907

Francisco Zuniga (Costa Rican/Mexican, 1912-1998), "Compasion", 1980, bronze, signed, dated, and numbered "I/VI" along back edge, presented on a carved wooden base, overall, h. 12-1/4", w. 12", d. 8-5/8". Provenance: Purchased from the artist through Galeria Misrachi, Mexico City, Mexico; private collection, New Orleans, Louisiana. Exhibited: "Seldom Seen", Arts Council of New Orleans. A native Costa Rican who spent most of his life in Mexico, Zuniga was acclaimed for his distinct, stylized approach to sculpture and painting. The son of a sculptor of religious figures, he spent years working in his father's studio, learning the rudiments of direct carving. After a brief attendance at the local art school, Zuniga moved to Mexico where he became associated with what is now known as the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado (referred colloquially as la Esmerelda), first as a student then later as Professor, a position he would maintain for over 30 years. He befriended Guillermo Ruiz, who had founded the school in 1927, and the sculptors Romolo Rozo and Luis Ortiz Monasterio. Reminiscing about his earliest months in Mexico, Zuniga wrote to a friend: "I recall the first years following my arrival in Mexico?ǪUltimately I spent most of my days in the Museum of History and Archaeology; I went to the Museum every day to study and draw. I was enraptured by the works in stone, with something akin to fear and enchantment?ǪI observed the powerful dimensions; the planes; the stylized mass?Ǫ" Inspired by Pre-Columbian artifacts and influenced by the various artistic movements then prevalent - including German Expressionism - Zuniga adapted a style of sculpture which emphasized a visual examination of form and space, resulting in works imbued with a sense of strength and resilience. Concentrating on the curves of the human figure, his softly abstracted figures are often hunched or crouching, enveloped in drapery which simultaneously protects them and exposes their inherent human vulnerability. References: Reich, Sheldon and Zuniga, Francisco. Francisco Zuniga, Sculptor. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1980.; Stewart, Virginia. 45 Contemporary Mexican Artists - a Twentieth Century Renaissance. Stanford: Stanford University Press., 1951, pp. 134-137.


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