Yoryi Morel

Jorge Octavio Morel Tavárez (known as Yoryi Morel) was a Dominican painter, musician, and teacher born in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic; he is remembered as the leading costumbrista painter in the country and one of the early progenitors of the Dominican modernist school of painting, along with contemporaries Jaime Colsón, Darío Suro, and Celeste Woss y Gil.

His style integrated realist and post-Impressionist techniques depicting a range of subject matters, such as street scenes of his native city, Santiago, of villages and rustic landscapes throughout the Cibao region; popular customs like festivals, religious rituals, ceremonies, and gaming activities; as well as an array of portraits of local characters.

Morel spent most of his life in his native city. In 1933, he founded a fine-arts school in Santiago de los Caballeros, going on to teach other native artists, including Clara Ledesma.

He died in 1979. Many of his works are exhibited in the National Museum of Modern Art in Santo Domingo.