Batista, whose full birth name is Tomás Batista Encarnación, was born and raised in Luquillo, Puerto Rico, a town located in the northeastern coast of Puerto Rico. His family was poor, but he did well in school and finished high school. His family recognized that their son had talent as an artist at a young age.
After graduating from high school, he moved to San Juan to continue his education. There he met and went to work with the Spanish artist Angel Botello. In 1955, while working with Botello, Batista discovered that he had a natural talent for the restoration of wood. Botello taught him restoration and how to work with gold on wood. In 1957, he realized his first work of art, the Crucifixion.
In 1958, Batista was awarded a grant and studied sculptoring at the Puerto Rican Institute of Culture under the direction of the Maestro Compostela. Batista also studied art in La Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes La Esmeralda in Mexico City, Mexico on a Guggenheim fellowship in 1960 and in the Instituto de Cultura Hispánica in Spain. In 1966, he was named director of the Department of Sculpture and Restoration of the Puerto Rican Institute of Culture. In 1972, Batista spent a year in Spain, where he created the busts of Eugenio María de Hostos and Ramón Emeterio Betances.
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