miami, where he currently works and lives with his family.
