A Contemplative Moment

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Francisco Zúñiga
A Contemplative Moment
1983

About the Item

Francisco Zuniga "A Contemplative Moment" 1983 Charcoal and Pastel on Paper Signed and Dated Lower Left Paper Size: approx 27.75 x 19.5 Framed Size: approx 38 x 30 inches Internationally acclaimed sculptor and printmaker Francisco Zuñiga was born in Costa Rica. He studied drawing, stone sculpture, and engraving at the School of Fine Arts in San Jose. Later, in 1936, he studied stone carving at La Esmeralda in Mexico City. He was appointed to the faculty of La Esmeralda where he remained until his retirement in 1970. Zuniga's art reflects a love and respect for Central American people and traditions. In 1972, he created his first lithograph. As a complement to his emotionally powerful sculpture, Zuniga's prints articulate the sensitivity and sensuality of the human figure. He has been the recipient of numerous international prizes and awards. His work is exhibited frequently in prominent galleries throughout the world and may be found in the permanent collections of twenty-nine museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum, the Mexican Museum in San Francisco, and the Phoenix Art Museum. In 1936, Francisco Zuniga left San Jose, Costa Rica, where he had studied drawing at the School of Fine Arts and worked as an assistant in his father's studio, a workshop which produced religious sculpture for the churches and convents in and around the city. His destination was Mexico City. It was from there that he would begin an illustrious career as a sculptor and draftsman. Zuñiga's exploration into the nuances of volume, in line and space, are demonstrated in this, the most complete exhibition of his work to be shown in more than a decade. Mexico City in 1936 was, even then, one of the major art centers of the Americas. As such it witnessed and participated in many of the frenzied and controversial art movements which reflected the political and intellectual climate of the first three decades of the twentieth century. Muralism, the graphic arts, the incorporation of in-ternational movements had produced an artistic climate, which would eventually attract to Mexico international artists and intellectuals such as Sergei Eisenstein, André Breton and Antonin Artaud. Then as now, Mexico City was a major world capital with the infrastructure necessary to exhibit and expose new aesthetic concepts. For all these reasons it was the most obvious destination of choice for Zuñiga. In Mexico he worked with the painter Manuel Rodríguez Lozano, and would become one of the founders of La Esmeralda, the National School of Painting and Sculpture, teaching there between 1938 and 1970. Zuniga also fulfilled commissions for numerous public monuments, but between 1960 and 1980, he began to work exclusively on his studio projects. At the time of his death in 1998, his work would be part of major museum collections internationally. Zuniga's signature sculptures, massive female figures sculpted in onyx or cast in bronze, emphasize an ongoing exploration of figurative representation in Western Art. In Juchitecas en Conversación (1985) a standing female figure with crossed arms faces two figures seated on a bench. The figure closest to her rests her hand on a water jug fully facing the first, while the third, body half turned toward the group, gestures toward them with her left arm. The elongated heads and necks are in direct contrast to the full, earthy bodies of all three. In posture and gesture these figures, with their monumental mass and volume, suggest a relationship of community and of union between women, a theme basic to Zuñiga. Other elements catch the eye: the water jug, the dress. The presence of these elements has often been a reason for categorizing Zuñiga's work as an example of regional representation, i.e. archetypes of indigenous women. Yet in focusing on the posture, gesture and composition in this work and others, Zuñiga is utilizing a juxtaposition of classical sculptural language with indigenous models. You might feel tempted to focus on the appearance of the model, but you should not overlook the stance, the composition, the regal allusion to the classical Western tradition. This issue becomes even more evident in the pastel and charcoal Dos Mujeres de Pie (1977). Two nudes stand slightly off center from each other and face to face. We see before us the full front and full back view of two women. Full-figured, even corpulent, they are full-hipped with legs and feet firmly planted on the earth. In Juchitecas en Conversación (1985) a standing female figure with crossed arms faces two figures seated on a bench. The figure closest to her rests her hand on a water jug fully facing the first, while the third, body half turned toward the group, gestures toward them with her left arm. The elongated heads and necks are in direct contrast to the full, earthy bodies of all three. In posture and gesture these figures, with their monumental mass and volume, suggest a relationship of community and of union between women, a theme basic to Zuñiga. Other elements catch the eye: the water jug, the dress. The presence of these elements has often been a reason for categorizing Zuniga's work as an example of regional representation, i.e. archetypes of indigenous women. Yet in focusing on the posture, gesture and composition in this work and others, Zuñiga is utilizing a juxtaposition of classical sculptural language with indigenous models. You might feel tempted to focus on the appearance of the model, but you should not overlook the stance, the composition, the regal allusion to the classical Western tradition. This issue becomes even more evident in the pastel and charcoal Dos Mujeres de Pie (1977). Two nudes stand slightly off center from each other and face to face. We see before us the full front and full back view of two women. Full-figured, even corpulent, they are full-hipped with legs and feet firmly planted on the earth.

Creator:
Francisco Zúñiga (1912 - 1998, Costa Rican)
Creation Year:
1983
Dimensions:
Height: 38 in (96.52 cm)Width: 30 in (76.2 cm)
Medium:
Pastel,Archival Paper,Charcoal
Movement & Style:
Realist
Period:
1980-1989
Condition:
Gallery Location:
Missouri, MO
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU74732603791

Shop All Francisco Zúñiga

Francisco Zúñiga

Known as one of the most important Expressionist artists to emerge from Latin America, Francisco Zúñiga is remembered for his monumental sculptures, figurative paintings and prints, nude drawings and portraits of Central America’s rural indigenous women.

Born in San José, Costa Rica, in 1912, Zúñiga’s exposure to artistic sculpture began at the age of 13, when he worked with his father, Manuel Maria Zúñiga, carving religious figures for local churches. Spurred by a growing interest in art, Zúñiga attended San José’s School of Fine Arts, where he became influenced by classical, renaissance figurative art. After winning several local awards for his prodigious talent, Zúñiga left San José for Mexico City in 1936.

In Mexico City, he attended La Esmeralda, the painting and sculpture school of the National Institute of Fine Arts. There, Zúñiga studied under sculptor Oliverio Martinez and painter Manuel Rodriguez Lozano.

In 1938, Zúñiga joined the faculty at La Esmeralda, where he taught sculpture and painting until 1970. Meanwhile, during the early 1940s, Zúñiga’s works began to attract the attention of art critics in the United States as well as important collectors. In 1941, the Arts Club of Chicago included him as part of their “Thirteen Mexican Artists” group show. The following year, Alfred Barr, director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, purchased one of his stone sculptures for MoMA’s permanent collection. Then, in 1943, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art acquired two of Zúñiga’s drawings.

Throughout most of his career, Zúñiga limited his subject matter to indigenous peasant women. However, he experimented with working with a variety of materials for his sculptures — bronze, alabaster, plaster, marble and modeling clay — and sought new media to create his art. (He made his first lithograph at age 60.)

Zúñiga won countless accolades in his lifetime. He won international awards for 35 of his public sculptures along with other works, and in 1992, he won Mexico’s highest cultural award, the Premio Nacional de Calidad.

Even after his death in 1998, Zúñiga’s legacy lives on. His sculptures, drawings, paintings and prints are found in museums around the world, including MoMA and the Met in New York, the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City, the Fogg Museum at Harvard University, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., the Middleheim Museum in Antwerp, Belgium and the Open-Air Museum in Hakone, Japan.

On 1stDibs, discover a range of Francisco Zúñiga prints, drawings and paintings.