Francisco Zúñiga

(Costa Rican and Mexican 1912-1998)

Francisco Zúñiga is a Costa Rican born Mexican artist known for his paintings and sculptures. Born in Costa Rica and raised in Mexico, Zúñiga is considered by Encyclopædia Britannica, “perhaps the best sculptor” of the Mexican political modern style. He started his education at at the School of Fine Arts in San Jose then moved to Mexico to study under Manuel Rodriguez Lozano, a Mexican painter. In Zúñiga’s early days German expressionist and sculpture, August Rodin, as well as pre-Columbian style art inspired him.

As he went on to find his own style under the teachings of, Manuel Rodriguez Lozano, Zúñiga would incorporate primitive Aztec forms into classical styles of sculpture. Zúñiga mainly focused on female figures either nude or female figures in contemporary common environments. Making the figures with scrany or stocky bodies, unfamiliar to the classic style, and mixing it with realistic representation of lifestyle and body type of the females Zúñiga admired. Zúñiga’s subject matter showcases the representation of strong heroic indigenous women, symbolizing maternity, fertility, and strenth. As seen in the sculpture, Dos Mujeres de Pie (1965), which depicts two women figures standing next to each other in a stoic stance. Zúñiga’s simplified style brings a timeless quality to his figures. Zúñiga, created over 35 public sculptures including a monument dedicated to the poet, Ramon Lopez, and other dedicataed to Mexican heroes. Though his main and most notable subject matter is his figures of women. Zúñiga’s medium mainly used cast bronze throughout his career but he also explored a variety ranges through modeling in clay, plaster, and sculpting in Carrara marble, and alabaster.

At the age of 60, Zúñiga created his first lithograph, a form in which he would work in prolifically for the rest of his life. The prints, in momochrome and color, shared the same subject matter as his sculptures but could allow a closer connection to drawings that served as the basis of his work. His lithograph, Impresiones de Egipto, Plancho 6 (1982), shows the subject of a group of women sitting in sturdy daring posture while also keeping an inviting maternal warm energy to the subject.

Near the end of his life, an illness left him nearly blind, which shifted him to work more with terracotta using his hands to create lines and details. Zúñiga died in Mexico City on August 9th, 1998. His legacy carries on as one of the most notable Mexican artist of the 20th century.

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